Thursday 21 November 2024
 3.6°C   ENE Moderate Breeze
Ocean Kinetics - The Engineering Experts

Education / Nurseries to close early for building work

The Happyhansel Primary School in Walls had an extension built to provide additional space for early years activities. Photo: SIC

FOUR early years facilities in Shetland will be forced to take a longer summer break to allow for building work as part of an expansion of early learning and childcare.

Shetland Islands Council has advised parents that work will be undertaken at the early years settings at Bell’s Brae, Sound and Cunningsburgh Primary Schools and at Baltasound Junior High School this summer.

The council says that each setting will close one week before the start of the schools’ summer break to allow building work to begin.

Work is expected to continue through the summer holiday period into first two weeks of the new term, with the four early years settings due to be closed during this time or until the building work is completed.

It is part of a wider capital programme that will make improvements to most of Shetland’s early learning and childcare settings as the Scottish Government looks to increase the hours of free early learning and childcare across the country from 600 to 1,140 hours per year by 2020.

Among the work planned this summer is changing the layout of rooms to create areas for children who will be attending for longer hours.

The new layouts will provide necessary spaces for activities like meal preparation and dining, and areas for children to sleep and rest, as well as improvements to allow children to have access to outdoor spaces, the council said.

Shetland Islands Council’s education and families committee chairman George Smith said: “It’s an exciting and busy time for our early years settings as we expand our early learning and childcare service across Shetland.

“There’s a lot of work underway on staff development in many settings and at these four schools we also need to do work to the buildings.

“We understand that this will have an impact on parents and carers at these schools but hope that they can support us while we do this necessary work, to meet our commitment to offer 1,140 hours of free early learning and childcare across Shetland by 2020.”

Become a member of Shetland News

Shetland News is asking its many readers to consider paying for membership to get additional features and services: -

  • Remove non-local ads;
  • Bookmark posts to read later;
  • Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
  • Hide membership messages;
  • Comments open for discussion.

If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please become a member of Shetland News by either making a single payment, or setting up a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription.

 
Advertisement 
Advertisement 
Advertisement 
Advertisement 

Newsletters

Subscribe to a selection of different newsletters from Shetland News, varying from breaking news delivered on the minute, to a weekly round-up of the opinion posts. All delivered straight to your inbox.

Daily Briefing Newsletter Weekly Highlights Newsletter Opinion Newsletter Life in Shetland Newsletter

JavaScript Required

We're sorry, but Shetland News isn't fully functional without JavaScript enabled.
Head over to the help page for instructions on how to enable JavaScript on your browser.

Your Privacy

We use cookies on our site to improve your experience.
By using our service, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy.

Browser is out-of-date

Shetland News isn't fully functional with this version of .
Head over to the help page for instructions on updating your browser for more security, improved speed and the best overall experience on this site.

Interested in Notifications?

Get notifications from Shetland News for important and breaking news.
You can unsubscribe at any time.

Have you considered becoming a member of Shetland News?

If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please consider paying for membership and get the following features and services: -

  • Remove non-local ads;
  • Bookmark posts to read later;
  • Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
  • Hide membership messages;
  • Comments open for discussion.