Preschool on the cards at Locks Heath Infant School as bid to made to accept younger children on site
An infant school in Hampshire has made a bid to accept younger children which will allow it to set up pre school provision.
Hampshire County Council’s executive lead member for children’s services, councillor Roz Chad, is set to approve the move to lower the age range at Locks Heath Infant School in Warsash Road as well as Lanterns Nursery School in Bereweeke Road, Winchester.
Locks Heath Infant School is a maintained community school in the Fareham district and is currently approved to take children of school age from Reception (ages four to five) to Year 2 (ages six to seven).
The school’s governing body is seeking to lower the school age range to children from two years old and directly manage an early years facility for a minimum of 21 children up to a maximum of 40. Its proposal aims to open a new early years provision within the school building.
Lanterns Nursery School, in the St Barnabas area of Winchester, is seeking to start taking babies from six weeks old. It currently accepts children from two to five years old. It is also a ‘resourced provision’ so has 36 childcare places for children with special educational needs and disabilities. The nursery school currently accommodates 103 children.
With the expanded provision, eligible working parents of children from nine months old to school age in the area would start having access to 30 hours of childcare a week from September 2025. Both proposals will help the county council to expand its early provision offer in the areas.
The final approval will be made this week (March 7).