Class of their own as nursery and primary school merge

May 27 2009 by Judith Tonner, Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser

COATHOLM Nursery is to become part of St Mary’s Primary from this August after councillors agreed to integrate the two establishments.

It means that the Coatbridge pre-school establishment will now be renamed as the school’s nursery class.

However, youngsters attending will still be accommodated in their current huts.

Although the primary school does not have sufficient extra space to allow the pre-fives to move in, the existing buildings are just yards apart on opposite sides of Wallace Street.

Councillors on North Lanarkshire’s learning and leisure committee agreed the merger plan after hearing that the local community were accepting of the proposal.

Only two consultation responses, both of which were supportive, were received.

These came from the primary school head teacher who will now take charge of the nursery class and the school’s active parent council.

The new arrangements, including maintaining the provision of 45 full-time equivalent nursery places and adding another part-time early years worker to the nursery’s staff roll, will be in place after the summer holidays.

Jane Liddell, the council’s head of education quality and development, said: “This re-alignment will further strengthen the well-established links between the nursery and the school, and the community accept that the high quality of existing nursery provision will be maintained.”