The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Fife lays groundwork as nursery changes far from child’s play
As one of the thousands across Fife who struggle with trying to juggle childcare and work, I am hugely excited by plans to almost double the annual hours in paid-for nursery places to 1,140 by August 2020.
Make no mistake about it: it’s going to be a massive undertaking.
In Fife alone, we’ll need around 400 more early years staff to cope with demand, not to mention the need for new builds, extensions and refurbishments – all of which will probably cost in excess of £120 million.
But when you consider that the greatest difference we can make to people’s outcomes is at this crucial point in their lives, all the money, time and effort is surely going to be well spent.
However, Audit Scotland has already warned there is a “significant risk” councils will not be able to resource a planned expansion.
And in Fife, there are already discrepancies between Scottish Government and Fife Council estimates in relation to the number of places that will be needed, as well as the number of pupils who are likely to take up school meals.
Fife Council term-time provision will consist of six-hour sessions per day across the academic year, while Fife Council full year provision will consist of sessions of four hours and 40 minutes per day available 49 weeks of the year.
The council is working with partners in either private nurseries, playgroups or childminders to offer funded ELC, with hours offered through mutual agreement between parents and their provider of choice.
In practical terms, the Scottish Government made clear its expectations that Fife needs to create additional capacity.
So that’s exactly what it has done, pledging to create 11 new builds, 15 refurbishments, 10 extensions and even create four outdoor nurseries.
One of the developments in the pipeline will see a dedicated nursery setting provided within the Methilhaven Care Home site in Methil, which will allow different generations to mix and learn together in a Scottish first.
Of course, you can’t have childcare provision without trained adults, and there will inevitably be a large number of additional qualified staff needed.
Again though, Fife College has increased the number of placements available on their HNC childhood practice course from 100 in 2016 to 164 last year and again this year, while the council has also been developing an Early Years Apprenticeship programme.
It’s an amazingly complex piece of work, but the difference it could make to families across Fife could be so precious its value cannot be determined.