At the Cabinet meeting on Monday 29 June, councillors agreed to transfer Roundabout Nursery to Aurora Academies Trust from September 2026, subject to agreement of legal contracts.
A Business Transfer Agreement, Transitional Grant Agreement and lease will be drafted to provide appropriate safeguards over the transfer, use of public funding and continued operation of the nursery.
To protect the future of the site, the lease will restrict use of the building to nursery provision.
Roundabout Nursery currently offers 8am to 6pm early years nursery provision year-round for children aged 0 to 4.
In 2025/26, Roundabout Nursery had a budgeted subsidy of £365,000 from the council’s general fund. As a result of increasing financial pressures, councillors agreed that savings needed to be made, with the savings expected to be realised over a 3-year period as part of our budget proposals.
Aurora Academies Trust runs City Academy Whitehawk on the same site as Roundabout Nursery. In June 2024, City Academy Whitehawk was rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted for its early years provision.
Aurora is committed to continuing the delivery of all year-round, all-day provision at Roundabout Nursery. Following the transfer, the nursery will become part of City Academy Whitehawk which will help support a smoother journey from nursery to school.
Councillor Emma Daniel, Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Youth Services, said: “Transferring Roundabout Nursery to Aurora Academies Trust would help us ensure high-quality early years provision continues to be available for families in Whitehawk.
“Importantly, this change would also enable us to deliver necessary savings to the council budget.
"We’ve heard loud and clear how passionate families are about Roundabout Nursery, how much it means to the community in Whitehawk and the important role it has played in so many people's lives.
“Transferring the nursery to Aurora Academies Trust would allow us to safeguard its future and ensure the local community can continue benefit from it for many years to come."
We’ve held a range of engagement and consultation activities to inform the development of the proposal to transfer Roundabout Nursery to Aurora Academies Trust.
Community engagement took place through the council’s Your Voice platform with a survey open from 26 May to 19 June 2026 to gather views about the proposed changes. We have considered the consultation feedback as part of our decision making process.
Parents and carers from the nursery were contacted directly to explain the proposal, invite them to reach out with any questions or concerns and inform them of the Your Voice survey.