Northern Ireland's Department for Education will set a minimum age forchildren attending nursery schools of three years and two months. Themove is among developments to come out of a review of pre-schooleducation. Education minister Angela Smith said the changes were aboutproviding appropriate care for different age groups.
Joy Poots, project co-ordinator for Inner City South Belfast Sure Start'said many nursery schools had started to take two to three-year-olds tokeep them viable.
The changes may mean some will be forced to close. Smaller primaryschools with nursery units may also be threatened, she said. But shesaid it was the right course of action following widespread concern thatnursery classes were not the right environment for the youngestchildren. "Staffing ratios are not high enough," she explained.
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