PLANS to open council nurseries for the majority of school holidays have been revealed in a bid to accommodate additional free childcare hours.

The Scottish Government wants children to be given access to 1,140 hours of free early learning and childcare by the year 2020 – almost double the 600 hours currently available.

Fiona Robertson, East Lothian Council’s head of education, has revealed that the local authority is looking at opening up its nurseries over 50 weeks of the year to accommodate the additional hours along with other creative plans which include expanding outdoor learning facilities and creating new early learning centres.

In a report to a meeting of East Lothian Council in Haddington, she said that the cost of extending and refurbishing current facilities to cope with the new demand would be just over £13.5million but that the Scottish Government had said that it would fully fund the cost of introducing the new hours.

The local authority has already been told it will be allocated three new teachers or graduates in areas deemed to be of high deprivation – with the new staff expected to work at Olivebank Child and Family Centre, Musselburgh; Sanderson’s Wynd Nursery provision, Tranent; and a shared post for Elphinstone and Whitecraig’s Nursery provision.

The local authority said that last year 2,454 children took up the 600 hours of free early learning and childcare at its 31 nurseries and additional 19 private and voluntary partner centres.

Recent figures suggest that about 97 per cent of three and four year olds in the county attend nursery with, on average, more than 82 per cent using local authority nurseries.

As well as extending the weeks that nurseries are open through the year – they currently open for 38 weeks – plans are being drawn up for new early learning and childcare centres to be built in Haddington and Tranent.

Work is already underway in Prestonpans to convert part of the Red School Youth Centre into a childcare centre which is expected to provide a six-day service over 50 weeks by the year 2020.

There are also proposals to create additional space at Pinkie St Peter’s nursery in Musselburgh and also in Dunbar.