Lieutenant Governor Sir Richard Gozney has officially opened the new nursery at the private Buchan School in Castletown.

Sir Richard met senior staff and pupils, including head of nursery Caroline Kipps Reid, the Buchan School head Janet Billingsley-Evans and the principal of King William’s College, Joss Buchanan, before receiving a tour of the facilities.

He was greeted by the chairman of governors, Peter Clucas, before being welcomed by the Buchan School choir under the baton of head of music, Jenni Garrett.

Mr Clucas said: ’This is a happy occasion for all involved and a further milestone for the Buchan which has a long-held association with kindergarten and pre-school provision in the Isle of Man.

’Bringing the nursery back into the fold and operation of the Buchan and King William’s College is important in two ways.

’Firstly, as part of a wider school community, the nursery will benefit from the resources and expertise across all our leadership teams and staff and it will allow our ethos to be integrated fully into the Buchan Nursery.

’Secondly, it extends the choice now available for parents of children from the age of two upwards who are looking for the full educational offering we provide as one school, two sites.’

Mr Clucas added: ’An enormous amount of hard work and goodwill has got us to this stage and the fact we are already near capacity is a great vote of confidence for the Buchan Nursery.’

The nursery, which also offers swimming, yoga, French, drama and music, is a further addition to the school’s wider curriculum.

The Sunflowers nursery group (aged three and four) performed three songs, while Sir Richard also recited the AA Milne poem ’Now we are Six’ before reflecting on the ’progressive’ nature of the school’s nursery and the ’spirit’ of its predecessors.