Southend Council has secured hundreds of thousands of pounds to build a new nursery on the grounds of a primary school.

The council won a bid for £780,000 of funding from the Department for Education to build a brand-new nursery for 68 children at Prince Avenue Primary School, on Hornby Avenue.

The school already has an on-site nursery with 26 places but the funding will allow them to build a new nursery building on the school grounds with capacity for an extra 42 places.

It is hoped that it will be ready for use by September 2020.

Will Hill, Headteacher of Prince Avenue Primary School, said: “We are thrilled to be awarded this funding as the new nursery will make a massive difference to the school and the local community. We are now able to extend our capacity and offer full, as well as part-time childcare places for children aged two up.

“We were one of the first schools within Southend to have an on-site nursery, but it is in a converted classroom and the staff have managed well with limited facilities for some time now.

“This is a really exciting project and we are delighted that by September 2020, we will be able to offer first class resources and early years childcare support, in a purpose-built nursery. It’s really going to make a big difference to the families in our local community.”

Councillor Anne Jones, cabinet member for children and learning, said: “This is great news for Southend-on-Sea as it means additional childcare resources for the town, more high-quality day-time nursery placements for our young generations and with the 30 hour tax-free childcare funding scheme, we will hopefully see more parents being able to return to work.”

The funding is part of a £22million funding boost to nurseries across the country, with Prince Avenue being among 66 schools to secure a portion of the cash.

Others to receive a share of funding included Hogarth Primary in Brentwood, Canvey Island Infant on Canvey Island and St Clare’s Catholic Primary in Clacton.

In July, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education, Nadhim Zahawi, told the House of Commons: “This investment is part of our commitment to create more high-quality school-based nursery provision for disadvantaged children.

“These innovative projects are intended to test and evaluate approaches aimed at closing the disadvantage gap, deepen our understanding of ‘what works’ and spread best practice throughout the sector.”