Teach-Early-Years-14.1

not want to close any of its schools, but over the next four years they are losing 400 children they might have expected to be in Reception. “What families need is expensive. Parents returning to work may want provision from 7am to 6pm for 52 weeks of the year. However, women returners no longer have the same drive to come back into the workforce. Many want hybrid working for work/ life balance. This might mean they only want their child to attend morning sessions or just three days a week. The logistics of this are difficult for schools to manage. Staffing is an issue. You need a lead practitioner, who must be level three. A trained member of staff would be £30–£40,000 with on-costs. Nurseries need an adult to every four children under two. For eight children, that would be two staff, but if six are there in the morning and two in the afternoon, they are going to be overstaffed for part of the day. “This government project targets return-to-work parents. The current funding is not for vulnerable children, but we have a moral imperative to support two-year-olds, to take down the barriers that they will face as they move up the school. A £250,000 capital build would let us purchase a pod with toilets. It would be a purpose- built space with a food station. This would be a far more effective solution than the current piecemeal offer.” Finding care post-maternity leave One parent I spoke to in Yorkshire has tried both a private nursery and a school nursery that has an EYFS unit. She returned to work when her child was 11 months old and used a private nursery, which accepted babies from three to four months, as the local school had no provision for children under three. She noted the difference in coverage (nursery: 51 weeks per year, 7.30am–6.30pm; school unit and holiday club: 48 weeks per year, 8.15am–5.30pm) and the availability of free hours funding (available at any age at the nursery, but from the term after a child’s third birthday in school). However, her private nursery provision proved much more expensive, as she was obliged to pay for 11-hour days even when only using eight hours. She also raised the nursery’s higher levels of staff turnover and lower levels of staff qualification. With the Institute for Public Policy Research warning that “[a]t current rate of decline, there will be no childminders left by 2033” (tinyurl. com/TEYprcc), the expansion of nursery provision feels even more urgent. We’re at full capacity – a headteacher in Lancashire “My school has just over 200 children. We are at full capacity at the moment. Next year we can take 30 in Reception, but 72 have applied. I don’t have any empty space in the school, but I do have over 50% free school meal children who are from a deprived area and don’t have suitable nursery provision. “When these children come into our Reception class, they are always significantly below national average in areas such as communication and language. We see signs that children are learning models of speech from TV, rather than from family. For example, children are coming into Reception with American accents and use vocabulary such as “the trash” and “garbage truck”. We want to ensure that these children are getting a decent level of education at three and four years old, delivered by a qualified teacher. “I don’t think the grant should just be awarded to those schools that have a spare classroom. There is obviously an issue with nursery spaces, or they wouldn’t be making this investment. At the moment, they are not offering training or funding to pay qualified staff. I don’t believe it has been thought out particularly well.” SCHOOLS WILL STRUGGLE TO FIND STAFF Neil Leitch, CEO, Early Years Alliance “Even for schools that are able to introduce or expand their early years provision, questions remain on whether they will be able to adequately staff places. As it stands, the sector is already facing an acute staffing crisis, and given the specialist knowledge and experience needed for the younger age groups, schools are likely to struggle to find suitable staff both from within their existing school or when recruiting externally. “Ultimately, we know that the only way that provision can be increased is if longstanding sector challenges are addressed. While schools may be a part of the government’s overall expansion strategy, this policy must just form part of a much bigger puzzle. On its own, it will scarcely have an impact.” Teachearlyyears.com 31