A PLAY school fears it may have to close for good after St John’s Ambulance told it to move out of the hall it hires.

The Little School Ltd, which uses Priory Hall in Love Lane, Andover, has been ordered to leave by site owner St John’s Ambulance.

There has been a pre-school at Priory Hall for nearly 30 years, but the first aid charity is now terminating the hire as of January 1, 2017.

Nursery bosses have spoken out against the decision and fear it could be the end for the business, which has about 30 children on its books.

A statement sent to the Advertiser by The Little School’s Donna Hermitage reads: “With great sadness upon return for the new academic year we had to inform new and old parents of our situation.

“We informed the parents that we fully understood if they wished to remove their child and find them a new placement, and while we did lose a couple of new starters most families have remained.”

The pre-school’s plight comes after a poor Ofsted rating. The Advertiser reported in July that it had been rated inadequate in every area by inspectors.

This week’s statement added: “This news has come on top of our Ofsted inspection of which they decided we were inadequate, to the disgust and disbelief of all our parents. We are waiting for our follow up inspection at any time.

“Our parents have naturally started looking around for alternate places for their children, but have expressed they would rather stay with us should we have the opportunity to find an alternative venue.

“Our search thus far has yet to be proven successful. We are now running out of options and are at a loss as to where else to try. We have advised our parents we will update them as soon as possible with any news, but at the moment it is looking increasingly likely we may have to close our doors for good on December 16.”

Elizabeth Harper, St John’s Ambulance London and South regional director, said: “We’re extremely grateful for the support from The Little School over many years, but we’ve had to make the hard decision to end the hire agreement to enable us to expand our own use of the building.

"From early in the new year a programme of first aid and health and safety training courses will be available at the venue, with all surplus income from this training helping to fund our charitable work – teaching people first aid and campaigning to educate people about the importance of knowing life saving skills.”

Little School is now asking Advertiser readers for help finding an alternative venue or solution.

If you can help please email newsdesk@andoveradvertiser.co.uk and we will passon your information.