Decision due on Thatcham nursery extension

Audlen House Day Nursery wants to turn an adjacent building from residential into a nursery

A NURSERY in Thatcham is seeking permission to build an extension, following recommendations from Ofsted and to be able to allow more children to use the afterschool club.

Audlen House Day Nursery, Station Road, has applied to West Berkshire Council to turn an adjacent building from residential into a nursery with minor indoor changes.

If accepted, the new nursery would allow the three to five year-olds to be relocated in the downstairs building so they could have the choice of outdoor or indoor play, as asked by Ofsted.

The nursery used to have a holiday club at Thatcham Children's Centre, but when that was turned into a Sure Start facility in 2009 it was not able to use it any more.

Since then, it has been running the club from Station Road but can only cater for about six children – the extended facility could instead hold about 18.

Nursery spokeswoman Audra Penny said that a lot of holiday clubs were based in places like sports centres and they did not feel that that was the best environment for all children.

She said: “Sports centres are very active and that does not suit all children – some children would find it a bit daunting.

“This will be a more homely environment.

“A lot of children miss out at the moment.”

The nursery also has an issue with storage with some of the resources being stored off-site, meaning that it is not always able to cope with spontaneous demand.

A date of Friday, April 29, had been set for the final decision, however, that decision has not yet been reached.