My Lords, this amendment seeks to explore in more detail with the Government their plans to extend childcare provision for two year-olds going into schools. Clearly, we all support the principle of increasing childcare places for two year-olds but we would like more reassurance on the practicalities and appropriateness of very young children being cared for on school premises.
First, is this practical? The Government’s Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey shows that more than 90% of two year-olds who receive 15 hours of free early years funding are provided for by the private, voluntary or independent sectors. When this issue was debated in the Commons, the Minister confirmed that, although it was estimated that, by the end of the academic year, around 80,000 two year-olds would benefit from the expansion of free childcare, it was not known how many of these additional places would be in schools rather than the private or voluntary sector. Meanwhile, we know the truth that there is a massive squeeze on primary school places because of expanded school rolls, so space is at an absolute premium. Indeed, recent reports show that there is a 10% shortfall in available places for the upcoming primary intake, and the number of infants in classes of more than 30 increased by 200% since the last election. It is hard to imagine that the Government’s proposals are going to make a big difference to the number of two year-olds able to be accommodated in schools.
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The second aspect of this is whether a school is the most appropriate one for nurturing two year-olds. When we discussed this issue last week during the debate on the importance of early years intervention, we all agreed that high-quality care with well trained staff was essential to boost a child’s development. We also identified that parental involvement was important in supporting the child’s growth. The ideal provision for very young children, particularly disadvantaged ones, would be an environment that encourages parents to be involved, to share the learning and to take this practice home with them. But can we be reassured that parents would be welcomed into the school facilities? Can we be reassured that the childcare will be age appropriate and not modelled on an extension of
three and four year-old nursery provision, which is more based on structured learning? Can we be reassured that schools will have the training and the experience to protect these very young, vulnerable children from being bullied and intimidated by older children? Schools can be exciting and exhilarating places to learn, but they can also be very scary. Can we be assured that these very young children will be protected from the noisy, daunting parts of school life?
I have seen some very good examples of schools providing good-quality crèche and nursery facilities and, when it is done well, there can be great advantages. But these schools have the space to provide separate entrances, separate staffing and a separate ethos. That is what is needed to make this initiative a success. So I hope that the Minister will give some indication of how many extra places he envisages will be created by these changes, whether there is sufficient good-quality accommodation available for these extra children and what further advice his department will give to schools to ensure that all the proper safeguards are in place. I beg to move.