A PRE-SCHOOL will be able to take 50 per cent more children after it was given £356,000 for a new home.

Stanford Pre-school, which marks its 40th anniversary this year, currently uses Stanford in the Vale village hall as its base and has never had its own building.

Now the pre-school has been given a grant from Oxfordshire County Council under its early years capital programme, meaning for the first time staff will not have to pack the entire pre-school away at the end of each session.

It will also mean 24 children at a time can be looked after, compared to 16 in any one session at the moment.

There are about 30 children on the books, and the age three to five sessions are oversubscribed.

Manager Pam Smith said: “At the moment, we have to wait for a child to ask if they want something out of the cupboard, but with a new building we will have the equipment out already.

“Everything will be new and completely child oriented, so everything is going to be changed for the better, even down to being able to display pictures on the walls.”

The grant was approved last week – just a few days after Oxfordshire County Council announced it would be reviewing all its capital building projects to cut costs. A council spokesman confirmed the pre-school funding would not be part of that review.

The new, purpose-built structure will include an activity room, office and meeting space, storage facilities, toilets, a kitchen and outdoor play space, and will be built on land next to the hall.

Pre-school staff estimated they spend 129 hours each six-week term setting up and packing away.

Mrs Smith said: “It’s going to be a massive improvement and we’re really pleased, although I don’t think it has really sunk in yet.

“It couldn’t be a better time to have a brand new building. It’s all very exciting.”

Pre-school committee chairman Melinda Tilley, who has grandchildren at the centre, said: “This will mean we can take all the children on the waiting list so that all the children in Stanford in the Vale who want to will be able to come here. We’re absolutely over the moon and we’ve got all sorts of ideas about what we can do.”

She added: “While I don’t think this area of funding was ever under threat, we are extremely lucky that, while all the capital projects are being stopped, we are going to get our new pre-school.”

To celebrate its anniversary, the school will be holding a summer ball on Saturday, June 26.

Work is likely to be carried out during the school holidays and should be completed by Christmas, with the pre-school moving into the new building after final fitting out by Easter next year.