A NEW nursery for pre-school age children is to be built over the summer months at Whitfield C of E Primary School.

The school has been given the go-ahead to replace its existing conservatory-style playground shelter with a new timber-clad building.

The plinth of the existing building will remain, and will provide a solid foundation for the nursery to be constructed over the summer holidays, in time for the start of the academic year in September.

The scheme, which was submitted back in March, has now been approved by Northumberland County Council. It will provide additional classroom space for Whitfield Primary to accommodate pre-school age children.

Chairman of governors Amanda Stembridge said the scheme would complement another plan to create dedicated outdoor learning space at the school.

She explained: “This is fantastic news, and forms just one element of our expansion over the coming months.

“This new space will be beautiful and well equipped for our nursery provision.”

Preliminary construction of the building, designed by Alston-based architects Countryside Consultants, is due to get under way at the beginning of July.

Things are looking up for Whitfield Primary, which was placed in special measures three years ago, and received seven damning Ofsted reports between May 2014 and February 2016. But following a community effort to save the school last year, a plan was put together for it to become an academy, and now it is on the verge of joining the Good Shepherd multi-academy trust.

A new head of school has been appointed. Katherine Ayre, an early years specialist from Buckinghamshire, will take up her new post in September, replacing Erica Carter, who played a leading role in turning around the school’s fortunes during her long-term secondment from Ponteland Primary School.