Schools offered cash incentive to deliver free childcare

Speaking in parliament, childcare minister Elizabeth Truss revealed that 49 schools, including academies, are either providing or preparing to provide free childcare places to disadvantaged two-year-olds as part of a government trial.

Under a government scheme, the country’s most disadvantaged two-year-olds are entitled to 15 hours of free weekly childcare from a nursery or childminder.

Details of the trial emerged when Truss responded to a parliamentary question asked by shadow childcare minister Lucy Powell.

She said the government believes that teacher-led childcare provision could have “a real and lasting impact on children’s development and life chances” and has launched the trial in a bid to create an evidence base.

She said: “We want more schools to offer nursery places and to extend these to two-year-olds.

“This will provide more choice and flexibility for parents and enable more children to benefit from all that a good school can provide.

“To support more schools to open nurseries and extend care to two-year-olds we are working with 49 schools, drawn from a variety of urban and rural settings, that are already taking, or preparing to take, two-year-olds.

“These schools will identify good practice, share their learning widely and encourage more schools to follow suit.”

Each of the participating schools receives a grant of £10,000, which can be spent on classroom resources or staff training.