Nursery World - Exclusive: The Minister's View

A year ago, I set out in these pages the new Coalition Government's vision for the early years and how we wanted every child to achieve their full potential regardless of their social background. Crucial to this was targeting support at the most disadvantaged families and recognising the critical role of parents.

This vision has been at the heart of our work over the past year and will continue to underpin everything we do. I want to look back on progress so far.

SUPPORTING FAMILIES

Supporting families to bring up happy, healthy children is one of the best ways we can help tackle social inequality, close the attainment gap and help children thrive.

That's why I was really pleased that one of the first actions I took as children's minister was to protect and extend the entitlement to 15 hours a week of free early education and childcare for three- and four-year-olds which by 2013 will be extended to the most disadvantaged two-year-olds.

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