By Zoë Varenne
The government is inviting more schools to bid for up to £150,000 of funding from a £45 million pot to create a further 300 new or expanded school-based nurseries from September 2026.
The Department for Education predicts that the plans will create an additional 7,000 places, with priority given to bids from schools serving “some of the most disadvantaged communities”.
The initial phase of the school-based nursery policy, which received £37 million in funding, aimed to created 4,000 places across 300 schools, 189 of which are set to be up and running this month.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said:
“The change we have delivered for working people this September is just the beginning – through our Plan for Change we are determined to give more children the best start in life.
“School-based nurseries can offer a nurturing and stable environment for children that carries through into primary, and a helping hand for working parents tackling dual drop off.
“Delivering more school-based nurseries – under our Best Start umbrella – means more choice and convenience for parents, and more opportunities to target parts of the country where families are most in need of additional support.”
Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, said:
“While efforts to boost overall capacity in the early years sector are both welcome and necessary, the fact is that school-based nurseries alone simply cannot meet the growing demand for places.
“If the government is serious about delivering accessible, high-quality care and early education to all families, it must put as much focus on sustaining and valuing private, voluntary, and independent providers as it does on expanding school-based places – particularly as our vital part of the sector collectively delivers almost 1.3 million places for under-fives.
“What’s more, with numerous reports of PVI settings being forced off school grounds in phase one of this policy, it’s critical that clear and robust safeguards are put in place to prevent the further displacement of high-quality providers – and ensure that any new school-based nurseries supplements, rather than replaces, existing PVI provision, as originally promised by government.
“Only by strengthening the entire sector can the government ensure that it delivers on its promise to children and families, both now and in the future.”