A WELSH Medium school in North Monmouthshire could be about to expand to provide a nursery.

Governors at Ysgol Gymraeg Y Fenni in Abergavenny have asked the County Council if it can open a local authority nursery on the site. The Governing Body say there is a need for additional Welsh medium pre-school provision in north Monmouthshire and believe that accepting children aged three to four in a nursery would enable them to raise standards.

It also adds that is its essential that Cylch Meithrin Y Fenni remains within the school to ensure good transition arrangements, to meet parental needs, to provide wrap around childcare and to enable them to offer Flying Start childcare places.

In a report by the Sue Hall, the council’s Early Years Manager, she said that Cylch Meithrin Y Fennu is the only Welsh medium provider of early education in north Monmouthshire and they currently only have one member of staff who is a fluent Welsh speaker. At Ysgol Gymraeg Y Fenni children will be fully immersed in the Welsh language. By having their own nursery class, it is expected that children will enter statutory education with a better acquisition of the Welsh language.

Cylch Meithrin Y Fenni has been full with a waiting list for the past few years. By the summer term, it has not been possible for all three and four year-olds to access their full entitlement of five sessions per week of free early education. If a 30 place local authority nursery class is developed at Ysgol Gymraeg Y Fenni, Cylch Meithrin Y Fenni will remain as an approved provider of early education to cater for the rising three year-olds in the spring and summer term. This may result in a shortage of places for two year-olds; hence it may be necessary in the future to develop a second Cylch Meithrin in a nearby area such as Raglan to provide childcare.

Ms Hall said that it has not been possible to identify a suitable building within the Flying Start area to relocate Cylch Meithrin Y Fenni that doesn’t have significant financial implications and added that there is currently no funding available.

There would not be any costs as the demountable building has already been adapted to accommodate the foundation phase curriculum.

The proposal is due to be approved in a single cabinet member decision made on May 20.