Take twos - schools reach out

When the head teacher and governors at Lander Road Primary in Bootle,
Sefton, discovered local families had no choice but to use provision
outside the local area, they were keen to provide their own
community-based service.

From the outset, the school believed it important to integrate
two-year-olds into the maintained nursery where children attend for two
five-hour days. They feel this has been a great success, and older
children are said to have benefited from the experience enormously.
Introducing two-year-olds into the nursery has supported the school to
redefine its environment. As a result of the changes, all children can
now access a range of innovative and stimulating experiences and have
the opportunity to interact with different members of staff.

Registered to the governing body of the school, the provision is managed
by the leader for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). All staff
employed in the setting hold full and relevant childcare qualifications
and attended two-year-old training offered by Sefton early years quality
team. Regular support visits from the local authority quality team have
given staff confidence in knowing they are on the right track. Such
interventions are extremely valuable, and should be protected in future
local authority strategies.

The school says witnessing children's development has been amazing.
Their language and confidence improves every day, children are sociable
and they have built strong friendships and relationships with their
peers. Transition to nursery, they believe, will be extremely relaxed
for children turning three.

Admitting two-year-olds has required this school to improve staff
knowledge about how young children learn and develop, and how staff
identify their individual starting points. This is reported to have had
a positive impact on practice throughout the EYFS. I would encourage
more schools to take a considered look into developing such provision,
if the conditions are right for such young children.

James Hempsall is director of Hempsall's (@jhempsall,
www.hempsalls.com).