TWO Oxfordshire primary schools have been given the go-ahead to take younger children.

Hill View in Banbury and St Peter’s in Cassington were both seeking to open a foundation stage unit for three-year-olds.

Yesterday, Oxfordshire County Council cabinet member Melinda Tilley agreed the proposals, meaning the schools will now publish statutory notices and enter a six-week formal consultation phase.

The foundation unit at Hill View would move into the former Hill View Pre-School, which closed earlier this year after it received two inadequate Ofsted ratings.

It would open in September and offer up to 40 part-time places, along with the option for parents of children not yet three to pay for a term of nursery prior to taking up a free place.

St Peter’s is also planning to move a foundation unit into a pre-school on site – Cassington Pre-school, which is still in operation but based in a temporary building reaching the end of its life.

The school and pre-school have raised £25,000 and been awarded an additional capital grant to build a permanent extension.

It would take 30 children – 15 part-time and 15 full-time – and offer childcare for children from age two-and-a-half.

Mrs Tilley said: “This will give us time to refurbish Hill View and do what we need to.

“I think they are both a good idea and I wasn’t going to stand in their way.”