Dear supporter,
Firstly, thank you.
Whether you signed our petition when it first launched, shared it with friends and family, attended one of our events or have simply followed our campaign from afar, your support has helped give Stanley’s families a voice.
A lot has happened since we launched the Save Our Stanley’s campaign, so we wanted to bring our online petition supporters up to date on where things currently stand.
🧸 The fight to Save Our Stanley’s continues
South Tyneside Council’s proposal would see all 10 Stanley’s nursery settings close by July 2027, bringing an end to a service that generations of South Tyneside families have relied upon.
From the beginning, one of our greatest concerns has been that the families who use these nurseries have not been formally consulted on their proposed closure.
The consultation undertaken by the Council has been a staff consultation, despite the enormous implications these proposals could have for children, parents, carers and future families across our borough.
That is why we have continued to make sure family and community voices are heard in every way available to us.
✍️ Thousands of people have stood behind Stanley’s
Our petition has received thousands of signatures online, alongside thousands more collected on paper throughout South Tyneside.
That support has allowed us to demonstrate something incredibly important: this is not simply an employment issue or a question about Council buildings. It is an issue that matters deeply to families and communities across our borough.
We have taken the campaign into our town centres and communities through Stanley’s Stalls, Stanley’s Stomp, Stanley’s Steps, Teddies Takeover and Stanley’s Social.
We have attended Council meetings, spoken at community forums, contacted councillors, MPs and government representatives, submitted Freedom of Information requests, scrutinised Council documents and continued to gather evidence.
And throughout all of it, we have tried to keep one thing at the centre: the children and families who rely on Stanley’s.
🏛️ Our petition reached the Council
Our petition and accompanying statement were formally presented to South Tyneside Council at its meeting on 30 July.
Families attended the meeting peacefully to see their petition presented and to make sure the strength of feeling surrounding these proposals was visible.
We have also continued to contact councillors across the borough. We believe every elected member should understand what is being proposed, what families are concerned about and the questions that remain unanswered before any final decision is made.
Our campaign remains completely apolitical. Stanley’s children do not belong to a political party, and neither does our campaign.
We will speak to, work with and welcome support from elected representatives of any political party — or none — who are willing to listen to the families affected.
📩 The issue has now reached Government
One of the most significant developments has been correspondence from Paul Waugh MP, Minister for Early Education, following representations made on behalf of our campaign by Emma Lewell, MP.
The Minister wrote directly to South Tyneside Council regarding the proposed changes.
Importantly, the correspondence highlighted the Council’s statutory responsibilities around securing sufficient childcare and the need for decisions to be informed by robust and up-to-date evidence, including consideration of sufficiency, accessibility, affordability and quality.
For families who have spent months questioning whether there is genuinely enough alternative provision to replace Stanley’s, this intervention is extremely important.
We have circulated the Minister’s correspondence to councillors because we believe everyone who may ultimately be involved in decisions concerning Stanley’s should have the opportunity to read it.
🧸 402 footprints. 299 bears. 103 fewer children.
Last week we held our Teddies Takeover at South Shields Amphitheatre.
When these proposals began, 402 children were represented within the Stanley’s service. We placed 402 children’s footprints across the amphitheatre — but only 299 teddy bears. The remaining 103 empty footprints represented children no longer there.
We believe the uncertainty created by the closure proposals is already having an impact.
At the same time as families have been waiting for answers about the future, staff have understandably been leaving an uncertain service. Questions remain around vacancies and whether departing staff are being replaced.
We are extremely concerned about the possibility of a service being allowed to decline while its future is still supposedly being considered.
Families should not be presented with declining numbers later as evidence that Stanley’s is no longer needed when the uncertainty surrounding its proposed closure may itself have contributed to that decline.
That is something we will continue to challenge.
📊 We are continuing to scrutinise the evidence
Behind the public events, an enormous amount of work has also been taking place.
We have submitted Freedom of Information requests, requested internal reviews where we believe responses have been inadequate, examined Council reports and childcare sufficiency information, and continued asking questions about:
• current and future childcare capacity across South Tyneside
• waiting lists and unmet demand
• how many places would genuinely be available to Stanley’s children
• affordability for families
• accessibility and location of alternative provision
• provision for children with additional needs
• staffing and vacancies within Stanley’s
• how the impact on families has been assessed
• and what evidence will ultimately be used to justify any recommendation
Some answers have raised more questions rather than fewer, and we will continue pursuing them.
💛 Stanley’s Social
This weekend we were finally able to hold our rescheduled Stanley’s Social.
Unlike some of our other campaign activities, this wasn’t about speeches, politics or protesting. It was simply an opportunity for Stanley’s families and supporters to come together, allow our children to enjoy themselves and remind everyone exactly what sits behind all of the reports, figures and debate: real children, real families and real communities.
Thank you to everyone who joined us and helped make the day special.
📅 What happens next?
We are now entering an incredibly important stage of the campaign.
A Council report setting out the options for the future of Stanley’s is expected to come before Cabinet later this month. We will be watching that process extremely closely.
Before any decision is taken, we believe councillors must be satisfied that they have been given the full picture — including robust evidence of childcare sufficiency, the consequences for families, the effect the proposals themselves have already had on the service, and the voices of the people who actually use it.
Closing ten established nurseries is not a decision that can easily be reversed. It deserves the highest possible level of scrutiny.
📣 Please stay with us
The campaign isn’t over.
In fact, the coming weeks could be some of the most important yet. Please continue to share our petition, talk about Stanley’s and follow the campaign so that you can help us respond when the next Council report is published.
- Every signature has helped us demonstrate the strength of public feeling
- Every share has helped another person understand what is happening
- Every person who has turned up, written an email, asked a question or simply told somebody else about Stanley’s has helped keep this issue visible
- We started this campaign because families felt they weren’t being heard
- Together, you have made us impossible to ignore
Whatever happens next, we will continue asking questions, challenging the evidence and standing up for the children, families and staff who make Stanley’s what it is.
From all of us at Save Our Stanley’s: thank you for standing with us. 🧸💛
Save Our Stanley’s
Parents, families and community supporters fighting to protect all 10 Stanley’s nurseries in South Tyneside