Clegg’s free nursery place plan is failing poor children

NICK Clegg’s flagship policy to educate all disadvantaged two-year-olds is not working and school nurseries are still ‘ colonised by the middle classes’, a report has found.

Ofsted said free nursery places for poor children have only been taken up by half of target families, meaning 113,000 eligible children are staying at home.

Chief Inspector of Schools Sir Michael Wilshaw said more than £300million worth of potential investment is not reaching ‘the children it was intended for’. He added that while some parents may not realise they are eligible, others may have a ‘fear of what’s out there’ or be put off by the complexities of applying.

The policy was championed by the Liberal Democrats under the last Coalition government as a way of giving poor children a ‘head start’ before they reached school.

But in a speech to early years leaders, Sir Michael said the sector had ‘done better for the children who perhaps need it least’. ‘It seems that school nurseries have been colonised by the middle classes,’ he said.

Nurseries which are attached to state primary schools are able to offer funded places to poor two-yearolds through the local authority – in the hope that it will eventually make the transition to school life easier.

But the report found fewer than 5,000 schools were taking this age group, and only nine per cent of twoyear-olds in schools are on a publicly funded place. There are 40 local authorities with no disadvantaged two-year- olds in any maintained school. Sir Michael added: ‘What the poorest children need is to be taught. Funded places for two-year-olds are intended to address this. The scheme is not currently reaching anywhere near enough children.’

Research suggests that children from less advantaged backgrounds often start school 19 months behind their peers in terms of development, and that good quality childcare can reduce this gap.

Free nursery places for poorer twoyear-olds were championed by Nick Clegg to ‘make sure a child’s potential isn’t determined by their birth’. And last year, around 40 per cent of

‘What they need is to be taught’

two-year-olds became entitled to 15 free hours of education per week – up from 20 per cent the previous year.

But Mr Clegg’s childcare policies have been criticised as poorly-funded, leading nurseries to charge privately-paying families more.

Yesterday Davina Ludlow, director of daynurseries.co.uk, said: ‘ It is important that the Government encourages take-up, however local authorities also need to be given the appropriate levels of funding first.’

It is not the first project of Mr Clegg’s to come under fire. The introduction of free meals for all infant school pupils last year left councils £25million out of pocket after paying to install new kitchens, according to the Local Government Association.