The UK Government has announced its new plans to support schools in setting up a school-based nursery to tackle challenges in early years education. The new initiative aims to deliver 3,000 school-based nurseries with an initial figure of 300 nurseries in the first stage.
In this new plan, primary schools can apply for funding of up to £150,000 to expand an existing nursery or set up a brand new one. The resource comes from £15 million capital funding which is set aside to support new nurseries.
This comes as part of the government’s Opportunity Mission which aims to tackle the link between background and opportunity. Supporting nurseries looks to ensure that every child has the best start in life and reinforces the importance of early years education. Previously the government has announced additional 15 hours of childcare funding which now has 321,462 children registered to those additional hours.
Due to the increase in hours and demand, and to ensure each child can get quality education and parents get the needed flexibility and support the Department for Education has projected that 70,000 additional places and 35,000 early years educators are required. The DfEs projections show that around half of local areas need to increase their capacity by 10%-20% to meet demands for September. Many areas that see traditionally lower houseful income require an uplift higher than 20%.
This new funding aims to tackle these issues now to help the sector prepare for the needed uplift and to ensure no child or parent struggle to find an adequate early year setting due to their background or area.
Invest in early years staff
If you are an existing early years setting or are a primary school looking to add a school-based nursery, LMP Education offer a variety of fully funded early years apprenticeship programmes to help you hire new stuff or upskill your existing stuff. The current programmes on offer are:
Level 2 Early Years Practitioner
This programme sets the groundwork for anyone who wants to enter the world of early years. This apprenticeship equips learners with hands-on experience and a foundation of early childhood development, the health and wellbeing of babies and the importance of play.
Level 3 Early Years Educator
Early Years Educators can take on more responsibilities within the classroom including planning and leading activities and supervising. Most importantly achieving this qualification allows the educator to be included in the staff:child ratio that settings must adhere to.
Level 5 Early Years Lead Practitioner
This is the highest level of study currently on offer and is ideal for those who aspire to become Senior Practitioners, Room Leaders, and Deputy Managers. Those who gain this qualification have an opportunity to continue to work with children while taking on additional leadership opportunities within the organisation
Supporting your organisation
LMP is an award-winning apprenticeship training provider delivering levy-funded apprenticeships programmes within a range of sectors. As part of our offering, we can also provide your setting with a free recruitment service helping you in every step of the way from sourcing to shortlisting and hiring apprentices to ensure your organisation is fully supported every step of the way.
To learn more about our funded training programmes explore our apprenticeships.
If you’re interested in discussing how LMP Education can help your organisation you can book a discovery call with a member of the team.
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