NICE drafts guidance for practitioners regarding symptoms of neglect or abuse Early years professional are being advised to look for “soft” signs of abuse, following draft guidelines released by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). NICE has drawn up the guidance in response to a request from the Department for […]

10,000 fewer providers plan to offer parents 30-hours compared to 15-hours according to DfE statistics The 30-hours of free childcare offer could cause a lack of childcare places, due to provider reluctance to sign up to the new scheme, DfE statistics suggest. According to the Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers, England […]

Save the Children report asks government to invest £65 million in the early years Save the Children has called on the government to increase its investment in the early years to ensure that all settings have an early years teacher, in a new report released today. Early Development and Children’s Later Educational Outcomes […]

Early years minister tells nursery owners to charge for additional services if funding doesn’t cover costs Early years minister Caroline Dinenage has suggested that childcare providers charge parents for additional services in order to top-up the 30 hours of funding provided by the government. In a meeting with three nursery owners, Dinenage responded […]

Report from London School of Economics questions conventional methods for testing setting quality A new study from the London School of Economics has questioned the impact of graduate staff on the quality of early years settings. The report, titled Quality in Early Years Settings and Children’s School Achievement, found that staff qualifications and […]

DfE’s research into funding for the early years is criticised by the Alliance The research behind the government’s early years funding review has been criticised by the Alliance following its release through the Freedom of Information Act. The research was carried out by Deloitte on behalf of the Department for Education and was used, […]

70% of early years providers say that a lack of funds holds back CPD on speech and language skills The majority of people working with children and young people have not had any formal training to support speech, language and communication skills, according to a new report from The Communication Trust. The Trust surveyed […]

Half of councils are not sure if they will be able to extend the 15-hours offer in September More than half of local authorities are unsure if there will be enough childcare places available in their area when the 30-hours’ free childcare entitlement is introduced this September, a new poll has found. According […]

The Institute of Economic Affairs report argues in favour of scrapping government intervention in the childcare sector A new report has criticised the EYFS and argued against government-subsidised childcare and in favour of reduced regulation in the sector. The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) released a report titled Getting the state out of pre-school and childcare: […]

Database of 2017/18 funding rates complied for early years providers The Alliance is creating a database of early years funding rates ahead of huge changes to the way places are funded for three- and four-year-olds. The government has already confirmed the final funding rates given to local authorities using the new Early Years […]

Working parents say they are likely to take up additional funded hours in September Four out of five parents will take up additional funded childcare hours when the 30-hours offer comes into place, according to a Department for Education (DfE) report on parents’ views. A survey of 851 parents, conducted by Ipsos Mori […]

Report says that skilled workforce and tailored curriculum are the key to success Tailored curriculums, skilled staff and an open culture have been highlighted as key features of good practice in early years. The government has released a report titled Good Practice in Early Education as part of its Study of Early Education […]