APPG launched to highlight high-quality nursery education

The APPG on Nursery Schools and Nursery Classes in Primary Schools will be chaired by Graham Stuart MP, former chair of the education select committee, with Baroness Tessa Blackstone as vice-chair, and Mark Pritchard MP and Tom Pursglove MP also serving as officers.

The move comes as concern grows about the numbers of maintained nursery schools closing or at risk of closure, with only 400 remaining open. Although around 55 per cent of nursery schools are graded ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted, far higher than other sectors of education, they are relatively expensive and have been vulnerable to local authority cuts.

The APPG will look at three themes:

• Why does nursery education still matter?
• How can nursery schools and nursery classes fulfill the vital role of supporting quality in the whole early years sector? Is high quality and the employment of qualified teachers with early years expertise value for money as measured by outcomes for children?
• Can changes to the legal/organisational structure of nursery schools help secure their future?

The National Campaign for Nursery Education and TACTYC are supporting the aims of the APPG. Margy Whalley, director of Pen Green Research Base, said that quality of early education was strongly influenced by the level of qualifications of staff, and teachers were the single most significant determinant. Although nursery schools were expensive because they employed highly-qualified staff, ‘they offer excellent value because they engage with large numbers of children with SEND and complex needs, and their role extends far further than the children and families they serve.’

About 100 nursery schools are now involved in supporting staff across the early years sector through the Teaching Schools programme.

Meetings of the new APPG are due to take place in March, May and July.