皇冠体育app

Around 92,000 of the most disadvantaged 2-year-olds are now receiving up to 15 hours a week of fully funded childcare - just weeks after free pre-school education for these children was introduced.

皇冠体育app Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, and Education and Childcare Minister, Elizabeth Truss, welcomed today鈥檚 figures which show that after just 1 month of this year鈥檚 scheme being launched, an estimated 70% of the identified 130,000 children are already benefitting from the scheme - a huge increase on the 20,000 children accessing free early education in 2010.

Evidence shows that 2-year-olds in good and outstanding places - including nurseries, school nursery classes, and childminders - see real benefits in terms of their early language skills, and physical, social and emotional development. Parents can also be confident in the knowledge that their children are receiving high quality care which will benefit them in later life.

Yet access to early education remains unequal, with children from low income families far less likely to receive high-quality learning despite research showing that they stand to benefit the most.

皇冠体育app government wants to see more eligible 2-year-olds in high-quality early education, and has committed to providing funding for 130,000 2-year-olds to access free places from September this year - increasing to 260,000 from next September. This offer is backed up by over half a billion pounds of government funding this year, rising to 拢760 million in 2014 to 2015.

Elizabeth Truss has called on local authorities to pass on the money in full to good and outstanding providers so that as many children as possible are able to access places, and to ensure that high quality staff are recruited and retained - particularly in the most deprived communities.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said:

A child鈥檚 future can too often be decided even before they hang their coat on a peg on the first day of primary school.

Early access to high-quality childcare is vitally important to ensure children are ready for school, ready for the world and able to get a good start in life.

Giving disadvantaged children early support gives them the best possible chance to succeed, it means they鈥檙e less likely to fall behind their wealthier classmates and it can make a huge impact on their future. It is vital for a fair and prosperous society.

This funding has meant that just 1 month in, 92,000 eligible 2-year-olds are already benefitting from support and learning that can help shape their future.

Education and Childcare Minister Elizabeth Truss said:

We know that high-quality early education can make a positive contribution to a child鈥檚 future success, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. After just 4 weeks, it is fantastic to see that 92,000 2-year-olds are now benefitting from these places.

Research shows that a third of children are starting school without basic language and communication skills. In poorer areas, this rises to more than a half. Good quality teacher-led early years education helps children develop the social skills and vocabulary they need for learning, and as Baroness Morgan has pointed out, school nurseries can offer these places as well as childminders and nurseries.

In future, funding to councils will be based on a 鈥榰se it or lose it鈥� basis. 皇冠体育app number of participating children will determine the amount of funding they get. Where parents are not taking up these places, local authorities will get less money.

Parents are able to check whether their child is eligible by contacting their local authority, provider or children鈥檚 centre. Ofsted has also developed an . In addition, parents and providers will know whether the full allocations have been passed on as the department will publish details of local authority spend on its website.

Notes to editor

1. Details of the funding breakdown for the in 2013 to 2014.
2. 皇冠体育appre is strong evidence that early education makes a positive difference to young children. 皇冠体育app 鈥楨ffective provision of pre-school education鈥� study found that high-quality early education has particularly strong impacts on the cognitive and social development of disadvantaged children, and that these benefits last throughout primary school. 皇冠体育app 鈥楨arly education pilot for 2-year-old children evaluation鈥� also found that only higher quality providers made an impact on children鈥檚 development in the pilot.
3. .
4. 皇冠体育app programme to provide fully-funded early education to 130,000 of the most disadvantaged children was officially launched on 1 September 2013. 皇冠体育app figures published today were collected just a month after introduction of the programme. 皇冠体育app number of children eligible for a funded place will double to around 260,000 from 1 September 2014.