Nursery World - Our nursery schools are on the brink

Europe sees our nursery schools as the best, but underfunding means that they are in danger, says Jack Dromey, MP for Birmingham Erdington.

Jack Dromey MP

On 24 May, nursery school head teachers from across Europe are coming to Birmingham. The purpose of their trip is to learn from the best.

OfSTED rates 98 per cent of nursery schools as 'good' or 'outstanding', and remarkably this rises to 100 per cent in Birmingham. The numbers speak for themselves; we have some of the best nursery schools in Europe – we need to properly fund them so they can continue their fantastic work.

Recent research by the Centre for Research in Early Childhood (CREC) shows we may no longer be able to take such a fantastic service for granted if we continue to underfund nursery schools. Our nursery schools are overwhelmingly in deprived areas and give disadvantaged children the best possible start in life. Without them all talk of social mobiliy is meaningless.

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