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To: Heads of maintained nursery schools
June 2008
Dear colleague,
Skills for the Future - nursery school role as training resource
for children’s services.
Project funded by DCSF 2008-2009
Early Education has recently been awarded a grant by the
Department for Children, Schools and Families for a project to
investigate the current and potential role of maintained nursery
schools; how nursery schools can influence the professional
development of nursery practitioners and how they can promote
general good practice in early childhood education and care. The
consultants for the project are Barbara Riddell and Pauline
Trudell.
We are delighted to receive this funding since it recognises the
particular importance of maintained nursery schools and the
contribution they could make to the development of the best
possible qualified workforce to work with all children in all
nursery settings.
For many years maintained nursery schools have employed teams of
qualified nursery teachers and early years educators, who have
worked together within buildings and outdoor spaces geared to
the learning and development needs of young children. These
schools have become centres of specialist knowledge and
expertise in child development, curriculum, pedagogy, learning
environments, observation and assessment, and of the evaluation
of teaching and learning for a distinctive age and stage of
development.
The government’s major research project, EPPE, (The Effective
Provision of Pre-School Education, Institute of Education, 2003)
found that maintained nursery schools, and those integrated
centres that grew out of nursery schools, have the greatest
impact on young children’s intellectual and social development,
and their subsequent progress in school, and provide the highest
quality and most effective early years settings. This is
confirmed annually by OFSTED inspections.
The aim of this project is to find out how the resources, skills
and expertise of the nursery schools might be deployed,
imaginatively and effectively, in the interests of all children
and families.
The purpose of this letter is both to give you news of the
project and to ask for your help in supplying us with the
information we will need to complete it.
What will we be doing?
We will be collecting up-to-date, detailed information about the
current position of nursery schools in all Local Authorities. We
know that a large number of nursery schools have become
Children’s Centres (including the former Early Excellence
Centres).However, the exact nature and level of nursery school
involvement in the children’s centre programme is less clear.
We are also anxious to discover what is happening to those
nursery schools that are not part of children’s centre
development. We know that some nursery schools take a leading
role in supporting good practice throughout their local area but
it is not evident how widespread this activity is nor what
factors promote or inhibit it.
Information will be gathered through the attached questionnaire,
through visits to selected nursery schools and through regional
meetings.
We would be grateful if you could return it to us by 7 July.
Why do we need this information?
The data we collect will be analysed very carefully in order to
obtain a full and accurate picture of the current position and
activities of nursery schools. This will provide the basis for
discussion with Local Authorities and for our final report to
the DCSF allowing us to identify particular successes and
highlight missed opportunities.
We hope that you will respond to this letter and any subsequent
demands we might make on your time and patience. We are at a
crucial point in the development of nursery schools and believe
this project could make a difference.
Yours sincerely,
Anne Nelson
Chief Executive,
Early Education
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