Editor's view

The extension of the nursery education grant for three- and four-year-olds, from 33 to 38 weeks a year from 1 April, should, on the face of it, be good news for non-maintained providers. But examine the details in the Code of Practice on Nursery Education and it becomes obvious that the already far from level playing field of early years provision is likely to tilt another few degrees! The Government recommends in the code of practice that local authorities should fund each pre-school child equally, regardless of what setting they attend. But recommending is as far as it goes -...