Donington school welcomes additional funding to provide more nursery spaces

Schools have welcomed additional funding to provide more nursery spaces to ensure that no child is left behind.

Donington Cowley Endowed Primary School and Wygate Park Academy in Spalding are among the 300 organisations nationally to receive a share of the new Government funding.

The Government is increasing the number of state-funded hours of childcare and aims to deliver 4,000 places from September.

A shortage of nursery places has long been an issue for parents in South Holland with Lincolnshire County Council revealing last year that the area needed nearly 300 more spaces.

Donington Cowley Endowed Primary School will be offering up to 16 additional spaces for three to four-year-olds within its nursery.

Executive headteacher Sophie Foston said: “We are delighted to have been successful in our Department for Education nursery funding bid.

“With the demand for nursery places increasing, this will make such a difference for the children of Donington and surrounding areas.

“Our own onsite nursery at will provide quality and consistency to ensure that no child is left behind. Our offer of high quality, inclusive nursery provision will support early vocabulary development, communication and interaction and the personal development of children, ensuring school readiness and fostering a love of learning right from the start.

“Working with our existing nursery team at our federation school, St Gilbert of Sempringham, our vision would be for the EYFS teams to work together in partnership, drawing on existing expertise and working effectively in collaboration to ensure high quality provision for all children within the Horizon Schools Federation.”

We have approached Wygate Park for comment about the additional money.

Other schools in the county which will receive a share of the funding include: Friskney All Saints CE Primary School in Boston, Malcolm Sargent Primary School in Stamford, Gainsborough Hillcrest Early Years Academy, the Lincoln Manor Leas Infants School and William Alvey School in Sleaford.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “Delivering on our promise of a better early years system is my top priority, which is why we’ve more than doubled our investment in this first phase so thousands more children can benefit from a high-quality early education from this September.

“We said we’d act, and now we have. But this is just the beginning - we’ve set a hugely important milestone to get tens of thousands more children every year school-ready by age five as part of our Plan for Change.

“We’re raising the bar for early years, delivering on our manifesto commitments and building a system that gives every child the best start in life.”