First school-based nurseries confirmed for East Midlands - what this means for Northamptonshire parents

A total of 300 nurseries and up to 4,000 places will be rolled out across the country from September.

The county four are Oakway Academy in Wellingborough, Paulerspury Church of England Primary School in Towcester, Roade Primary School in Northampton and Hardingstone Academy in Hardingstone.

Schools have been awarded grants to expand or repurpose existing buildings with the intention of creating nurseries, which the government saystend to be more inclusive that non-school-based nurseries, with a higher proportion of children with special educational needs than other settings.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “Delivering on our promise of a better early years system is my top priority, which is why we’ve more than doubled our investment in this first phase so thousands more children can benefit from a high-quality early education from this September.

“We said we’d act, and now we have. But this is just the beginning - we’ve set a hugely important milestone to get tens of thousands more children every year school-ready by age 5 as part of our Plan for Change.

“We’re raising the bar for early years, delivering on our manifesto commitments and building a system that gives every child the best start in life.”

Bids up to £150,000 were taken by schools, and assessed against a range of criteria, including value for money, local demand, and internal Department of Education data sources such as school performance.

Alongside introducing universal free breakfast clubs in all primary schools, which the government says will save parents £450 per year, the government’s plans will ‘ensure children of all ages start the day ready to learn’, because ‘having early years provision embedded within a primary school helps children settle into learning in a familiar and trusted environment.’

Jason Elsom, chief executive of Parentkind, said: “Parents often struggle with finding good quality childcare, and many will welcome this investment, especially as parents with more than one child may be saved from the mad dash from nursery to school in the morning and afternoon.

“With more reach into the lives of parents and schools than any other charity, we know that childcare is a major headache for parents with young children, from the exorbitant cost, to finding a reliable local place for their children.

“Some of the best performing schools are now expanding into early years to deliver an excellent education, and the School-Based Nursery Capital Grant will enable even more schools to help the children in their care to be school ready before moving from nursery to reception, giving them the best start in life.”

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), added: “There should be no higher priority for government than investment in the early years.

"The evidence is clear that high quality early education can make a lasting difference to children’s lives, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

“It is therefore extremely positive to see the first wave of new and expanded school-based nurseries being announced today.

"Schools play a vital role in the early years ecosystem, and this should help strengthen that further.”