Teach-Early-Years-14.1

SAL MCKEOWN IS A FREELANCE EDITOR AND JOURNALIST The School-Based Nursery Capital Grant is intended to address several thorny issues, but is it a good idea or too little too late? Sal McKeown looks at the issues… “What families need is expensive” They are not offering training or funding to pay qualified staff Y ou’re going to hear a lot about toilets over the next year as the government rolls out the School-Based Nursery Capital Grant (SBN Capital Grant) 2024 to 2025. In fact, toilets could be the hill on which this initiative will die. Despite the Building Schools for the Future project carried through by the last Labour government, our stock of primary schools is old and dilapidated, and nowhere is this more obvious than in the lavs. In some schools there are not enough toilets for the number of pupils. Some toilets are too big, some too little, and often they are in the wrong place. This may not be an overwhelming problem when children can take themselves to the toilet, but with early years, you lose a member of staff for several minutes each time a child needs a wee. Unfortunately, the Capital Grant does not cover staffing costs. With a maximum sum of £150k per school, applicants may have to cast around for other sources of money just to fix the infrastructure and make the space safe for small children. When Labour announced its Plan for Change, Sir Keir Starmer said: “As any parent with young children will tell you, childcare and nursery places are really essential. They’re so good for children in their development, for making sure that when they arrive at primary school, they’ve got the skills that they need. Really good for parents and carers, because they can get back into the labour market, so very good also for the economy. And our scheme is fully funded, fully costed but also fully planned, so it’ll be wrapped around primary schools.” It’s clear that the School-Based A DfE spokesperson said: “By September 2025 the full rollout will be completed, with working parents able to access 30 hours from the end of maternity leave to when their child starts school, saving parents an average of £6,900 per year.” Nursery Capital Grant is intended to address several issues at once: Keeping schools open at a time of falling rolls Ensuring parents have affordable childcare available locally at the end of maternity leave so they can return to work Making children “school ready” by the age of five That might sound exciting, but we asked schools, parents and early years organisations for their views. Parents want flexibility – a headteacher in Cheshire “Attracting families to a school nursery when the birth rate is dropping can mean survival for some schools. Our authority is forward-looking and does 30 Teachearlyyears.com