Hampshire County Council are consulting to lower the entrance age at Merton Infant School to 2 years old. This will enable Merton Infants to take over the management of the existing onsite nursery school and expand the early years offer including for 2 year olds and for wrap around care. These expansions follow the Government's announcement of 30 hours free childcare for all under 4s by September 2025 and access to wrap around care place for all children.
Maria said,
‘’The average family in Basingstoke has two working parents, juggling the cost and logistics of childcare as part of their working day. Merton’s Head plans to expand the number of pre-school places and to expand the number of children benefiting from “wrap around care” from 8am-6pm. The onsite nursery will move to being directly managed by the school offering the opportunity of a broad early years curriculum plus continuity when 4 year olds start school.
"Extra early years places and more wrap around care is real help to working families across Basingstoke and is only possible becasue of the record investment by the Government in giving every children the opportunity of the best start in life alongside the real commitment from our local schools to offer the best for children and parents"
For more information about the proposed changes at Merton Infants School please follow: Public notice | Hampshire County Council (hants.gov.uk)