Please see below a letter that Lucy Powell MP, Chair of the APPG on Nursery Schools and Nursery Classes has today sent to the Early Years Minister. This was signed by a cross-Party group of MPs. Please note, we did not ask all MPs to sign up so if you do not see your MP on this list is does not necessarily mean they are not supportive of nursery schools. We approached MPs with the highest concentrations of maintained nursery schools to sign rather than all MPs and government Ministers are not allowed to sign letters like this. If you have any questions or have had positive conversations with your MP and think they are supportive of campaigning on this issue please do feed anything back to Lucy at [email protected] .

LETTER TO EARLY YEARS MINISTER CAROLINE DINENAGE

Dear Caroline

As the officers of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Nursery Schools and Nursery Classes and as MPs with nursery schools in our constituencies we are writing to you ahead of the Autumn Statement and the launch of the government’s response to the Early Years Funding Formula consultation to highlight our concerns about the impact of changes to the early years funding formula on maintained nursery schools and nursery classes.

Whilst we support a fairer funding formula for all early education and childcare providers we are concerned about the unintended consequences of the proposals set out in the consultation to prohibit local authorities from allocating supplementary quality funding as they choose.

As we’re sure you’re aware from the excellent nursery schools in your own constituency, maintained nursery schools are the highest performing part of our education system. With the majority of nursery schools serving some of the most deprived communities they achieve outstanding results. 99 per-cent of nursery schools are judged outstanding or good by Ofsted. Indeed, 60 per-cent of nursery schools are rated outstanding by Ofsted and 39 per-cent are good. 65 per-cent of nursery school places are located in the 30 per-cent most deprived parts of England.

Nursery schools are the greatest agents of social mobility in the education system, all but eliminating the gap between poorer children and their peers by the time they leave nursery school and achieving real and long-lasting results for children with SEND. In many areas nursery schools also work with PVI providers to raise quality in the locality benefitting not just the children that attend nursery schools but many others as well. They also take a lead role in supporting looked after children in many areas and provide family support services alongside early education and care.

As a result of the history of maintained nursery schools and nursery classes in schools, and the way in which they are set up, their costs are higher than other providers because they have a head teacher, numerous qualified teachers and other highly trained staff. They are centres of excellence in our early years system. However, funding changes put their viability under threat because proposed changes do not take any of this into account and prohibit local authorities from supporting these institutions with extra funding as they currently do.

The Department is fully aware of this issue, and has announced £55 million per year for at least the next two years to support nursery schools over and above the funding they will receive through the revised early years funding formula. However, beyond two years the future of nursery schools is unclear and many nursery schools are concerned about their future viability.

It would be a travesty, as well as terrible for quality early education and care, if nursery schools were to close. We know first-hand the value that nursery schools offer local parents in our constituencies as well as other local providers and local authorities as vehicles for driving up quality and closing the attainment gap.

Ahead of the Autumn Statement and the government’s response to the funding consultation we hope you will look to develop a policy which safeguards the future viability of maintained nursery schools. As officers of the APPG we would be pleased to meet you to discuss this issue in the coming weeks.

Thank you for your assistance. We look forward to hearing from you.

Lucy Powell MP, Chair, APPG Nursery Schools and Nursery Classes Jack Dromey, Secretary, APPG Nursery Schools and Nursery Classes Jess Phillips, Treasurer, APPG Nursery Schools and Nursery Classes Anne Main MP Victoria Borwick MP Nigel Mills MP Richard Benyon MP Andrew Smith MP Graham Jones MP Richard Burden MP Karen Buck MP Helen Goodman MP Stephen Twigg MP Kate Hollern MP Liam Byrne MP Daniel Zeichner MP Fiona MacTaggart MP Emma Reynolds MP David Winnick MP Ann Coffey MP Sharon Hodgson MP John Pugh MP Chi Onwurah MP Shabana Mahmood MP