Acorn Childcare Centre at Malcolm Sargent Primary School in Stamford has received government money to create 18 new places

Eighteen extra nursery places will be available for preschool children from September thanks to a government grant.

Malcolm Sargent Primary School in Stamford is one of 300 schools to be selected by the Department for Education for additional funding.

It is part of the government’s commitment to increase funded childcare places in school based nurseries.

The school said the money will create at least 18 full time places for babies and toddlers at its Acorn Childcare Centre in Empingham Road.

Principal Tristan Revell said: “We are thrilled to receive this funding from the Department for Education.

“High-quality early education is crucial for young children's development. We are committed to supporting our community so that as many families as possible can benefit from this opportunity.”

Acorn Childcare Centre’s most recent Ofsted inspection took place in March last year when the provision was rated as good overall. At the time the nursery had 92 places and 736 registered children.

The government funding scheme is expected to create 4,000 additional nursery places across the country.

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “Delivering on our promise of a better early years system is my top priority, which is why we’ve more than doubled our investment in this first phase so thousands more children can benefit from a high-quality early education from this September.

“We said we’d act and now we have. But this is just the beginning - we’ve set a hugely important milestone to get tens of thousands more children every year school-ready by age five as part of our Plan for Change.

“We’re raising the bar for early years, delivering on our manifesto commitments and building a system that gives every child the best start in life.”