The education secretary has unveiled the first round of funding in a national programme to expand school-based nurseries.
Primary schools will be invited to bid for a share of £15 million in capital funding from October to utilise spare space as early years provision, the Department for Education has said.
Bridget Phillipson confirmed the first phase of the rollout in her first speech as education secretary at the Labour Party conference.
The expansion of school-based nurseries is an important early years policy pledge for the party, and will form part of what Ms Phillipson dubbed “a new era of child-centred government”.
The spare capacity in schools is the result of declining birth rates. Under the plan, some 3,334 classrooms would be converted at an average cost of £40,000.
The move has been widely welcomed by schools and the early years sector.
Sir David Bell, who led Labour’s early years review this year, called for schools to receive support with the “capital funding costs of adapting facilities” in his unpublished findings, revealed by Tes in early September.
However, many unanswered questions remain about how the school-based nursery expansion plans will work in practice, with urgent calls for action to tackle the sector’s retention and recruitment problem at the top of the list.
Here’s what we know so far about how the new school-based nursery provision will be funded, staffed and rolled out across England.
Where will the school-based nursery workforce come from?
The government has yet to confirm where the workforce for the school-based nurseries will come from.
One of Labour’s key manifesto pledges is to recruit 6,500 new teachers, but it is yet to be determined whether part of the school-based nursery workforce will be included within this number.
Both Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders union, and Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, have called on the government to tackle the early years sector’s recruitment and retention issues.
Mr Leitch said it’s “critical” that the early years sector’s “long-standing staffing challenges” are tackled as a priority, and called for a “comprehensive recruitment and retention strategy”.
How can schools apply for nursery provision funding?
The government said learning from the first phase of the school nursery rollout will inform subsequent expansion of the scheme, and help it to better understand how it can “best support underserved and poorer areas”.
Schools will be expected to demonstrate how any proposed nursery provision will respond to needs in their local area, including supporting the aim to provide 30 hours of government-funded childcare by next September, the DfE said.
In her conference speech, Ms Phillipson said the scheme will focus on “delivering quality early years education” to tackle lower outcomes for disadvantaged pupils.
Interested schools should begin discussing with their local authorities, governors and wider stakeholders to consider “pupil place planning, local childcare sufficiency and next steps for setting up and running new or expanded nurseries”, the DfE said.
Further guidance to support schools will be issued when the scheme gets under way next year, the department added.
Schools will also be able to express an interest in future phases of the programme, which will help the government to assess demand in different parts of the country, the DfE said. The “most appropriate model” to extend the programme nationally will be decided in its second phase.
Will PVI nursery providers be involved?
It is also unclear how or if private, voluntary and independent providers (PVI) will be involved in school-based nursery provision.
Mr Leitch warned the government that PVI, pre-schools and childminding professionals provide the “vast majority” of early years places and should be “central to any reform plans”.
Schools partnering with local PVI providers was one idea suggested in Sir David’s review for how school-based nursery provision could be run.
How will space be converted for nursery provision?
Not all empty classrooms will be suitable for nursery provision, with nurseries often needing separate facilities and storage space, leaders and experts have warned.
The government is yet to confirm how schools are expected to use the funding in terms of capital expenditure, and if guidance will be provided to schools on how best to use their available space.
Will the new pre-school provision be term-time only?
The government has also yet to confirm if the new school-based nurseries will be operating during the holidays as well as in term time.
For the latest education news and analysis delivered every weekday morning, sign up for the Tes Daily newsletter
