Nursery bosses have revealed their struggle to find a new home after being forced to leave their current site of 30 years.

Little Acorns Nursery will leave Kingsnorth Recreation Centre in Ashford at the end of the school year after the building was taken over by a church.

It comes as the site was sold off by Ashford Borough Council (ABC) at the start of the year to World Mission Agency, Winners Chapel International, a religious organisation and charity.

After initially finding out the news in May, the manager of the pre-school Donna White, said they were reassured constantly throughout the sale period that they would be safe.

However, they were left in shock when they thought they were told by the church to leave immediately.

Despite this initial concern, the confusion was resolved when the nursery staff were in fact told that had to leave by the end of August this year - but this stay has been extended to August 2025.

Charlotte Jones from Little Acorns told KentOnline: “There was a lot of confusion.

“The new plans that were submitted by Winners Chapel have a nursery written on them.

“There was a lot of confusion, a lot of people asking us, is that you? And it's not us.

“Whether they've got their own nursery, I'm not entirely sure, they haven't said.

“But we are homeless from the end of August 2025.”

She added their biggest fear now is their current pupils could be left having to find another nursery if they are unable to source a new location for Little Acorns.

“It's just a lot of uncertainty for us and all the parents and the children,” she said.

“The children who aren't going to school in September will have to find somewhere else, and there’s already a nursery shortage in Ashford.

“We have about 20 children who would be affected.

“A lot of their siblings go to the two local schools so it's just going to create a lot of upheaval for the families that we care for. That's our biggest concern.”

Mrs Jones added staff at Little Acorns have already been searching for a new home, but are yet to find anywhere suitable.

She said they have also enquired about the former Jelly Beans Nursery, which has been empty for three years, but have had no luck in securing the site.

“There is nowhere really in the local area that we can easily move into - there's nowhere available,” she said.

“So we might have to move it out of the local community – it’s a real shame.

“We will make a decision at Easter so that we can give parents sufficient time to find elsewhere for their children if they need to.”

Mrs Jones added if anyone knows of a new site which could be suitable for Little Acorns, to get in touch via littleacorns1@btconnect.com.

On asking the nursery to leave immediately in May, Enoch Akame, a trustee at Winners Chapel said it was a big misunderstanding that should never have happened.

He added in that statement that the nursery had been given until August 2024.

KentOnline has made multiple requests and attempts to contact Winners Chapel for further comment via email and phone.