Falkirk Council boss tells parents their children will get 1140 hours in nurseries

The commitment was given by director of children’s services Robert Naylor at a meeting of the local authority’s emergency executive last Thursday.

He said: “There has been significant interest from the community and it has been quoted that Falkirk Council has abandoned its 1140 hours aspirations – that is a hundred miles away from the truth.”

Mr Naylor was responding to a petition and a large number of emails sent to various politicians and council officers asking for assurances that 1140 hours – which works out at around 30 hours of nursery education a week in term time – would go ahead once school hours returned to normal.

He promised that staff from children’s services would reply to the “high volume” of emails received from parents worried about children returning to school and looking for reassurance about the 1140.

Mr Naylor added: “I think it is important for members to know that whenever Covid is finished and there are no restrictions on social distancing it’s always been our intention to resume where we were last year in March.

“We had a significant number of centres already delivering 1140 and we had plans over the summer to undertake building works to enable us to have had 1140 for all children from August.

“Because of Covid that could not have been delivered because of the requirement to have only 50 per cent of the children there.

“It’s our intention by October or maybe even earlier that we would resume in over 80 per cent of our establishments the 1140 and that where we can we would extend the provision in the remaining nine establishments where works were scheduled to take place over the course of the summer.

“In some of those instances the work will require an extended period to be done so it will be necessary to wait until next summer but in those centres we’ll be looking to maximise places in the private and voluntary sector and maximising the use of childminders.

“So what has been quoted, that we were moving away from offering the 1140, is not the case.”

The department of education came under fire from parents when it appeared to suggest in a tweet that the 1140 hours would not be implemented even post-Covid when schools were back to normal.

Mum-of-two Jodie Barron was so outraged by the council’s response that she and fellow campaigner Gary Wilson started a petition which quickly attracted over 1200 signatures.

Last week Jodie received another email telling her that her youngest son will get the split place she had originally requested – and once she’d double checked that was correct – she was delighted.

“It means Fallon can attend nursery at the school he will be attending as well as Larbert Day Nursery on the days when I’m working,” she said.

“I’m really pleased – I just wish the communication had been clearer. We understand these are very difficult times but we think it’s important to know what Falkirk Council’s intentions are.”

Mr Naylor said he had intended to update councillors on arrangements for return to nurseries at the meeting on Thursday but an announcement from the First Minister the previous day meant they would have to update all their plans.

He promised to return to brief councillors when more details are known.