Chris Mole MP recently attended the opening of the Little Acorns playschool and Cabin Crew after-school club at Sidegate Lane Primary School.

Little Acorns will offer both morning and afternoon playschool sessions, whilst the Cabin Crew will hold both breakfast clubs in the morning and an after-school service.

The Cabin Crew is an example of the Government's commitment to extended schools, which seeks to have every school offering a core set of activities outside of school hours, by 2010. Such activities will include: breakfast clubs; out-of-hours tuition and after-school clubs in sport, music and drama.

To achieve this aim, the Government has allocated £680 million for the start-up of extended school services over the 2006-2008 period.

Chris said:

"The opening of both Little Acorns and the Cabin Crew are fantastic news for the residents of Ipswich and I congratulate their staff on all the hard-work they have put into getting these projects up and running.

These services both help families juggle the demands of work and family by affording them increased flexibility , and give children the chance to take part in fun activities.

There is already clear evidence that activities being offered across the country have had a positive influence on pupils."