WORSHIPPERS have opened a pre-school to help cope with demand for nursery places in Liphook.

The Ark Pre-School has been created within Liphook Church Centre to cater for 24 children aged between two and four.

The church responded to the needs of the community after it was approached by council officials concerned about a shortage of nursery places within the village.

Worshippers helped to convert spare office and storage space into a fully-functioning pre-school, and bought furniture, toys, books and play equipment. Space outside the pre-school has been landscaped so children can play there too.

Mother-of-four Helen Jackson, who used to be the church’s children’s worker and before that was a primary school teacher, was appointed as its manager.

She is now leading an eight-strong team who will work with the children, initially between 9am and 3.45pm each week day.

“The church has been amazing, because it was their vision to start this up,” she said. “Although there are already two good nurseries in the village, the Government’s new policy of 30 free hours a week for pre-school children meant that more places were needed.

“At a vision day, a couple of people had the idea of us creating a pre-school, and then East Hampshire District Council approached us to see if we could provide one on our premises.

“One of our churchwardens, Paul Arnold, reconfigured the space, knocking together offices and storage space to create one large area. The church also bought this new furniture which has helped us to divide the space into a quiet area, a role-playing area, a reading area and so on.

“All the staff team here are highly-qualified, with backgrounds in teaching or early-years education. And it will have an openly Christian ethos – exploring the themes in the curriculum from a Christian point of view. So the theme ‘I am special’ will become ‘I am uniquely created by God’.

“It has been a really exciting journey for everyone involved, and it’s a real privilege to be able to serve the community and build up new relationships with families.”

On occasions, the pre-school will be able to use the neighbouring church and chapel areas, and families can be invited to church events. The children may even be able to mix with people of older generations who attend the regular tea and company events.