GovWire

The first stage of the governments plan to deliver 3,000 nurseries by upgrading spare spaces in primary schools will begin next month, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson announced today.

From next month, schools will be invited to bid for a share of 15 million capital funding, with capacity in the programme to deliver up to 300 new or expanded nurseries in this first round.

Schools will need to demonstrate how their proposals will respond to need in their local area, supporting the 2025 expansion of government-funded hours of childcare and early education for working parents to 30 hours a week.

Funding will be allocated to successful schools in Spring 2025 to support delivery for the first cohort of places.

This is the first step to delivering the governments ambition for 3,000 new nurseries in primary schools, and long-term plan to make early years education and childcare more widely available, accessible, and high quality.

Currently, availability of early years provision is not evenly distributed across the country, with the most disadvantaged areas often experiencing the lowest access to provision.

To ensure the programme is delivered in a way that will benefit all parents and children, the department will use the first phase to take learnings for future years and better understand how we can best support underserved and poorer areas.

Schools will be able to express interest for future phases of the programme to help assess demand in different parts of the country, and the department will engage with the sector on the most appropriate model to extend the programme across the country in its second phase.

The government has urged schools interested in bidding for the first round to start discussing with their local authorities, governing organisations and wider stakeholders to consider pupil place planning, local childcare sufficiency and next steps for setting up and running new or expanded nurseries.

Guidance to support schools will be issued at the date of launch.