A PRE-SCHOOL which is set to close in four weeks is causing problems for parents in the area who cannot drive.

Heighington Pre-school will shut from July 19 after a drastic fall in the number of children enrolled to attend in September – leaving the parents of five children with the decision of where to send their youngsters in the next school year.

For resident Kelly Purdie, not being able to drive will make the commute to another nursery difficult for herself and her three-year-old son, Kian.

She said: “I can’t decide which way to go. It’s going to mean getting buses in the morning to drop him off and then getting a bus later again to pick him up, or if I go somewhere else I will have to get a taxi.

“It’s a bit of a nightmare.”

Mrs Purdie, 36, who works in Newton Aycliffe, has been looking at nurseries near her job, as well as further afield in Bishop Auckland, and says the pre-school was a central part of the village community.

She said: “It’s not only about the convenience of it, it’s about the pre-school. There are parents who bring their children from outside the area because it’s a really good school.

“I think it will cause a big impact on the village. Quite a lot of new houses are being built around the area and that could have got it some new interest. It’s a real shame.”

Heighington Pre-school was established in 1998 and currently makes use of Heighington Village Hall, a once old school building itself, five days a week.

The closure of the school will mean that the hall’s income will fall by almost 50 per cent, coming as a big blow as the committee is already struggling to raise money for maintenance and to replace the building’s old single-glazed windows.

Helen Lyons, who runs the pre-school and lives in the village, said the struggle to keep the school open comes from running part-time at 15 hours per week while competing with other full-time nurseries that run at 30 hours per week.

She said: “We don’t know whether it’s the area but it’s the lack of funding and lack of children that’s really having an impact. When we received such great Ofsted rating it still didn’t have a knock-on effect.

“We have been here for 20 years and it’s just such a sad thing, but we’ve got to be happy because at the end of the day we have put in a lot of time and we’ve served the community. We’ve had some really lovely children and families.

“We’re happy that we have been given the chance to be part of such good community.”