Nursery World - LONG READ: 'School-based nurseries’: Sector wants more details before committing to plan

Nursery World survey reveals mixed views from early years settings about the Government’s plans for ‘school-based nurseries’ in empty primary school classrooms. By Catherine Gaunt and Katy Morton

The new Labour Government has signalled a clear focus on the importance of early years education.

Both the Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson have stressed that they want there to be no barriers to opportunity for every child, regardless of their background.

Phillipson held a live online Q&A with the sector.

Labour’s key early years pledge before the election was to open 3,334 ‘school-based nurseries’in unused classrooms across England, providing 100,000 places. They said this would help tackle ‘childcare deserts’, typically in deprived areas where private and voluntary nurseries struggle to survive.

With this ‘reset’ on policy for early years, we wanted to carry out a snap poll to find out your initial thoughts about the pledge, with the caveat that it is early days and we don’t yet have much detail on these plans.

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