Ofsted plans new early years inspection framework
Ofsted has today published its response to the “Big Listen” consultation. For the early years, it undertakes to: On the differences between early years and
The Conservative Manifesto has promised to extend Family Hubs to all local authorities. This would both extend funding for the 75 local authorities where they currently operate, and introduce new funding for those authorities currently without it. This provides some recognition of the need to support families with young children, but with funding levels for Family Hubs only being a fraction of what was available for Sure Start Children’s Centres, it is unlikely to restore support services to previous levels.
They have reaffirmed the party’s commitment to the roll out of the 30 funded hours of early education and childcare for working parents so that by September 2025, children will be eligible for 30 hours a week from the term after they turn 9 months old. They have also reconfirmed the additional £500m to increase hourly funding rates that was promised in the budget. However, they have not committed to any new action on early education and childcare – no plan for the workforce or to review funding levels. This is disappointing given the clear messages from the sector about the extent of action needed to deliver the new entitlements and create an early years system which is fit for purpose.
Ofsted has today published its response to the “Big Listen” consultation. For the early years, it undertakes to: On the differences between early years and
We welcome the Department for Education’s announcement that the government are moving ahead with their manifesto commitment to scrap single-word Ofsted judgements for schools, effective immediately,
The National Audit Office’s new report, Improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged children, finds that in 2023-24, DfE allocated an estimated £9.2 billion to specifically focus
The letter below sets out our key asks for the next government.
On 10 June, Labour announced their plans for “over three thousand new nursery classes across England to open up access to childcare hours for families”,
The Lib Dems have published their manifesto, including commitments to incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into UK law and to
Today, Friday 17 May, the Early Education and Childcare Coalition (EECC) has launched its new manifesto, with proposals to rescue and reform England’s early education
A report published by the National Audit Office (NAO) today finds that the timetable for the roll-out of the new funded early education and childcare
In response to recent queries about why the latest DfE guidance on providing the early education and childcare entitlements has removed references to additional charges
A new campaign to boost recruitment to the early years sector in England is being launched today by the government. The government press release says:
DfE have issued an update to address the issue of parents wishing to claim their codes for the new entitlements who cannot do so because
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
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
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
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
The Department for Education (DfE) is currently consulting on proposals to amend the Early Years Foundation Stage. They propose relaxing the requirements around the minimum
DfE has issued slightly more detail about the planned uplift in the hourly rates for the current and new entitlements, following the announcements in the
In today’s budget the Chancellor has confirmed several new measures on early education and childcare: Our analysis The decision to relax the ratios for 2-year-olds
Today, Early Education, the NAHT, NEU and Unison have jointly written an open letter calling on the government to address the shortfall in early years
Today, teachers from the National Education Union are striking, including many working in nursery and reception classes. In the last week, the Department for Education
We welcome the news that our President, Professor Cathy Nutbrown, has been made a Dame in the year’s New Years Honours list. This is much
The government’s latest changes to the early years funding formulae bring two key changes which we pointed out in our response to the consultation would
DfE have today announced the early years funding settlement for 2023-24, which leaves the early years sector struggling on below inflationary increases. While an additional
Ofsted’s latest annual review highlights the impact of recruitment and retention challenges and finds a link between inspection outcomes and the proportion of graduates in
In his Autumn Statement today the Chancellor failed to offer any financial help to an early years sector which is already struggling to stay afloat.
The tenth early years minister in ten years, Kelly Tolhurst, is now in post. It’s good news that early years is part of a Minister
We urge members to respond to the two DfE consultations on funding and ratios which close on 16 September. For information, you can view the
Comparing figures from January 2022 and January 2020, progress is being made towards previous levels of take up of funded early education. Latest figures from
Early Education welcomes the news that the new National Plan for Music Education has been extended to cover the early years. We are glad to
The Times Education Commission has today published a report which calls for “A significant boost to early years funding targeted at the most vulnerable and
Cathy Nutbrown, President of Early Education The twelve sessions of the May Annual National Conference 2022 left me reflecting on a strong thread which I
Ofsted has today launched a new five-year strategy. Elements of this which affect the early years include commitments to “simplify the regulatory regime for childminders”
We welcome the government’s new Sustainability and climate change strategy for education and children’s services, and that early years is reflected through a range of
A survey of maintained nursery schools carried out by Early Education in June 2021 has found increasing demand from children with SEND in the current
The DfE have issued documents to support schools and settings to understand how to report to the Early Years Census in the context of the
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