Nursery scheme offers free school year for four-year-olds

Child First is introducing the scheme at its Solihull nursery from September and, if successful, plans to expand it to its four other sites.

Parents with four-year-olds will receive the equivalent of the length of the school day free for 38 weeks a year during term-time. This means that parents will be able to use their free entitlement in the nursery in the same way as they would if they took up a school place, without incurring a cost during school hours.

They will also be able to use the nursery's breakfast, after-school and holiday club at a subsidised rate, giving the added convenience of wraparound care at the same setting.

Child First is in the process of recruiting an early years teacher with QTS for the class of four-year-olds. The nursery came up with the plan in response to the growing trend for children to go into school early, which means that in practice many children start school at four.

The Solihull nursery currently stands to lose 32 four-year-olds to local schools in September.

Child First owns five nurseries in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and the West Midlands, providing around 500 childcare places.

The group's director, Tom Shea, said that the primary motive was to give children the opportunity to stay in a nursery environment for longer.

'One of the things that's been concerning us is that children go off to school far too early. When they go off to school at four it seems premature to us. We thought it would make sense to see if economically it was a sensible option.' He said that parents had previously expressed a desire to keep their children at the nursery for longer, but aside from the cost, worry that their children will not be able to get into the school they want if they delay.

Mr Shea said, 'That's fundamentally wrong. It should be about what's best for the children, not the head's budget.

'If more parents do start choosing this as an option, schools then politicians will start to listen. Hopefully, this will be an example for others to follow. It benefits children and works economically.'

Mr Shea said that some parents have already decided to keep their four-year-olds on and the nursery is also extending the offer to prospective new parents in the area.

Research by the Department for Education released last week found that among four-year-olds, just 21 per cent are in private and voluntary nurseries.