Staff at a South Derbyshire pre-school have developed a new 'wrap-around day care' system that its says will allow parents to go to work knowing their children are being looked after all day.

The new system, which works in partnership with local child minders, means that parents will not have to worry if they cannot pick their children up at midday when the pre-school finishes, said a spokesman.

Coton-in-the-Elms Pre-school, which has been open for more than 30 years, offers foundation education for two, three and four-year-olds from across Coton-in-the-Elms and the surrounding areas. It is based in the village's community centre in Elms Road.

The pre-school meets at Coton-in-the-Elms community centre

The pre-school has now teamed up with child minder, Beverly Laud, 52, from Linton, who has been working in the field since 1990.

She says she has joined forces with her daughter, Heather Boam, 32, who is also a child minder, meaning that they can look after more children as a team, once pre-school hours finish.

She said: "We've started to do the wrap-around day care to give parents a little more flexibility. A lot of children have the 30 hours of childcare and it gives parents more opportunity to find somewhere else for the children to go after pre-school has finished.

"It's difficult for working parents and we wanted to help and give them a bit more flexibility."

The scheme will see child minders picking up the children from the pre-school and taking care of them until their parents can pick them up later in the day. The total cost of using the pre-school and the child minder scheme can be claimed by parents through a new government scheme to offer children up to 30 hours of free childcare a week.

A spokesman for the pre-school says the scheme was set up to support the parents of children who go to the school in the morning so they can go out and work. Staff say they want to do whatever they can to support parents.

All children over the age of three in the UK are eligible for 15 hours of free childcare and children from lower income families can receive 30 hours of free childcare a week.

The pre-school is currently on the hunt for local businesses to support them in raising funds for the pre-school. This money will be spent on learning and play equipment, a computer to teach IT skills and snacks for the children.

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