The plan, to be tested out in three children's centres located on primary school sites in the borough, will begin after the October half-term when a centre opens at the Ambler Primary School.
Councillor Ursula Woolley, executive member for children and young people on Islington council, welcomed the plan to incorporate reception and nursery classes within children's centres. She said, 'The model being pioneered by Ambler Children's Centre allows us to build on our early years provision by creating a holistic centre of learning for nought to six-year-olds. We are responding to national and local evidence that supports the model.'
The Ambler children's centre will be the responsibility of the primary school's governing body and accountability for its services will be expressed through a service level agreement. The council said there will be no change to existing funding arrangements for the nursery and reception children involved.
At Ambler the head of the centre will be a member of the school's senior management team and be accountable to the school's head teacher, with overall responsibility for the reception and nursery classes as part of the integrated services being developed for nought to six-year-olds.
The council said the concept for this model came from the south of the borough, where an early excellence centre became a children's centre and was working closely with its neighbouring primary school and a special school for children with disabilities. The redevelopment of a two-form entry primary school, with the children's centre being co-located with the primary part of the special school, created 'an opportunity for fresh thinking between the head teachers involved about governance and management', a council spokesman said.
There was a recognition that reception class children, as well as those in the nursery class, could benefit from the indoor and outdoor learning environments being designed in the children's centre.
The model is also going to be implemented at the Fortune Park children's centre. Chair of the National Campaign for Real Nursery Education, Nikki Mellor, who works there, said that staff support it 'because we feel it's important that the Foundation Stage is thought of as a stage for children actually to be in'.
She added, 'It's important that we look at how children learn at a very young age and that we provide the facilities in the right way for them to learn. It's also crucial that people working and trained in early years are seen as specialists. We need teachers and other staff who know about child development and how children learn.'
