Battle to save nursery schools

Under government plans outlined in August, all childcare providers - whether private, voluntary or maintained - will receive the same hourly funding rate from local authorities by 2019.

The announcement of a universal funding rate has raised fears that many nursery schools that are maintained by councils and serve some of the most deprived communities could struggle to stay open.

Nursery schools are typically funded at a higher rate by local authorities than private nurseries to reflect the greater costs of employing qualified teachers.

Although the Department for Education has promised two years of additional funding to help nursery schools transition to the new funding arrangements, it said last month that a further consultation on the future of nursery schools will be held soon.

Recent research from the Family and Childcare Trust (Fact) found that nursery schools will be worse off under the funding proposals than other providers, with around one in five nursery schools predicted to lose money.

Fact estimates that £60m that currently goes to the 400 nursery schools in England will shift to private, voluntary and independent (PVI) childcare providers.

Labour MP Lucy Powell, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Nursery Schools and Nursery Classes, says leaders want the government to allow existing funding arrangements to continue.

For this to happen, Powell says "a more realistic assessment" of the funding required across the whole of the early years sector is needed, alongside allowing councils flexibility over how they close the education attainment gap.

She says the problem has arisen because of the introduction of the 30 hours of free childcare from September 2017 - in particular, the need to make funding rates more attractive so PVI nurseries will deliver more places.

"To meet those issues, the government has created a number of unintended consequences, particularly for nursery schools because of the extra resources that local authorities have traditionally given to those institutions to ensure that extra quality offer is available," Powell explains.

Raising quality

"Proper investment in early years has to be about raising quality to address the educational inequalities that, for many children, take place before they even arrive at school. There's no shortcut to doing that; it requires money."

She says doubling free childcare "will come at the cost of some of the highest quality institutions". This will have "broader knock-on effects for the whole sector because of extra resources local authorities often give to raise quality in an entire area", she adds.

While nursery schools do not have a monopoly on quality in early years, Powell says, they are largely based in the most deprived areas, meaning those who need the most help could lose out if settings close.

"Nursery schools are often working as part of a bigger hub with Sure Start and family support centres," Powell says. "They really are at the top end of the quality provision and are operating in the communities that need it most."

She says if the government does decide to allow local authorities to continue funding nursery schools at a higher rate, they must also support PVI providers in their local area to improve quality of care.

Margy Whalley, secretariat for the APPG, says the group has previously flagged up concerns to the DfE over the impact of the new funding formula.

"We were thrilled they were trying to make a special case for nursery schools and recognising for the first time nursery school as a specialist school for early years children," says Whalley, who is also director of research, development and training at Pen Green nursery school in Corby.

"However, we got letters from nursery schools saying that, in practice, it's not going to work because the cuts local authorities are taking are so profound, they are no longer going to be able to have substantive funding they can divert to nursery schools."

She says nursery schools are recognised by local authorities as making a significant contribution to children with special educational needs, children in need and those at risk, and as such have rigorous Ofsted inspections.

"Nursery schools are required to have head teachers and special education needs co-ordinators at master's level, and have an admissions policy that means they take the most vulnerable children," she says. "To respond to all of that, they need differentiated funding."

Whalley says nursery schools can offer a whole range of services that meet the needs of children with depression; and families experiencing the most challenging and extreme problems.

"Nursery schools are trying to do something different, which includes childcare - we're open weekends and evenings, we're part of social mobility, social cohesion and community cohesion, as well as early years education and care," she says.

Providers hope that, when launched, the DfE consultation recognises their distinct contribution and role to early years provision, and comes up with additional funding to enable them to continue.

Nursery schools in numbers

£60m
will be "transferred" from nursery schools to PVI providers with the introduction of funding changes (1)

64%
of nursery schools are in the 30 per cent most deprived areas of England (2)

57%
of maintained nursery schools are rated "outstanding" and 39 per cent are rated "good" (3)

Source: 1. Family and Childcare Trust; 2. Nursery Schools State of Play report; 3. Ofsted