Nursery World - Editor’s view

Early years settings want to play their part in the pandemic, but they need urgent action on funding, vaccinations and testing

We were all glad to see the back of 2020, but, in truth, it has been a bruising start to 2021 for the early years sector.

The government’s decision that nurseries and childminders in England should stay open for all children, not just for keyworker and vulnerable children as the schools are doing, has been difficult and divisive.

It seemed to be driven by economic factors - so that parents of young children could continue to work - rather than on science and health grounds.

Early years settings have been deemed ‘low risk’ despite notifications to Ofsted of Covid cases more than doubling in the first week of the year.

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