Nursery World - Nursery Chains: League Tables

Although the top of the table remains the same, this year’s top 25 ranking reveals evidence elsewhere of the shifting early years landscape. Catherine Gaunt reports

In Nursery Chains’ 20th year, nursery groups across the country are meeting the demands and challenges of an uncertain political landscape head-on.

In 1998, a new Labour Government was embarking on an expansion drive to provide universal childcare, with hundreds of Sure Start Children’s Centres soon to emerge and the introduction and expansion of the free entitlement for three- and four-year-olds.

Twenty years on, the UK faces its most unpredictable future for decades, with the possibility of a no-deal Brexit looming and another general election next year more than likely.

Two decades ago, the 1998 issue of Nursery Chains contained the details of just 70 nursery groups. In 2018, our directory contains 179 names.

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