Parents at two rural Stirling nurseries relieved as opening hours' changes reversed

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Parents in Fintry and Aberfoyle have been breathing a sigh of relief this week after a Stirling Council budget U-turn halted controversial changes to local nursery opening hours.Fintry Parent Council had said the nursery opening hours in the village being reduced from 8-6pm Monday-Friday to 9-3pm Monday-Friday would seriously hinder working parents, who would no longer be able to pay for extra days or hours beyond their state-funded nursery hours.Meanwhile children returning to Aberfoyle Nursery would have had the 8am-6pm maintained next year only, with Fintry youngsters not being offered that option.The measures had been agreed at the beginning of March as part of Stirling Council’s 2023/24 budget, with the minority Labour administration blaming extreme budget pressures and Scottish Government ringfencing on having to focus on only statutory obligations.This, and a host of other unpopular budget cuts, were reversed at a special council meeting last Thursday, however, after councillors agreed to reallocate £392,000 that was to have been given to Sistema Scotland, who deliver Raploch and Fallin Big Noise programmes.

This followed an announcement by the Scottish Government that it would provide £1.5m of funding to Sistema to deliver the Big Noise projects in 2023/24.Mairead Cameron, co-chair of Fintry Parent Council said: “We’re absolutely delighted that the council have seen sense and reinstated the 8am to 6pm operating hours at Fintry Nursery.“Working parents in rural villages rely on these longer hours to enable them to continue to work and contribute to society.”Aberfoyle parent Catherine Cairns said parents were “hugely relieved”.She added: “Had the cuts gone ahead, we would have either been forced to take our