The first stage of the government's plan to deliver 3,000
nurseries by upgrading spare spaces in primary schools will begin
next month, Education Secretary announced today.
From next month, schools will be invited to bid for a share of
£15 million capital funding, with capacity in the programme to
deliver up to 300 new or expanded nurseries in this first round.
Schools will need to demonstrate how their proposals will respond
to need in their local area, supporting the 2025 expansion of
government-funded hours of childcare and early education for
working parents to 30 hours a week.
Funding will be allocated to successful schools in Spring 2025 to
support delivery for the first cohort of places.
This is the first step to delivering the government's ambition
for 3,000 new nurseries in primary schools, and long-term plan to
make early years education and childcare more widely available,
accessible, and high quality.
Currently, availability of early years provision is not evenly
distributed across the country, with the most disadvantaged areas
often experiencing the lowest access to provision.
To ensure the programme is delivered in a way that will benefit
all parents and children, the department will use the first phase
to take learnings for future years and better understand how we
can best support underserved and poorer areas.
Schools will be able to express interest for future phases of the
programme to help assess demand in different parts of the
country, and the department will engage with the sector on the
most appropriate model to extend the programme across the country
in its second phase.
The government has urged schools interested in bidding for the
first round to start discussing with their local authorities,
governing organisations and wider stakeholders to consider pupil
place planning, local childcare sufficiency and next steps for
setting up and running new or expanded nurseries.
Guidance to support schools will be issued at the date of launch.
