St Mary’s Pre-School in Chesham told parents that the school would close for good after families broke off for the summer holidays.

The chairman of the school’s management committee Nigel Edward-Few said he was “very, very sad” to oversee the closure, but they had no choice after hitting “a number of brick walls.”

The 71-year-old educator said: “I will miss the school very much and I’m disappointed it has sadly come to this under my chairmanship.

“The parents like us are very sad but I think they understand. But they are saddened by it. I think there will be increased pressure on groups like us offering education as well not just nursery. That’s another loss for the community – we are actually an educational establishment, not just a nursery or child minding.”

A cocktail of lack of funding from the government, a change in demand from parents due to the cost-of-living crisis and rising costs led to the closure of the pre-school, which ran sessions from morning until noon and a lunch club for many children part-time and some five days a week.

He explained: “It’s very much about funding. The government have really changed funding towards children and they now said children up to two-years-old will get funding. That has changed the landscape as what they propose doesn’t cover the costs.

“The other factor is the landscape change in what parents need and wants because of the economic situation. Both parents are needing to work full time and what we offer cannot fit that.

“Our costs have escalated, particularly from accommodation point of view. We are currently in the Chesham FC club house and the cost of what we have to pay for that have risen hugely to the point it’s difficult to sustain.”

As the football ground is due for redevelopment, the school would need to find a new home even if they stayed open, he said.

“We have explored a lot and there’s nowhere suitable that we can actually afford,” Nigel added.

Nigel said he regretted that the school was not able to offer full time care, but he had noticed an increase in whole day nurseries opening in Chesham recently to fill that demand from parents.

“It’s a great shame. We have tried our best over the couple of years to sustain but sadly we have used our reserves and we cannot continue. We have run a deficit for the past couple of years,” he said.

Some of the staff have been with the school for more than 20 years, but luckily almost all of them have now got employment in other schools, Nigel explained.

“We have been open for 55 years, but unfortunately there’s no way on,” he added.