Nursery World - Data may hide drop in nursery schools

Early years organisations have expressed grave concerns over a change to how Government statistics for daycare provision in England are compiled. According to the Office for National Statistics report, Provision for children under five years of age in England, January 2001, 100 per cent of four-year-olds in England - 614,900 children - are now either in school or nursery or pre-school provision. Of these, almost four in five (79 per cent) are in maintained nursery and primary schools, while 101,100 (16 per cent) attend day nurseries, playgroups and pre-schools. This leaves 4.5 per cent of four-year-olds in independent schools, while special schools account for 2,700 children - less than 0.5 per cent of four-year-olds.

According to the Office for National Statistics report, Provision for children under five years of age in England, January 2001, 100 per cent of four-year-olds in England - 614,900 children - are now either in school or nursery or pre-school provision. Of these, almost four in five (79 per cent) are in maintained nursery and primary schools, while 101,100 (16 per cent) attend day nurseries, playgroups and pre-schools. This leaves 4.5 per cent of four-year-olds in independent schools, while special schools account for 2,700 children - less than 0.5 per cent of four-year-olds.

The statistics show there are 226,600 three-year-olds and 882,800 four-year-olds in nursery and primary schools. But it is now impossible to tell how many are in nursery schools and how many in nursery and reception classes in primary schools.

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