Government urged to consider new funding options for early childhood education and care

A coalition of Early Years organisations convened by Kindred2 , including Early Education and providers such as LEYF and Ark Start, has identified a series of practical and affordable options for improved Early Years spending in England.  The analysis, by one of the largest economic consultancies in Europe, Frontier Economics, is based on current government […]

Our response to DfE consultations on funding and ratios

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 text of our draft responses below to inform your own thinking. We welcome any comments from members on these drafts. These should be sent to us by 15 September at […]

Consultation opens on ratios and early years funding in England, including maintained nursery schools

We welcome today’s announcement from government that it intends to allocate a further £10m to raise the level of supplementary funding for those maintained nursery schools which currently receive the least – or in some cases none at all. The statement from government says: Also announced today is an additional £10 million investment for Maintained […]

Times Education Commission calls for “significant boost” to early years funding

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 a unique pupil number from birth, to level the playing field before children get to school.” It also calls for wellbeing to be put at the heart of education and […]

The Schools White Paper: highlighting the gap between early years and schools policy

Government has today published its Schools White Paper “Opportunity for all”. We welcome the fact that early years gets a few mentions: However, the “key facts” only list the numbers of children in the school system, not the 1.5m in early years provision. There is mention of where children’s outcomes are improving, but no mention […]

How do we increase the graduate workforce in Early Years?

DfE has just published new figures on the number of new entrants to Early Years Initial Teacher Training (EYITT).  This is the route that leads to Early Years Teacher Status, which does not have parity of career options to Qualified Teacher Status, despite requiring the same entry requirements and following a broadly similar programme of study.  […]

Early Education and unions call for long-term MNS funding

Organisations representing Maintained Nursery Schools have joined together to warn the government that it must provide a long-term funding solution for Maintained Nursery Schools (MNS) as part of this autumn’s spending review if further closures and cuts to staffing and services are to be avoided. Early Education, NAHT NEU and Unison have written to both […]

Early years sector provides crucial help to families in poverty

In response to the growing concerns of its membership related to children and their families living in poverty we asked members,  in May last year, to tell us what they were doing in their settings which might be described as beyond their expected work around children’s learning and development.  This account, drawn from responses of […]