Schools in twos trial report barriers to effective delivery

According to the evaluation, commissioned by the Department for Education (DfE), a number of the 49 schools involved in the pilot reported facing challenges with the cost of delivering nursery places for two-year-olds, recruiting staff with relevant qualifications, and committing the time, care and attention required for those eligible for the free places and their parents. Some schools were surprised at the initial investment needed, and the time required to set up the provision.

The National Children's Bureau (NCB), with Frontier Economics, was commissioned to carry out an evaluation of the 49 schools that volunteered to take part in a 'demonstration project' to explore delivering provision for two-year-olds.

The report is based on findings from a baseline survey of all schools, case studies of eight schools, a finance survey and final survey, in which 34 schools participated. Each school in the pilot, which ran for one academic year from September 2013, got a grant of £10,000 to help with the cost of participating and offering peer support to other schools.

Of the 49 schools that took part, 30 were infant and/or primary schools, ten were nursery schools, eight were academies and one was a school federation (defined as two or more schools governed collectively under a single governing body).

Just over half the schools had never delivered twos provision before. Of these schools, some reported finding the process of registering with Ofsted time consuming and difficult.

One school had to wait for a separate Ofsted inspection to confirm its provision for two-year-olds as 'good' or 'outstanding' before the local authority allowed it to offer funded places, despite the fact that the previous nursery provider had been rated as good and the school is outstanding.

However, if proposals under the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill, currently at Committee Stage at the House of Lords, get Parliamentary approval then in future schools will no longer have to register twos provision separately.

As part of the pilot, schools had to provide direct contact with a qualified teacher and/or Early Years Professional (EYP), offer some activities/lessons with three-year-olds, demonstrate approaches to helping parents manage their working patterns and prepare children for school. Two schools delivered the provision in partnership with a nursery attached to the school, four with a children's centre and four with a private provider.

Cathy Street, director of the research centre at the NCB, said, 'Our research shares the important lessons these schools learned along the way, and shows they have a lot to offer parents. Schools faced challenges in delivering high-quality provision. But once services were established, most schools reported strong local demand for funded places. To ensure the continued viability of services, more work is needed to develop a sustainable funding framework.'

Cost

Areas of high costs reported by the schools included building renovations and adaptions, the purchase of equipment, staffing and staff training. On average, schools spent £895 on staff-related (direct) costs.

Many schools drew on existing financial resources during the 'set-up phase', while some applied for grants. The main concerns of schools in ensuring the financial sustainability of the provision included rising staff costs and uncertainty about future funding.

Recruitment

A number of schools reported challenges with recruiting the 'right' staff as a result of their financial position; some noted difficulties finding staff of the right quality with experience of working with two-year-olds.

Other issues included knowing where to go to recruit appropriate staff and finding people willing to take a temporary contract. This potentially delayed delivery and risked quality, says the report.

Staff qualifications

Twenty schools reported employing degree level staff or higher. There was some variation in the amount of contact children had with a qualified teacher and/or EYP.

CPD

Schools attended several different types of training in preparation for providing funded places for twos, including how to engage and work with parents, child development, how to monitor children's progress, the needs and emotional well-being of twos and training on the Early Years Foundation Stage. But the availability and accessibility of training was limited in some areas. As a result, the report suggests that local authorities assess and monitor local training needs and facilitate provision.

Despite this, almost all schools felt confident working inclusively with two-year-olds with special educational needs and disabilities, and understanding the importance of inclusion and diversity in early years settings.

Raising awareness

One school approached families who attended the onsite children's centre. A number of schools sent letters home to parents, while others advertised the offer on their website.

Some of the schools reported that awareness about the twos places was spreading by word of mouth in the local community.

Many said raising awareness of the places was 'easy', but nine schools said they would like more advice. Just over half of the schools offered only funded places. Twenty-three out of the 34 schools who completed the final survey reported that their two-year-old provision was full. Of these, 21 said they planned to increase their number of places.

Delivery

The majority of schools did not offer extra hours or care for twos eligible for the free places outside the 15-hour a week entitlement.

Of the schools that did provide additional hours the most common approaches included giving parents the option to pay for extra morning or afternoon sessions, running breakfast clubs and/or after-school clubs or opening during school holidays.

Most of the schools operated on a term-time only basis with either morning or afternoon sessions. Just nine schools said they gave families the option to choose a mixture of hours.

Experience working with funded twos

Twenty-five of 34 schools reported that supporting the learning, development and emotional needs of funded twos took 'extra time, care and attention'. Nineteen schools said that staff had needed extra time to work more closely with the parents of funded children.

Half of respondents to the final survey also reported requiring additional funding from the local authority to provide support for some twos with additional needs in receipt of funded places.

Engaging parents

Schools reported that the most effective engagement strategies for working with parents were holding informal conversations during or after the school day to share knowledge about their child's progress, facilitating parents working with other professionals, and carrying out one-off visits to the home.

Conclusions

The report recommends that schools are aware of demand for twos places, consider working with other local providers, allow a generous amount of time to plan provision and develop a robust business model that balances capacity with flexible delivery.

Trimdon Grange Infant and Nursery School, County Durham

The infant and nursery school took part in the two-year-old pilot after identifying a lack of provision in the area, and recognising a number of children on its waiting list would be eligible for a free place. The school provided eight places for funded two-year-olds only.

Catherine Worton, the school's head, said the most difficult part of setting up provision was registering with Ofsted. Another issue was finding someone with expertise in working with two-year-olds.

'We were very aware of our lack of knowledge so appointed a member of staff who had previously worked in a PVI setting', she explained. 'Some of the children were identified as having special educational needs while at the setting so we sought outside advice as to how to help support their development.'

Ms Worton said that the children who have now moved to the three-year-old room and who came in below their expected level are now on track.

Medlock Primary School in Manchester

The school, which has an on-site children's centre, takes pupils from ages three to 11. Deputy head Jonathan Brown said the pilot presented an opportunity to fill a gap in provision after the council withdrew its childcare offer from the children's centre based within the school.

'The Sure Start centre had a baby and toddler room, but that disappeared overnight,' he said. 'The aim of the school building was to provide an education hub for children from birth, so the former head jumped on the DfE's initiative.'

The school worked with the children's centre to deliver funded places for 16 twos, offering a morning and afternoon session. It also employed agency staff, as it was unsure of what the demand would be for places, and organised for nearby Martenscroft Nursery School, part of the National Early Years Teaching Centre Project, to deliver training.

However, Mr Brown said that very quickly demand for places grew, which led the school to extend its offer of care to full-time from 8am to 6pm. Parents can pay for additional childcare hours outside the free entitlement.

As a result, the school took on four full-time staff, including a Level 5 manager. It has since employed am assistant head, who is in charge of the foundation stage unit. The school is now considering offering twos provision in school holidays.