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School-based nurseries: early years organisation writes to minister to ask why PVI sector is held in ‘such disregard’

The Early Years Alliance (EYA) has written to the early years minister after the DfE implied its school-based nurseries will provide children with a ‘smoother transition to Reception year’ - claims that have angered PVI settings.
MPs have accused teaching unions of preventing schools from fully re-opening next month with their checklist
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Social media posts shared by the Department for Education on 2 April claim that school-based nurseries, 300 of which have been approved to start providing early education and care from September under the first round of Government’s new programme, provide ‘high-quality early education in familiar school settings’, that they give children ‘a smoother transition to Reception’, and are at ‘the heart’ of the Government’s ‘Plan for Change’.

The DfE's post on its Facebook page (below) publicising the school-based nurseries attracted more than 200 comments, many of which oppose the messages the Department is promoting.

Within his letter to the early years minister, Stephen Morgan, the EYA’s chief executive Neil Leitch argues that there appears to be ‘no consideration given to the impact of the messaging around school-based nurseries on early years professionals working in PVI settings.

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