First Step in Hornchurch, which runs a 30-place Outstanding-rated nursery exclusively for children with special educational needs and disabilities and provides a range of services to support families, needs to raise £200,000 to survive.
The charity used to receive funding from the local authority on top of what it receives to deliver two-, three- and four-year-old places, but this was withdrawn in March 2017.
Chief executive of First Step, Mark Hall, said, ‘For many years, we received additional funding. At one stage, we got half a million pounds, which funded a minibus and a music therapist.
‘In 2007, we moved to the building we are in now, a former school, after the local authority encouraged us to move to somewhere bigger. Then in 2008, the financial crisis hit. As of then, our funding from the local authority began to fall. By 2016, our funding had reduced to £120,000 a year. To make up the money, we fundraised, generating nearly £200,000.
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