Families fear they could be left without vital childcare after three children’s centres were told to leave the sites they have occupied for decades.

Parents were shocked by the decision made by King Harold Academy last week, which has left Waltham Abbey Kids Club, Sunshine Nursery and Wishing Well Pre-school frantically looking for new homes.

The school has said it can no longer accommodate the centres due to a planned increase in pupil numbers.

Waltham Abbey Kids' Club owner, Rachel Page, 44, has just three weeks to find new premises.

She said: "This is going to impact upon the whole of the Abbey.

"There are 52 children here from 42 families at the club.

"Right now I don’t know what I am going to do.

"I understand that the school wants us to move, but the speed at which they have done it is disappointing.

"I have until the end of August, but we break up for the holidays on July 23.

"I have been looking for places to go but we can’t go too far from the schools.

"I have five-year-olds which we walk down here, they couldn’t walk too far.

"If I have to provide transport then the cost for parents will sky rocket, which I just can’t do.

"At the moment my only hope is that the school will give us until Christmas."

Thirty-four-year-old mother Michelle Flynn has begun a petition asking King Harold to give the centre more time to prepare.

She said: "The Children are from all the Waltham Abbey Schools and it’s open from 3pm to 6pm.

"This enables families to work with trusted and reasonably priced childcare.

"Not only will this provision be lost, so will the jobs of the women who work there.

"This issue is very close to my heart. I have always worked and Sunshine nursery and Waltham Abbey Kids' Club have taken fantastic care of my children.

"My daughter Eve is 9 in August and I have no child care for her from September."

The Sunshine Nursery has been told it must leave by December 2014.

Owner Julie Holmes said: "Last week I was given the letter with the notice to quit, I cannot explain how bad it felt. I was in total shock.

"I have run the nursery since 1990 and we have been very happy here.

"I now have 20 staff facing job threats. Across the three centres there will be about 35 people facing job threats and 200 children without anywhere to go.

"We are not giving up though, this is my life, my passion.

"It is my mission to find somewhere to take the nursery. If anyone knows of anywhere, or has land to rent, we are considering all options.

"There is nowhere else for children in Waltham Abbey to go, most nurseries are all full.

"We would like to reassure all our new  and existing that we will continue to offer high quality child care now and into the future in our new premises."

Lynn Russell and Linda Jessop of the Wishing Well Pre-school must also find alternative premises for the 43 children in their care.

Denice Halpin, headteacher at King Harold, insits the school has no choice but to ask them to leave.

She said: "It is with considerable regret that we find ourselves in the position of having to terminate the leases. 

"However, owing to the recent success of the school and the increase in our roll, we are no longer able to accommodate private businesses using our site.

"The decision has been taken based on the expansion of student numbers, which looks set to continue for at least the next 5 years, and the subsequent need to develop existing health and safety arrangements."

Miss Flynn's petition can be found at http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-waltham-after-kids-club.html.