Nursery school heads seek 'levelling-up' role as funding crisis worsens

• Three nursery schools in England to close this summer
• Impact of loss of funding on supporting children with SEND and family support services
• Head teachers urge ministers to let them play role in ‘levelling up’ agenda

While maintained nursery schools have faced funding pressures for many years, the impact of the pandemic has heaped even more pressure on their ability to survive.

Three more nursery schools are set to close this summer, leaving just 385 nursery schools open in England.

The three that closed at the end of the summer term, or will close at the end of August, are Hetton-le-Hole Nursery School in Sunderland, St Mary’s Community Nursery School in Chester, and Harry Roberts Nursery School in Tower Hamlets, east London. All three local authorities are receiving below-average supplementary funding for their nursery schools, according to Early Education.

Early Education chief executive Beatrice Merrick told MPs at last month’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for Nursery Schools, Nursery and Reception Classes that ‘the whole system is creaking at the seams’.

Speaking about the impact of funding pressures on supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), she said 91 per cent of nursery schools in a recent Early Education survey cited increased demand for places for children with SEND during the pandemic.

Of the 101 nursery schools that responded, 1,445 children were receiving SEND support.

The survey also found:

41 per cent said private and voluntary settings were referring more children to them who they were unable to support.

Children were deferring starting school in Reception or Year 1 in 47 per cent of nursery schools because of a lack of suitable school places.

Children and families are losing expert support and the workload of staff is unsustainable, Ms Merrick said.

As one head teacher surveyed commented, ‘A real value reduction in our funding means that we have to reduce our overall staffing budget. This, coupled with the difficulty of acquiring LA funding for children with SEND, will mean we are unable to accommodate the same number of children that we have historically. We know there are a significant number of children in our locality that other EY settings have not been able to accommodate due to the complexity of their needs.

‘Previously, we have been able to accept a good number of these. However, we are unlikely to be able to manage this safely this coming year so will have to restrict the number of spaces we will be able to offer.’

Impact of Covid

Nursery school head teachers also spoke about the impact of the pandemic.

Head teacher Ginny Robinson, speaking on behalf of Bradford Nursery Schools, said, ‘Let us lead the way out of the
pandemic. But we really, really need the funding.’

Nursery schools voiced their views on how they could play a role in the Government’s levelling-up agenda.

Sacha Walker- Byrne, head teacher of Fairfield Nursery School in Lancashire, said maintained nursery schools and early years settings have been excluded. ‘We could really make a difference,’ she said.

Ailsa Higgins, head teacher of Hetton Lyons Nursery School in Sunderland, said, ‘We feel extremely vulnerable as to what makes us nursery schools. We’re being levelled down rather than levelled up.’

As a result of loss of income from the pandemic, Ms Higgins can no longer afford to employ a family support worker. ‘We’ve lost a gem,’ she said (see Case study, below).

Nursery school closures

St Mary’s Community Nursery School is merging with a local primary school in September after 175 years. 

The school, which opened in Chester in 1846, will merge with Overleigh St Mary’s CE Primary School in Handbridge, with which it shares a site. Councillor Bob Cernik, cabinet member for children and families at Cheshire West and Chester Council, said earlier this year, ‘The amalgamation means that a greater proportion of resources can be used for the direct benefit of children rather than the expense of maintaining two separate schools. 

‘St Mary’s had a particularly strong reputation for its ability to meet the needs of children with special educational needs and we are confident this commitment will not be lost through the amalgamation with Overleigh.’

A statement from head teacher Katie Tyrie on St Mary’s Community Nursery School website said, ‘Our school will be closing at the end of this term.

‘After 175 years of history, learning and laughter we will close our doors for the last time.

‘Thank you to our children, families, staff, Governors and friends who have been part of our amazing school community.

‘We wish our neighbours at Overleigh St Mary’s CE Primary School every success as they open a new nursery class provision in September.’

Hetton-le-Hole Nursery School in Sunderland is closing at the end of August.

In a statement, Sunderland City Council said, ‘Funding for all schools, including maintained nursery schools, is provided by central Government. The funding is distributed by the city council according to a national funding formula that includes looking at pupil numbers.

‘Regrettably, the fall in pupil numbers at the nursery led to an increasing and unsustainable budget deficit.

 ‘An offer was made to the Board of Governors for beginning a staff restructuring, which would have moved the school into a surplus financial position.

‘This was refused by the Board at the 11th hour leaving the council no option but to discontinue the nursery school, this was hugely disappointing.

