Nursery, Goldsmiths, University of London

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Goldsmiths’ nursery will be closing at the end of September 2010.

Childcare support at Goldsmiths is currently part of an ongoing review in order to improve support options for our staff and students.

The on-site nursery has been one of the only forms of support available in the past. Although it has built a reputation for offering care of the highest quality, the nursery is limited to just 23 full-time places for children of both staff and students, which this year (2009-2010) supported 29 children in part-time attendance.

As so few people are able to benefit from the nursery, and also because it is currently operating at a loss of £70k per annum and has therefore needed significant subsidising for many years, the decision has been taken to close the nursery this year and focus on more widely accessible forms of childcare support.

In the current financial climate we believe that closing the nursery is in the best interests of the College as a whole.

If you have any questions about the nursery, please contact Alison Ahern, Director of Student Services, a.ahern@gold.ac.uk or 020 7919 7075.

Ongoing childcare support

Home and EU undergraduate students are still eligible to apply for statutory financial support for assistance with childcare costs. They are also able to apply for additional assistance from the means-tested Access to Learning Funds.

All home and EU postgraduates can apply for assistance from the Access to Learning funds.

Students on Learning and Skills Council-funded courses can apply for assistance from the Learner Support Fund.

Goldsmiths has recently adopted a salary sacrifice scheme for staff parents. The scheme can help staff minimise childcare costs and enables people to use childcare vouchers to pay for all types of registered childcare across the UK. Vouchers can be redeemed with childminders, holiday schemes, nannies, au pairs, nurseries, after-school clubs, playgroups and crèches. For more information please see the Human Resources site.

The review of childcare support is ongoing. Alison Ahern, Director of Student Services will, in consultation with the College community, identify reasonable means to support Goldsmiths students and staff who have childcare responsibilities and will make recommendations on this to SMT by the end of December 2010.