Nursery World - Primary concern

Are private daycare providers threatened by schools - and do schools want to compete with them? Simon Vevers tests the water When the Government gave the green light to schools to develop full daycare on site as part of a package of extended services, the schools were urged to work with local private providers and not duplicate provision.

When the Government gave the green light to schools to develop full daycare on site as part of a package of extended services, the schools were urged to work with local private providers and not duplicate provision.

However, research by the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) suggests that many private providers are being excluded, with occupancy levels falling and gathering evidence that they are losing out to competition from children's centres and schools, whose childcare seemed to offer them a tantalising lifeline in an increasingly harsh competitive market.

In some areas, such as East Anglia and Solihull, Birmingham, there is evidence of harmonious working between private providers and schools. But in other areas there have been allegations that schools have pressured parents into taking up their daycare places with a promise of a school place.

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