Press release: The Family Music Hub secures a £100k Youth Music Grant

New grant from Youth Music establishes The Family Music Hub (TFMH) as a leading national organisation for Family Music training and support

Early years funding rates for 2024-25 still fall short for 3- and 4-year-olds

The Department for Education have today announced the funding rates which will apply from April 2024, including for the new entitlements launching from that date.  They have also published the response to the consultation on the new funding rates. National average funding rates from April 2024 will be: DfE have published an “easy explainer” of […]

How nurseries show community leadership and create happier local neighbourhoods

by Mona Sakr Nurseries are at the heart of enabling children to positively contribute to the communities they live in. Through their work with children and families, nurseries can help to create happier and healthier neighbourhoods that are more cohesive. In this blogpost, we explore how early years providers might show this kind of community […]

Promoting language inclusion in purposeful and valid ways

Guest blog by Kim Holland “For children whose home language is not English, providers must take reasonable steps to provide opportunities for children to develop and use their home language in play and learning, supporting their language development at home.” (DfE, 2023c:16) The DfE recently published its consultation response including the decision to change the […]

DfE announces further changes to EYFS requirements

The Department for Education has today published its response to the EYFS consultation conducted in the summer. The changes will be implemented from January 2024 and copies of the revised Statutory Framework documents will be published in the coming weeks. Ministers have listened to feedback on two key proposals and will not go ahead with […]

How the Reception Year can be more inclusive for children with SEND

by Katherine Gulliver Introduction Early Education was recently asked to review the special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) provision in the early years within one local authority, and this article picks out some findings which are of national significance in relation to inclusion in the Reception year. The early years has a rich history of […]

Could your career story help a young person forge their own path in childcare and early years?

For many of us, the path we’ve taken in our careers can often be traced back to the passions and talents of our childhood and teenage years. We’ve teamed up with Inspiring the Future to support you in illuminating this path for young people by sharing your career story and showing them how their early […]

Government consults on funding rates for extended entitlements in England

DfE has today launched a consultation on the new funding rates which will apply for 2-year-olds and under 2s when the new entitlements are introduced in England in 2024-25. The consultation sets out the government’s plans which are in brief: Like the current funding formulae, under these new formulae the allocations to local authorities will […]

Mid-year funding rates in England to rise, but not enough to meet the funding gap

The Department for Education has today announced that the extra £204m for early years announced in the budget will be allocated to local authorities as an additional grant to boost funding for the early years entitlements between September 2023 and March 2024. The average rate for a 3- or 4-year-old will rise from £5.29 to […]

Labour’s mission to focus on the early years

In a speech today, Kier Starmer will set out Labour’s plans to expand opportunity via five “missions” including “Early years reform – to boost child development with an ambitious target of half a million more children hitting their early learning targets by 2030.”  We welcome the focus on the early years, and applaud the aim for many more […]