Menstrie nursery welcomes kids

A new nursery in Menstrie has officially opened its doors as a council outlines efforts to meet new guidelines on early years education.

The facility, which is attached to the primary school, was launched last month and has spaces for 107 children aged between two and five.

It is open all year round and offers flexible early learning and childcare between 8am and 5.40pm, with families being offered the chance to use their funding entitlement during term time only or spread it over the whole year.

And it is part of efforts being made by Clackmannanshire Council to match the Scottish Government’s commitment to expand the number of hours of funded early learning and children to 1140 hours a year.

The nursery’s head, Lorna Willows, said: “We are delighted to open our beautiful new nursery and to have been so welcomed by the Menstrie community.

“We are looking forward to engaging with families and working together to make a difference for our children.”

Councillor Graham Lindsay, Clackmannanshire’s education spokesman, said:“In Clackmannanshire, we are ahead of the game when it comes to early years provision with nine out of 16 nurseries already providing the full 1140 hours entitlement.

“Our staff have worked extremely hard to get to this point and it has been a big undertaking which has not just been about building capacity for families in Clackmannanshire but also about investing in the council’s school estate which we have seen with the opening of the fantastic new facility at Menstrie Nursery.