Take twos - ensuring the right business model

Over the next year, we will see many more families become eligible for funded places. It is highly likely that many children will be from low-income working families. As a consequence, we all need to think about how flexible our provision can be to support parents' employment, and balance this with the sustainability and business functions of our settings.

Many providers are open full days, Monday to Friday all year round, offering part-time places including morning or/and afternoon sessions as well as full-time places. In the early implementation stage, some providers have offered eligible families access to the free entitlement in blocks of three five-hour sessions in a week, allowing parents to choose between 8am to 1pm or 1pm to 6pm sessions each day. For some, this initially seemed a manageable way forward for both the nursery and families.

Over time, and with an opportunity to reflect on delivery and family needs, some providers have reviewed the offer and made the decision to also offer five blocks of three hours in a week. One emerging model is where early learning for two-year-olds is delivered from 8.45am to 11.45am, and 1pm and 4pm.

This model continues to assist with provider sustainability and the timings fit better with some families' needs who can re-arrange drop off and pick up of older children at school around the session times. Many providers have also developed an extended offer where required by families.

Nursery management will need to look at daily routines and staff rotas, which may need adapting slightly to include a variety of shifts. It is also important to enable the key person system to be used across the delivery models, and to ensure the curriculum meets the needs of children across the variety of sessions. Planning may need to be adapted to take into account the differing attendance patterns too. All this ensures that quality is a key consideration too.

James Hempsall is director of Hempsall's