Haxby Road Primary Academy, York, after school places boost

A total of 13 extra places are set to be created at Haxby Road Primary Academy following a City York Council decision to award £7,800 in funding.

Council officials stated the grant would be funded from £333,000 the authority had received from the Government to help increase the amount of local ‘wrap-around’ places.

It comes after the council’s executive approved using a total of £922,800 in September 2024 to expand early years and childcare places.

RECOMMENDED READING:

The Labour executive heard at the time an extra 390 places in breakfast and after school clubs could be needed so York families could get the care they are entitled to.

Officials forecast up to new 304 places would need to be created so parents and carers could claim their 30-hour-a-week allowance of free childcare by the September 2025 rollout date.

Education Secretary Bridgett Phillipson said in March free childcare hours meant families were now better off after research showed they had saved families an average of £8,000-a-year for every child.

An annual Coram Family and Childcare survey found the cost of a full-time 50-hour-a-week place for a child of two had fallen from around £305-a-week in 2024 to £149.

Education Secretary Bridgett Phillipson said extra free childcare hours were saving families money (Image: PA)

The secretary of state said: “Childcare costs have weighed on working families for too long – pushing parents out of work and stretching household budgets to breaking point.

“We are giving working families the real, practical cost of living support they need to get on.”

In January, the council approved grants worth a total of £51,000 to create extra breakfast and after school club places in three other York schools.

Clifton Green Primary School received £30,000 for 35 breakfast and after school club places, while Dringhouses Primary School received £15,000 for 25.

Wheldrake with Thornganby Primary School got £6,000 to create eight new places for its pupils following the decision.