An extraordinary meeting due to take place tonight will decide the future of Ickleford Pre-School, after committee members and senior staff concluded it “did not consider it viable to continue”.

The pre-school, which is a registered charity, sent a letter out to parents at the start of the month, informing them that while it had reached this conclusion, it was down to the charity members to decide whether to dissolve the charity or not.

This will be decided by vote by members at tonight's meeting - parents of children who currently attend the pre-school hold family membership, which means each family will have one vote.

The impending decision on the future of the pre-school in Arlesey Road will affect the two to four-year-olds who currently attend the groups based in the Ickleford Village Hall.

Committee members said in the letter: "It is with deep regret that we are writing to let you know that members of the committee, in consultation with senior staff members, have concluded that we do not consider it viable to continue running the pre-school beyond this academic term.

"While this is a decision that we have not reached lightly, it should not come as a huge surprise in light of the information we have circulated over the last year about the funding gap in early years provisions, which is a nationwide problem.

"We know that this news will come as a real disappointment. We are, of course aware of the impact it will have on you as parents/carers as well as all of our staff.

"We will provide further information at the EGM detailing the reasons why we have reached this conclusion."

The letter - which was emailed to parents, and was signed by 'Ickleford Pre-School Committee' - goes on to ask recipients to "avoid discussion about the EGM, in particular on social media", to avoid "pre-judging of the decision that must be taken at the meeting".

Parents are invited to the meeting, which is taking place at Ickleford Village Hall at 8pm tonight.