Nursery World - One law for us, another law for them

The nursery education grant currently funds each child at our pre-school for up to five sessions of two-and-a-half hours per week for 11 weeks per term - a total of 33 weeks a year. Yet a four-year-old child in an early years class within a school receives an average of 39 weeks of free education per school year. Why is there this six-week difference between schools and daycare settings? If we used different sets of rules and regulations for each family within our pre-school, and had different formulae for working out fees that depended on which place you came from, wouldn't we be accused of discrimination?

Why is there this six-week difference between schools and daycare settings? If we used different sets of rules and regulations for each family within our pre-school, and had different formulae for working out fees that depended on which place you came from, wouldn't we be accused of discrimination?

As the news story 'Nurseries may quit education grant' (5 February) correctly stated, our pre-school in Essex receives 406 per term for each child attending for the five sessions a week over 11 weeks. This works out at Pounds 2.95 an hour. But Essex County Council will not tell me how much in total each school receives per four-year-old child.

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