A NEW building designed to offer young people with twice as much interaction time is on its way to being completed.

Leaders at Woodley Pre-School currently rents a room at Woodford Park Leisure Centre and is only able to offer 15 hours of childcare.

The brand new purpose-built facility is being constructed near the Haddon Drive park entrance and is expected to be finished for the summer term.

Significant funding from the Department for Education (DfE) will support the majority of the project, which is likely to cost £175,000.

However, charitable donations are still being welcomed to help the pre-school meet its target to deliver the building on time.

Pooja Sharma, chair of Woodley Pre-School, said: "In order to build such a fantastic facility, the pre-school has been awarded a grant by the DfE which will cover 75 per cent of the build.

"The remainder has to be raised by the pre-school. We are working to raise the remaining 25 per cent of the cost of the project.

"A number of fundraising events, including a cake sale, have been planned and a committee member’s spouse is training to run Reading Half Marathon.

"However, we are short on our target and will be most grateful for any support we can get to raise the funds."

A small team of volunteers currently operate from a temporary site at Woodford Leisure Centre, but the grant will allow them to move into a purpose-built facility.

The new building will allow families in the community the flexibility that they require for their childcare by offering 30 hours of funded sessions to each child.

Additional paid sessions are also available for non-funded two to five-year-olds.

Families are invited to attend an open morning on April 17 from 10am, with a bake sale due to take place at the leisure centre from 9.30am on March 9.