A NORTH Yorkshire firm has come up with a solution to a classroom shortage created by the decision to provide nursery school places for all four-year-olds.

Portakabin says it has devised the Lilliput Nursery modular building to provide a pre-school environment in which young children can have the best possible start in education.

The York-based company claims as many as 32,000 extra children will be eligible for nursery education this September and yet only one in six are currently provided for.

"Our Lilliput Nursery provides education authorities with a high quality purpose-built nursery at an all-inclusive price that can be erected on site within a matter of weeks," said marketing manager Andy Atkins.

The purpose-built nursery has been designed by award-winning nursery and primary school architects Cottrell and Vermeulen in association with Mark Dudek, a pre-school specialist in early learning environments.

The nursery, which will provide areas for outdoor and "watery" play, is designed on the philosophy that children need space for movement and small quiet areas for rest, as well as a secure teaching environment.

Child-friendly features will include windows low enough for children to see through and a shower unit designed to ensure a child can wash without the teacher getting wet.

The building has an advantage for local education authorities in that they have no need to employ surveyors and structural engineers, as they would with traditional buildings.

The Lilliputs will be built at Portakabin's 60-acre factory at Monks Cross, with the first model available next month.

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