Nursery schools outshine primary
Wednesday, January 24, 2001
Nursery schools outperform primary schools even though a significantly greater proportion of children in nursery school settings live in difficult socio-economic circumstances, according to a Department for Education and Employment report. The report, Developing and Extending Nursery School Services, was drawn up for the DfEE last spring by a team of six nursery headteachers led by Sian Rees Jones from Bognor Regis Nursery School in West Sussex. It was presented to last week's London conference on the future of maintained nursery schools, organised by Early Education.
The report, Developing and Extending Nursery School Services, was drawn up for the DfEE last spring by a team of six nursery headteachers led by Sian Rees Jones from Bognor Regis Nursery School in West Sussex. It was presented to last week's London conference on the future of maintained nursery schools, organised by Early Education.
The report explores Ofsted data which reveals that 79 per cent of nursery schools were judged to offer good, very good, or excellent value for money, compared with 49 per cent of primary schools. The evidence suggests that nursery schools performed better than both nursery classes in primary schools and reception classes, although in some cases direct comparisons were difficult due to small sample sizes. Children with special educational needs were also found to progress better in nursery schools.
The report suggested a number of possible areas for development, including sharing expertise; centres of research and continuing excellent practice; social inclusion; children with special needs; inter-agency working; wrap-around care; and working with nought to three-year-olds.
Many of these points were echoed in a study by Professor Helen Penn of the University of East London and Eva Lloyd, chief executive of the National Early Years Network. Professor Penn's report, The Potential for Partnerships between Maintained Nursery Schools and the Voluntary and Community Early Years Sector, also presented to the conference, stressed that many nursery schools act as a focal point for ethnic minority and/or low-income communities and that they offer children a good education and very good opportunities for physical activities and movement.
Professor Penn concluded that although nursery schools are seen as a valuable service by other voluntary and community early years settings, and can contribute significantly to Early Years Development and Childcare Partnerships, more than one-third of them urgently need capital investment and most have had to reduce the educational service they offer.
Dr Penn estimated that 50 to 100 nursery schools faced imminent closure.
Many had already tried to reach out and offer a more comprehensive service to their local community, but were 'constrained by their buildings and by local authority and Government policies which limited their intake of children as well as by lack of money'.
