����Vlog

A capital grant for schools to open and expand nurseries needs to be better targeted at deprived areas to ensure that it helps those most in need, the government has been warned.

The warning comes as ����Vlog analysis reveals that the majority of winning bids to the grant scheme have come from schools with below-average levels of pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM).

Carl Cullinane, director of research and policy at the Sutton Trust charity, said: “Young children from low-income households stand to benefit the most from high-quality early education and childcare, but significant inequalities in access and attainment risk holding too many of them back.”

The rollout of new nurseries could “go some way” to meeting the government’s target to improve school readiness, he said.

“However, to make the biggest possible difference, these new nurseries should be better targeted at areas of high deprivation”, he added.

Providing new nurseries for disadvantaged areas

Under the programme, 631 state primary and nursery schools have received up to £150,000 to build or expand their nurseries via a .

For the first round of bids last year, the Department for Education prioritised value for money and the need for more early education places in each area.

But for the second and most recent wave of bids, the government said it would prioritise schools serving “some of the most disadvantaged communities”.

However, ����Vlog analysis reveals that the majority of schools successful in this second wave had fewer pupils eligible for FSM than the national average of 25.7 per cent.

Across the 631 recipients of the grant in both waves combined, 54 per cent schools were below the national FSM average.

This proportion has fallen over the course of the programme, from 58 per cent in the first wave to 51 per cent in the second.

There are 13 schools included in the scheme with no pupils claiming free meals.

Alongside FSM eligibility, the DfE measured disadvantage in the second wave using the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI).

Less than a third of schools in this tranche (30 per cent) were in areas ranking in the top 20 per cent for deprivation, according to �ձ��’ analysis.

This compared with 18 per cent in the first wave, when disadvantage was not prioritised.

Disadvantage accounted for half of the bidding criteria in the second wave, with consideration also given to local need, value for money and Ofsted judgements.

From May, local authorities will take over from schools as the lead bidders for school-based nurseries grant funding allocated between 2027 and 2030.

The method for assessing applications will also change on two main measures: whichever shows the higher level of disadvantage out of FSM and IDACI, and the “affordability” of projects.

In comparison to the school-based nurseries grant, the DfE last year invited applications for its free breakfast club scheme from schools with 40 per cent or higher FSM, to “make sure support reaches the children and families .

A DfE spokesperson said: “We are doing exactly what the Sutton Trust is asking for. From May, the programme will move to a locally led model, with councils, rather than schools, invited to propose plans for new places in communities with the greatest need.”

��

��