TODDLERS will be going to big school when Shaw Ridge Primary opens a nursery in the New Year.

Head teacher Sally Cowell told the Adver staff decided to seize the chance to open the school’s own nursery in Ridge Green and start taking in youngsters from the age of three.

She said: “It’s a bit of a tight schedule to get it open by January but we are very excited about this opportunity.

“We are excited for the three and four year olds to start here, our hope is moving forward we will be able to extend that to two year olds not long after. We have had confirmation that we can take on children starting from two up to 11 on board when it gets a bit steady, so we are all ready to go.”

A relocation of the Shaw Ridge playgroup was confirmed last month.

Ms Cowell, who joined the staff at the school as a deputy head in 1995, said: “We have members of staff who are part of our teaching team who are qualified to run the nursery which is brilliant because then we are prepared and we have the experts at hand. We are happy to support the community even more now that it is opening.

“I think from our perspective having a nursery will be an adventure. Parents and children will get to be part of the school and a part of our family which will be key to us. They will have access to what we have to offer including a special needs counsellor.”

The school’s application was accepted by the council, but now the race is on to get everything ready for a start early in 2020.

“We are moving very rapidly to get it all in place for January so we have had only a few months to do this. For some families they will find the different location of the pre-school hard so it was essential for us to make sure that they could come to us.

“We have had a lot of interest from parents. The youngest we have had was born in September this year but their parents have already chosen us for when they are old enough.”

Shaw Ridge Nursery still has places available for toddlers to join in 2020.