Nursery change of leadership agreed
A CHANGE of leadership model at a Port Glasgow nursery has been approved.
Newark Nursery School will become a standalone early learning centre led by a new head of centre from the start of the 2025/26 term.
The decision was made a special meeting of the education and communities committee on Tuesday 22 April 2025.
A review of the existing model was undertaken following the retiral of the most recent head teacher and three proposals were put out to public consultation.
Members of the education committee decided that the nursery should become Newark Early Learning Centre.
There will be no impact on children or staff.
The key change will be that a head of centre will now be recruited instead of a head teacher – something that education officials say is easier to do and more appealing to prospective candidates based on past experiences.
Newark is the last nursery school in Inverclyde with all other pre-school centres operating an early years model.
Councillor Jim Clocherty, convener of education and communities, said: “The move to an early learning centre model is one we’ve done very successfully in the past and with Newark being the last remaining nursery school in Inverclyde, it makes sense for Newark to align with other pre-school centres in the area.
“The main thing to stress here is that there will be absolutely no impact on children and staff currently at Newark or who will go there in future.
“What this change does help with is finding a suitable leader and the feedback from early years professionals is that it is easier to recruit a new head of centre as opposed to a head teacher and a head of centre is seen as being a more attractive option for people working in the sector.
“The other benefit of a head of centre is that they will have specific early years qualifications and experience working in the sector, which can only be a good thing for children and staff.”
The nursery shares a campus with Newark Primary School and currently provides early learning and childcare for 80 children aged 3-5 years.
Family support services are provided within the school and the community.
A statutory consultation ran from January to March 2025, including an in-person event, and there were 31 responses.
Prior to that, people had the chance to have their say during an informal survey.
While a majority of the statutory consultation respondents (19) disagreed with the head of centre proposal, wider feedback from all stakeholders was that moving to a standalone early learning centre model was the best option, which was also supported by Education Scotland and council education officials.
The other two options were to continue as a nursery school or to incorporate the nursery into the primary school under the leadership of the primary school head teacher.
The education committee unanimously agreed to the change to the early learning centre model.
The committee report and a recording of the meeting are available via the links in the Related Links and Other Websites sections of this page.