Report

Room to grow

This report from UK think tank the Sutton Trust discusses school-based nurseries and the disadvantage gap.

The School-based Nursery (or SBN) programme is a major government policy aiming to deliver on two early years priorities: to expand access to childcare for working families and to increase the proportion of children reaching a good level of development, as measured using the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). The programme is looking to create 3,000 new or expanded nurseries on school grounds, making use of existing empty classroom space. By creating stronger links between schools and early years settings, as well as focusing on early education, the policy has the potential both to increase capacity, and to push up quality in the early years.

Beyond simply adding new places, the success of the policy is not guaranteed. There is also limited data about how best to implement SBNs. Therefore, this project aims to add significant date to the evidence base, considering particularly the extent to which school-based nurseries will be able to meet the needs of children from families facing disadvantage.

Funded by the Nuffield Foundation and supported by the work of CREC (Centre for Research in Early Childhood), the project involves a rapid evidence review alongside original research by a team of researchers from the Sutton Trust and the Social Market Foundation. This includes a comprehensive survey of over 1,300 primary school senior leaders and a selection of case studies of early years settings across the country, focusing on those with a high proportion of disadvantaged or SEND children.