THE BUILDING contract for a new stand-alone nursery at Maesglas Primary School in Newport could be awarded next week.

Welsh Government recently approved a bid for a £520,000 grant to create a new nursery building which would accommodate 24 pupils per session.

The development would reallocate existing nursery classrooms within the Maesglas school and allow the number of pupils in each foundation phase to be reduced.

Classrooms which currently contain 30 or more pupils would reduce to fewer than 26 by releasing the existing nursery classroom.

A report prepared ahead of the cabinet member decision says: “The proposal is expected to have a positive outcome for pupils in regard to attainment.

“It is acknowledged that the existing classrooms in Maesglas Primary School are considered small to the reduction in the number of pupils within each infant classroom would provide a more comfortable environment for pupils while also delivering a complete new building for nursery pupils.”

It is planned for the nursery building to be completed by September, 2019 with work, estimated to take around six months, needing to start by February.

A seven classroom extension is currently underway at Maes Ebbw Special School – which shares a site with Maesglas Primary School – and is due to be completed by May next year.

The report prepared ahead of the cabinet member decision, provisionally scheduled for Thursday (October 18), recommends awarding the contract for building the nursery to Morgan Sindall – the contractor for the Maes Ebbw Special School development.

The cabinet member decision would approve awarding the contract.

The report says: “It has been advised by Newport Norse that only one contractor should be responsible for health and safety arrangements on the site.

“Employing a second contractor to complete a significant project such as the nursery building is likely to cause conflict between the contractors and potentially cause delay if deliveries and subcontractors are not able to access the site when required.”

Following the grant funding for building works, running the nursery is estimated to cost £62,000 per year, funded by the Welsh Government until August 2021.