A North Yorkshire nursery is planning to relocate to a historic village school’s vacated space.

Baldersby Park Montessori Nursery has submitted a change of use planning application to North Yorkshire Council as it aims to move into a building in Skelton-on-Ure, near Ripon.

The nursery is looking to move into the empty premises that formerly hosted the 168-year-old Skelton Newby Hall Church of England Primary School. The nursery currently resides in buildings owned by Queen’s Mary School in Topcliffe – and has done since opening its doors in 2019.

Now comes a desire for more space and as Queen Mary’s looks to expand into the nursery building, headteacher and owner Victoria Pollitt says it is the right time for the move.

The Northern Echo: The nursery is aiming to move into this building, which was occipied for mnay years by a school

She said: “We are delighted to have been able to reach an agreement with the parish council to lease Skelton Newby Hall and, subject to approval, we are looking forward to providing early years learning there from September 2023.

“The new building is only around ten minutes away from our current nursery and will enable us to increase the physical size of the nursery without increasing numbers.

“It will also mean we can extend learning with the immediate surroundings such as Newby Hall, which will be of even further benefit to the children on their early years learning journey.

“We have had a fantastic five years at our current location and would like to thank Queen Mary’s School for all their support.”

Following last year’s emotional response to the closing of the Newby Hall Primary School, the council has been seeking ways to re-open the building for use.

The school closed after years of declining in pupils and at the time of closing only had one pupil enrolled, who was taught elsewhere.

Chair of Skelton cum Newby Parish Council Guy Critchlow echoed the community sentiment regarding the re-opening of Newby Hall.

Guy said: “We are delighted to welcome Victoria and her team to Skelton-on-Ure, and to see this truly amazing site return to education use from September 2024.

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“We are grateful for the support of Richard and Lucinda Compton at Newby Hall who are continuing the long family tradition of ensuring space is available in our village for a nursey.

“Every thriving community needs a good nursery like the Baldersby Park Montessori Nursey, to support the growing number of young families choosing Skelton and the surrounding areas as their home.”

Baldersby Park boasts an Ofsted rating of good in all areas, as well as being one of only three nurseries in North Yorkshire to make it in the list of top 20 recommended nurseries in the Yorkshire and Humber region, as per Day Nurseries.