In the heart of Winterborne Stickland, a village community is rallying to save a piece of their village’s history. The Stickleberries pre-school and day nursery abruptly closed its doors in August 2023, leaving many families scrambling for childcare. Stickleberries nursery had opened in the former school building in 2015. Last August, Ofsted had suspended the nursery’s registration three days before its closure because inspectors believed children “may be at risk of harm”.
The nursery resigned its registration the following day. Now, a determined group of locals has launched a GoFundMe campaign to buy the historic building and reopen it as the Winterborne Stickland Nursery School.
The site in Winterborne Stickland was gifted for use as a school to the Diocese of Salisbury in 1859 by banker Carl Joachim Hambro, then owner of Milton Abbey. It served as the village school until 2013. The nursery which succeeded it offered essential services like after-school and holiday clubs, benefitting children from the village and surrounding areas, including Blandford.
When the day nursery closed it triggered a clause which meant the whole site gets handed back to the benefactor’s family.
The building is now under threat of being sold at auction: The Diocese of Salisbury, which is currently holding the site as trustee, said: ‘The legal process to trace descendants has recently finished and there is a valid claim.’
Locals fear a sale of the site could potentially lead to its demolition. Leading the effort to save the school are locals Anna Way and Carole House, who have formed a Community Interest Company (CIC) to manage the nursery if they can secure the building. The village has shown overwhelming support, with various locals donating their professional expertise free of charge. Anna and Carole are driven not only by a passion to preserve the legacy of the school but also to meet the urgent need for a pre-school with wraparound childcare in the area. Ann says she hopes reopening the school would be the ‘catalyst for really positive change. There’s a terrible shortage of childcare in North Dorset.’
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