Council joins teaching union call for urgent review of nursery school funding

Lambeth Council has joined the National Education Union (NEU) and parents in a campaign to guarantee the future of its five local authority-maintained nursery schools, which between them cater for around 550 children between two-and five-years-old.

Council leader Jack Hopkins, deputy leader Jennifer Brathwaite and deputy cabinet member for schools Jane Pickard have written to the secretary of state for education, Gavin Williamson, appealing for a review of early years funding and a long-term settlement to ensure a secure future for the settings.

Extra funding awarded to the nursery schools by the Government in 2017 through the Maintained Nursery Schools Supplementary Funding (MNSS) pot is due to run out in August 2020.

The council says it has already been forced to top up the nursery schools’ annual budgets because the temporary funding is not enough.
The five council-maintained nursery schools, four out of five of which are rated Outstanding and one Good by Ofsted, are:

Effra Early Years Centre

Ethelred Nursery School and Children’s Centre

Holmewood Nursery School

Maytree Nursery School and Children’s Centre

Triangle Nursery School

In the letter, the councillors requested funding that is ‘both long-term and sufficient without recourse to top-ups from councils whose services are stretched to the limit’.

They also extended an invitation to Mr Williamson to visit the nurseries to see their work for himself.

Councillor Pickard said, ‘These nursery schools are in or very close to areas of high deprivation and provide a top-quality education. Many of the children face multiple disadvantages in life and the schools help to level the playing field for them, so they arrive at reception class able to cope with the primary curriculum.

‘For example, at Triangle Nursery School on the William Bonney Estate in Clapham, 65 per cent of children are classed as “vulnerable” and 38 per cent have special educational needs or disabilities.

‘Without the help of these schools, four of which are Ofsted outstanding schools and one good, some of these children could end up struggling with school, leading to disengagement in their teens, which in turn can lead to gang membership and criminal activity. We need the schools to be properly funded. It’s time the Government fully recognised the fantastic work that they do.’

The Department for Education said it was providing Lambeth with £0.5m in 2019-20 for its maintained nursery schools to allow them to maintain their 2016-17 funding levels, and that further details on plans to support free early education offers in 2020-21 would be provided shortly.

A Government spokesperson said, ’Maintained nursery schools make a valuable contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children, alongside wider government support including our free childcare offer for two-year-olds.

‘The Government recently announced plans to spend more than £3.6 billion to support free early education offers in 2020-21.’