‘While very aware of the strong community feelings, as the council and many others have outlined, a new Hetton Primary School is being built and there was never going to be any loss or shortages of nursery places.Nursery places can be transferred to one site at the school, they would be closer and more accessible for many more families.’

Harry Roberts Nursery School in Tower Hamlets, which opened in 1971, is amalgamating with Ben Johnson primary school. The council was contacted for
a response.

Commenting, Ms Merrick said, ‘The difference between amalgamation and closure is often quite blurred – the process tends to be a closure of the nursery school and extension of the age range at the primary school. The extent to which it feels like an amalgamation could include whether the nursery school site becomes the nursery class and whether there is continuity of staffing.  The reason it matters is that nursery classes lose staff expertise, especially the head teacher, whose expert early years leadership is crucial to the quality of provision.’

Impact of the pandemic

• More children have missed early intervention and support (98 per cent).
• More with undiagnosed SEND (91 per cent).
• Reduced support for children from health/other services (91 per cent).
• Higher levels of mental health problems and anxiety (67 per cent).
• Possible misdiagnosis of SEND due to children’s missed experiences during lockdown (55 per cent).
• Long Covid or other direct results of children having contracted coronavirus
  (10 per cent).
• Other factors including higher levels of parental anxiety/mental ill-health, higher incidence of adverse childhood experiences, and misdiagnosis due to virtual appointments with health and other professionals.

Source: Early Education survey of 101 maintained nursery schools in England, July 2021​

‘Levelling up’

Ms Merrick called on the Government to provide nursery schools with ‘funding on a fair, stable and viable level so that they can support education recovery over the next few years for all the babies and children affected by the pandemic’ and work to support other providers.

 ‘Government needs to deliver its promised funding solution urgently, and then look at how the maintained nursery school model can be rolled out more widely to support the levelling-up agenda across a wider range of disadvantaged areas.’

Case study: Hetton Lyons Nursery School, Sunderland

The nursery school is open 50 weeks a year and operates full daycare for children aged six months to five years old. Before Covid, it was open from 7.45am to 5.45pm.

Ailsa Higgins has been head teacher for 11 years, first joining as a head when the nursery school was also running a Children’s Centre.

The nursery school used to run parenting courses and offer one-to-one support if families were struggling, but can no longer afford to employ a family support worker. ‘I had managed to hold onto my family support worker, but this year Covid has impacted us a lot – we’ve lost pretty much all of our private income, which meant that we’ve had to use our reserves,’ Ms Higgins said. 

‘All of our staff are on ratio, so there is nobody available in the role she had, which I think is essential about maintained nursery schools – you’re supporting some of the most deprived families in the area. For me when they’re talking about the levelling-up agenda, the person that fits
in that role is my family support worker, and I haven’t got a family support worker any more.’

As well as being the head, Ms Higgins is also the SENCO (special educational needs co-ordinator) designated lead, as well as the business manager, after the post was made redundant.

The nursery school does receive some extra funding via parents paying for babies and under-twos, or for some extra hours on top of the entitlement funding. 

‘Our private income has to support our funded hours,’ Ms Higgins said. ‘However, the bulk of parents move to the funded twos.

‘Our catchment area is quite mixed. There are some high levels of deprivation and then some families in areas that are quite affluent. A lot of working families. If a place is available, then all of our families regardless of their backgrounds, they’re our community, that’s who we serve. We just know some of our families need more support than others.’

Attendance during Covid has dropped. ‘Our funded hours have stayed the same, but parents who would buy breakfast or after-school, or we’d have them in the holidays, that has dropped dramatically. I think parents have gone back to using grandparents or are juggling [childcare], rather than pay an extra £5 or £10 for after-school club.’

The breakfast club has stayed open, but after-school has ‘reduced significantly’. The holiday club is open, but was ‘never a huge element. The core of our children are birth to five,’ Ms Higgins said.

‘The local authority has always promoted its maintained nursery schools,’ she added. There will be seven nursery schools left in Sunderland from September.

‘The funding formula allows you to function, but not support your families,’ Ms Higgins said. ‘I think that post-pandemic, there will
be even more needy families out there.

‘I think the whole levelling-up agenda is missing a trick. If you can get support in for early years and families then children would hopefully be where you want them to be when they go to Reception. But there’s nothing out there for catch-up for these children, it’s Reception up. There’s nothing that’s being discussed in potential for early years in terms of the levelling-up agenda.’