Room to Grow: The Government’s roll-out of the school-based nurseries and the disadvantage gap
Published today, the new research by the Sutton Trust and Social Market Foundation, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, reveals the scale of the government’s challenge in delivering its school-based nurseries (SBNs) programme.
The „Room to Grow” reports sizeable reality gap between the government’s policy intentions and progress to date on school-based nurseries. It demonstrates there’s limited appetite among schools to open on-site nurseries, and a range of barriers preventing them from doing so. New settings are also not reaching the children who can benefit the most, and have lower levels of free school meal eligible children than existing ones.
This matters, because school-based nurseries have the potential to be particularly impactful for those from disadvantaged backgrounds and those with SEND, with existing school-based nurseries more likely than other providers to serve these groups. They’re also more likely to offer higher quality provision with better-qualified staff, as well as having stronger links to schools which help to smooth the transition between pre-school and Reception.
As part of the Phase 2 of the Room to Grow project, Centre for Research in Early Childhood (CREC) undertook the literature review which provides a rapid evidence assessment to identify existing knowledge, gaps, and policy implications related to school-based nurseries.
CREC’s review of evidence tells us that there are very stark disparities in the availability of high-quality early education and childcare across parts of England but where school-based provision exists it serves these target populations well. The evidence further indicates that school-based nursery provision, and particularly that which is based in, or working in partnership with, MNSs, could lead the way towards achieving universal access to more equitable, inclusive and life changing early education experiences for all young children and especially those living in disadvantaged communities and those with additional, diverse and complex needs.
The report’s authors are calling for the government to prioritise disadvantaged areas in the roll-out of school-based nurseries, and examine ways to improve relationships between schools and local nursery providers.
Schools and early years providers need to ensure that disadvantaged households are served by their early years provision. The ‘schoolification’ of early years must also be avoided, by ensuring teaching and the environment it’s delivered in are designed to be age appropriate.
The development of SBNs is one strand under the umbrella of the Best Start in Life strategy to enhance early education and childcare, health and family support for all young children, particularly for those facing disadvantage and those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and their families.
Commenting, Eleanor Ireland, Head of Education at the Nuffield Foundation, said: “High‑quality early education can be life‑changing for young children and a lifeline for families. When childcare is affordable, accessible and delivered well, it supports children’s development, helps parents work, study or train, and eases cost-of-living pressures on household budgets. But too many families, particularly those who would benefit most, are still missing out. Expanding school‑based nurseries, has the potential to support these families, but it will be essential to ensure new provision is high-quality and is accessible to those who need it most for the government to meet its own targets.”
CREC’s Director, Professor Chris Pascal, said: “This important report which collates early evidence on the functioning and impact of the school-based nursery scheme suggests that the initiative has high potential for realising its objective of securing access to high quality early education. However, it also identifies significant systemic and operational issues which are currently inhibiting the fulfilling of its ambition to ensure all children experience the best start in life. This research sets out clearly where action is needed to enable the scheme to flourish and make a real difference for those children who are most in need.”
The Room to Grow report can be accessed here.
The full literature review and case studies are published alongside the report and are available here and here.