MP praises nursery – but sounds warning on underfunding

THE nursery and children’s centre at Sandy Lane, Orford, won praise in a Parliamentary debate led by Warrington North MP Helen Jones.
But she also warned of the dangers of underfunding.
The debate was scheduled by the Petitions Select Committee, which is chaired by Ms Jones.
In her speech, the MP praised the work carried out by the nursery and the Children’s Centre at Sandy Lane, despite underfunding from Government.
She said: “The Government risk hugely damaging the best provision in the childcare sector, which is in maintained nurseries.
“Some 60 per cent of maintained nurseries are rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted, and 39 per cent are rated ‘good’. Nowhere else in the education
system even gets near that level of excellence.
“The government say they want to fund all providers equally. Wherever they are, each child will receive the same amount of funding per hour. That sounds reasonable until we understand that nursery schools are required to employ qualified teachers and a qualified head.  Nursery schools also provide training places for staff. They do outreach
work not only with families but with other providers.
“The very good maintained nursey in my constituency, Sandy Lane, is based on the same site as the children’s centre and a private nursery precisely so that the three can work together, but they need funding to do that.
“We are in a position where we risk getting rid of the best provision, or hugely damaging it, where the government is underfunding childcare and where the cost is being heaped on to parents for the extra hours they purchase.
“It is a national disgrace that we treat our youngest children in that way. By trying to do it on the cheap, we are putting huge stress on working families.  I would love to be able to say we can deliver free childcare for all working families, but we cannot do so without more money in the system and without more training for staff. “
Ms Jones called for a proper inquiry into the way early years education is provided.
She said that childcare and early years education should not be
Confused.
“Early years education is what we really want for our children, by the best-qualified and most experienced staff.”
She called on the government to address both the shortage of early years teachers – “teachers, not other staff” – and the underfunding.
“We need to progress to a long-term solution to the problem.”