Category Archives: Early years education

England childcare scheme may struggle to deliver places, finds ‘damning’ report

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Watchdog says only a third of local authorities are confident they will have enough places for September

The deployment of the government’s childcare scheme to tens of thousands more families is facing “significant uncertainties” and may struggle to meet its own targets, according to a report by Whitehall’s spending watchdog.

The National Audit Office revealed the Department for Education (DfE) had assessed the likelihood of being able to deliver the funded childcare places it promised for September 2024 and 2025 as “amber/red problematic”.

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Government’s ‘childcare chaos’ leaving families in England facing steep costs

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Labour says places have fallen by almost 40,000 since the Tories came to power in 2010, forcing parents to leave the workforce

Childcare places in England have fallen by nearly 40,000 since the Tories came to power in 2010, Labour research has found.

This includes a drop of 1,000 places between March and December last year, at a time when demand was anticipated to rise before new entitlements became available.

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Closure of primary school in Hackney highlights struggle of London families

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Residents ‘absolutely fuming’ about council’s decision to shut Colvestone primary and transfer its pupils

Helen Davis could not believe her children’s luck when Hackney council announced the borough’s first “21st-century street” was going to be built on the doorstep of their local school.

“It still makes me tingle just to think about it,” she said. “Colvestone primary school was going to be at the heart of this new, pedestrianised, green space. Pupils were going to be able to grow their own vegetables, run conservation projects and have outside play activities. They were even planning an outdoor classroom.”

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£400m for UK early years sector will ‘buy time’ but isn’t enough, experts say

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Money comes as state-funded childcare expands from next April but providers say more is needed to stop nurseries from closing

A funding injection of £400m into the early years sector will “buy time” ahead of a massive expansion of state-funded childcare in the UK, but will not be enough to keep nursery doors from closing, a body representing providers has warned.

Ministers have announced that applications for the first wave of new government-funded childcare offers will open to working parents of two-year-olds on 2 January, and have increased the amount of money it gives to local authorities to pay for the care.

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Staff exodus could hinder expansion of free childcare in England, providers say

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Exclusive: recruitment and retention crisis means only 17% of nurseries say they could offer extra entitlement

A mass exodus of childminders and nursery staff risks scuppering the government’s flagship new funding for parents of young children in England, according to a new coalition of early years providers and campaigners.

More than half of all nursery workers surveyed by the Early Education and Childcare Coalition (EECC) said they were considering or planning on leaving the sector in the next 12 months.

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Make nurseries exempt from VAT and business rates to boost wages, say MPs

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Committee also says government has more work to do to tackle structural problems in early years childcare

Ministers should remove business rates and VAT from nurseries so that they are able to pay their staff more, a group of MPs have recommended.

In the spring budget, Jeremy Hunt pledged to reform the childcare system, including by offering parents of children aged nine months to three years 30 hours a week of free childcare in term-time, which was expected to cost £4bn. The government claimed that it would reduce childcare costs for a family by almost 60%.

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Labour considering graduate-led nurseries to fight inequality

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Exclusive: Bridget Phillipson says early-years education key to improving life chances

More graduate teachers would be parachuted into nurseries under plans being considered by Labour to improve education for under-fours, the Guardian has learned.

There could also be more nursery places in primary school settings as the opposition works up proposals to drive up standards and formally integrate early years into the English education system.

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Good early years teaching may boost earnings of children in England – study

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Study reports one in 40 primary schools in England produce entire classes likely to earn more than their peers

Never mind getting a place at Oxbridge – a child’s future earnings can be significantly improved by the quality of their teachers at the age of four, according to new research.

The researchers used Department for Education (DfE) databases to connect adults’ earnings to the reception classes attended. The results highlight the outsized influence of early years’ education, finding that one in 40 primary schools in England produce entire classes likely to gain more money than their peers.

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Seven in 10 nurseries in England warn fees will rise amid energy crisis

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Over 10% of early years providers say they will close if energy bill relief scheme not extended, survey reveals

Seven in 10 nurseries and preschools in England will have no option but to increase their fees without additional financial support from the government towards rising energy costs, according to a survey.

The sector is warning the energy crisis could be “a nail in the coffin” for many settings, with more than one in 10 saying they will be forced to close permanently without an extension to the government’s energy bill relief scheme.

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Labour plans expansion of state nursery sector in England to ease pressure on parents

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Proposals are part of party’s wider ambition to build system of high-quality, affordable childcare and to make issue an election pledge

Councils in England will be encouraged to open more high-quality maintained nurseries as part of ambitious Labour plans to transform childcare and ease pressure on struggling parents.

There are fewer than 400 surviving state nursery schools across the country, which are regarded as the jewel in the crown of early years education, but have struggled to survive in the face of budget pressures.

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Labour promise of free breakfasts ‘first step on the road to rebuilding childcare’

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Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson to announce plan to fund breakfast clubs in every primary school

Labour will rebuild a new childcare system to ease the pressure on parents from the “end of parental leave right through to the end of primary school”, shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said, starting with a pledge on free breakfast clubs.

Phillipson will announce on Wednesday that fully funded breakfast clubs for every primary school in England would be funded by the revenues raised by restoring the top rate of income tax to 45p, if Labour were elected.

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UK faces childcare crisis as staff shortages force nurseries to close

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Early years providers can’t attract qualified workers and the crisis will put prices up, increasing the burden on struggling families

Nurseries across the UK are being forced to close or reduce their services at an alarming rate because they are struggling to recruit and retain staff, the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) has warned.

The crisis is only set to deepen as more childcare providers go out of business, increasing demand for places and pushing prices even higher for families struggling with the rising cost of living.

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Ofsted will step up early-years focus to address lockdown impact

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Young children thought to be lagging behind in communication and skills due to Covid disruption

The schools watchdog Ofsted is to increase its focus on early-years education as part of its new five-year strategy, to address the devastating impact of the pandemic on some of the youngest children in England.

Ofsted is concerned that children in early years are lagging behind in their communication and language skills owing to Covid disruption, while the sector is under pressure as thousands of staff have left since the first lockdown and childcare providers are down by 5,000.

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Influential Pen Green children’s centre saved from closure after council U-turn

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North Northamptonshire council announces midway through packed meeting it would keep nursery afloat – in short term

A legendary nursery school that has been called the world’s most famous children’s centre and was a blueprint for Sure Start has been saved from immediate closure after an 11th hour U-turn by Tory councillors in the face of widespread public opposition.

North Northamptonshire council dramatically announced midway through a packed and emotional public meeting on Tuesday that it would use £650k of reserves to keep the trailblazing Pen Green nursery in Corby and three other state-run nurseries afloat.

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