Nine out of ten parents of disabled children say that their child does not have the same access to play as non-disabled children, according to national deafblind charity, Sense. The survey revealed the severe restrictions disabled children face when accessing play, stating that one in two disabled children have been turned away from play settings […]

Five-year-olds with substandard language skills are significantly more likely to struggle with national tests later on, the BBC reports, citing recent research from Save the Children. Academics at the Institute of Education studied the progress of 5,000 children across England and found that 23% of those that struggled with language when they started school did […]

Two leading teaching unions have called on the government to abandon the reception baseline assessment, after a survey of more than 1000 teaching professionals revealed mass oppositions to the plans. A survey of reception teachers and EYFS leaders from across the country, carried out by the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Association of […]

Prime minister David Cameron is pushing for change for babies born to mothers in jail. New research has revealed that 100 babies spent time behind bars last year, and Cameron plans to rethink how pregnant women’s offences are treated, as well as how their babies are cared for. “It is absolutely terrible to think that some […]

Research from the Family and Childcare Trust has found that a pay increase of just £1 an hour can make the difference between a childcare setting with a ‘Good’ Ofsted rating and that with an ‘Outstanding’. The study ‘In for a pound’ observed the hourly pay rates in 900 job advertisements for nursery staff across […]

Eight councils in England will receive £13m to launch the 30 hours free childcare scheme a year ahead of schedule, the Department for Education has announced. The government has confirmed that Wigan, Staffordshire, Swindon, Portsmouth, Northumberland, York, Newham and Hertfordshire will roll out the offer, which will entitle eligible working parents of three to four-year […]

Up to 20,000 single parents could miss out on the extended free entitlement offer due to a change in eligibility criteria, according to the charity for single parent families, Gingerbread. In November, the government announced that parents would need to earn at least the equivalent of 16 hours a week at the national minimum or […]

Government plans to extend the three- and four-year-old free entitlement for working families could help to “nationalise childcare”, a thinktank has claimed. Time to Care, a report on the Childcare Bill published by Policy Exchange, suggests that the impending free entitlement extension to 30 hours “would effectively make government the monopoly buyer and funder of […]

A recent report by The British Heart Foundation National Centre claims that 91% of two-to-four year olds in the UK are not active enough to be healthy. UK physical activity guidelines state that children within this age group need at least three hours activity a day to see health benefits, but The British Heart Foundation […]

The government are set to consult on proposed increases to Ofsted annual fees, childcare minister Sam Gyimah has confirmed. In a letter sent to early years organisations, the minister stated “…many providers have faced increases in operating costs and, for this reason, we have resisted any fee increased over the course of the last parliament” […]

Childminder agencies will be rated as ‘effective’ or ‘ineffective’ rather than ‘outstanding’, ‘good’, ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’, Ofsted has confirmed. According to the childminding agencies inspection handbook, published in draft format last month, childminder agencies will be assessed against three sub-judgements: the effectiveness of the leadership and management of the agency; the quality of the […]

Labour MP Jenny Chapman has been appointed shadow childcare minister in party leader Jeremy Corbyn’s first reshuffle. Prior to the reshuffle, Chapman had been shadow prisons and probation minister since 2011. She has a history of campaigning in Westminster, securing 480 Department of Education jobs in her constituency and fighting for a cap on payday […]