A village nursery has taken the devastating decision to close after struggling to pay its costs and seeing the number of children plummet.

Jellybeans Pre-school in Wouldham High Street said goodbye to its final pupils last Thursday (July 6) after 30 years.

The four staff members are now returning to the empty building to remove any trace of the nursery, including giving away toys, tables, chairs and garden equipment.

Terry Ray, who has worked at the charity-run pre-school near Rochester on and off for almost 10 years, said manager Donna Cook is finding the situation devastating and did not take the decison to close lightly.

The 52-year-old said: “It was really hard for her. She did consider limping along until Christmas but then she decided when new starters come in September it would not be fair to close at Christmas.

“Donna is so upset. She has been here 28 years. The nursery is her baby and her life.”

Terry explains Donna had no choice but to close as it was just not sustainable to pay the staff wages and hire the hall for the amount of revenue coming in.

Terry said the other members of staff, Tracey Cranfield, who have been there 20 years and Alison Day, who has worked there for 14 years, are facing the prospect of finding new jobs.

The nursery, which has been running since 1996, had space for 25 children but Terry said there was sometimes only three youngsters attending the afternoon sessions.

The early years worker also squares their demise with the government’s decision to offer 30-hours free childcare for the fall in numbers.

“I thought I was going to retire here,” she said. “Gone are the days where you could drop your child off to nursery just for the socialising aspect, collect them at lunch and be a mum in the afternoon like I did.

“The government are encouraging mothers to go back to work, but that means they need to put their children into childcare facilities which are open for longer.

I thought I was going to retire here

“The government has really not thought about the little people in all this.”

Jellybeans, which catered for chidren from two to five-year-olds, was only open until 3pm and increasingly became less of an option for working parents.

Terry says the growing demise of the village pre-school is really disappointing.

“They are a dying breed, which is sad because they are great. They are the heart of the community,” she said.

“They get to know the children and their families; they become like families.”

In recent months there has been an increase in pre-schools closing with more than 30 childcare providers shutting their doors across the county in only four months, Ofsted data has revealed.

Between August 31 and December 31 last year, 32 providers of childcare in non-domestic premises left the early years register in Kent and Medway.

This equates to 204 childcare places – almost half of the total lost for the south east at 439.

The data does not include nurseries within school settings or childcare provided in someone’s home.

Speaking about the increased closure of nurseries across the country, Jonathan Broadbery, director of policy and communications at National Day Nurseries Association, said: “With the cost-of-living pressures and the winter months around the corner nurseries across Kent and the South East are seriously worried about sustainability.

“Most nurseries are small businesses and, just like households, these are hugely impacted by rocketing fuel costs, food prices and inflation.

"At the same time, they are chronically underfunded by the government for the early education and care they provide.

“The government increased funding rates per child in Kent by only 3.7% this year, but inflation has been higher than 10%."

By 2027-28 the government plans to provide £4.1 billion to expand the 30 hours a week of free childcare for working parents of younger children in England.

Under the current system, parents of three and four-year-olds in England are eligible for 15 hours of free childcare per week, and working parents with children in the same age group are eligible for 30 hours of free childcare.

Now all eligible households in England with children as young as nine months – where all adults are working at least 16 hours a week – will be entitled to 30 hours a week of free childcare.

The offer of free childcare will be available to working parents of two-year-olds from April 2024, covering around half-a-million parents, but initially it will be limited to 15 hours.

From September 2024, the 15-hour offer will be extended to children from nine months, which the government has said will help nearly a million parents.

The full 30-hour offer to working parents of children under five will come in from September 2025.

The Department for Education says it recognises there are some local challenges in the availability of childcare places but the picture was "broadly positive", with it confident in the strength of the childcare market.