Its announcement of the first 300 schools to receive funding extends the £15mn it pledged last year.
The rationale for boosting these settings is based on evidence that "school-based early education tends to be more inclusive – with a higher proportion of children with special educational needs than other settings", claims the Department for Education, linking to an Institute for Government (IFG) report: 'Policy making for left-behind groups: School readiness.'
"And in areas where deprivation is higher, having early years provision embedded within a primary school helps children settle into learning in a familiar and trusted environment," adds the DfE, referring to Institute for Fiscal Studies findings that this continuity helps to "close development gaps before they widen".
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Analysis: Key asks for children and family services from Spending Review 2025
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Special Report: Early Child Development
Early years bodies welcomed the focus on improving the flow of places in 'childcare deserts' – many of which are in deprived areas – but urged that with just five months to go until the full rollout, the government should work in partnership with both schools and the private, voluntary and independent childcare sector to address capacity.
National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA), went on to accuse the DfE of insensitivity towards the PVI settings in singling out schools as most inclusive, when it claimed the PVI sector is doing its best for children, despite struggling as a result of government policy.
This is against a backdrop of warnings that two in five PVI nurseries are set to reduce the number of government funded places for three- and four-year-olds to cover rising costs, including minimum wage and national insurance increases.
The DfE said the first 300 schools to use the School-Based Nursery Capital Grant will offer an additional 6,000 new places, with two thirds available from the end of September.
Most of the new nurseries places being made available through this first phase of funding are in access to childcare “cold spots” in the North of England and the Midlands, including one in ten in the North East.
Among those benefiting is Bloemfontein Primary School in County Durham, which will use its finding to open a baby room.
“We wanted to address the shortage of nursery places in our local area and to provide the community with high-quality early education for our youngest learners,” said the school’s headteacher Alex Armstrong.
“This funding will enable us to transform unused school space into an engaging and vibrant environment, offering year-round childcare for children from birth to five.”
The expansion of school-based places has been backed by Jason Elsom, chief executive of the charity Parentkind.
He said: “Parents often struggle with finding good quality childcare, and many will welcome this investment, especially as parents with more than one child may be saved from the mad dash from nursery to school in the morning and afternoon.
“With more reach into the lives of parents and schools than any other charity, we know that childcare is a major headache for parents with young children, from the exorbitant cost, to finding a reliable local place for their children.”
This increase in free hours for working families was initiated by the previous Conservative government and is being continued by the Labour government. Already more than 320,000 additional children are accessing 15 hours of government funded early years education a week.
From September, the 30 hours entitlement will be available for all children over nine months old until they reach school age.
“Ultimately, if the government is truly serious about breaking down barriers to opportunity, it must come to the realisation that increasing school-based provision can only ever be one piece of a much larger puzzle," said Early Years Alliance chief executive Neil Leitch, adding: "Failing to recognise this will simply mean more families will lose out."
NDNA chief executive Purnima Tanuku claimed that it was "wrong" to suggest that school nurseries are better for children transitioning into reception, adding that it was "insensitive and extremely demoralising" for the government to single out school-based settings as more inclusive of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Tanuku continued: "Early years providers across the country work incredibly hard to provide places to meet the needs of all children and families.
"Nurseries are often unable to access the SEND funding they need to fully support children in their settings. If the government is to address inclusivity it needs to address the SEND postcode lottery that exists for children, families and early years settings."
