South Ayrshire Council News

Many children will soon benefit from changes being made in classes sizes, pre-school provision and free school meals in some South Ayrshire Council's schools. This is part of the Council's commitment to deliver high quality services for young people in South Ayrshire.

The Scottish Government came to an agreement on class sizes with local authorities in April 2010 in return for flexibility in other areas such as free school meals and pre-school provision.

Speaking about the changes Councillor Hywel Davies, Lifelong Learning Portfolio Holder said: "Giving our young people the best start in life is very important and the changes being introduced will further support the development of our pre-school and primary children.

"From August 2010 we have given a commitment to educate 20% of all P1 to P3 pupils in classes of 18 or less. In classes where two teachers work together with a class of no more than 36 pupils, this will be regarded as two classes.

"We appreciate that in these difficult financial times many people are facing hardship. That is why we are going to initially introduce free nutritious meals for all children in P1 to P3 in 7 primary schools in the 20% most deprived communities in our area and officers have been asked to look at extending the number of schools involved. A detailed analysis of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation will be used to inform future recommendations of free school meal provision.

"Three and four year olds will have additional pre-school provision it will rise from 475 hours to 570 from August 2010. We have already made provision in our 2010/11 budget to implement this, clearly demonstrating our commitment to young people."