States-funded nursery education

Parents can now find out more about a new scheme that gives them, for the first time, the opportunity to apply for a free nursery place in the private and voluntary sector, rather than solely within States primary school nurseries .
The Education, Sport and Culture Department (ESC) has issued more details of how the new scheme for free nursery education will work when it starts in September 2009.

The States approved the increased funding of nursery education in September 2008. It means that from the autumn additional funding will be available to pay for the nursery education of eligible children in registered day care centres in the private and voluntary sector. To be eligible to access a free nursery education place;

• Children must become four years old between 1 September, and 31 August in the year before they are due to start primary school;
  
• A place must be secured with a nursery provider that is a registered member of the Jersey Early Years and Child Care Partnership.
  

Education Sport and Culture’s Business Change Manager, Keith Posner, said: ‘Through the partnership between the States of Jersey and the private and voluntary sector nurseries, parents will now have a greater opportunity to select the early years education provider they feel best meets their child’s needs and their own requirements.

‘The feedback we have had so far is that parents are pleased that there is now more choice and more places available’.
Parents will be able to apply for a maximum of 20 hours free States-funded nursery education a week during term time, up to five days a week, 38 weeks a year. Families will not be asked to pay in advance, as funding for places will go directly from the States to the registered centre, which could be a pre-school or day nursery.
School holidays and half term breaks are not covered by the scheme, but parents who require longer hours can choose to pay for extra sessions from their nursery provider.
The list of day nurseries and pre-schools which are offering free places can be found at www.gov.je/nurseryeducation. To apply for a funded place, parents should contact providers directly.
The school nursery application process is not changing and parents will still be able to apply in the same way. Parents are asked to contact the primary school of their choice. Further details can be found at www.gov.je/nurseryeducation.
States-funded nursery education will focus on pre-school education and will follow the Pre-School Quality Framework, which emphasises learning through play and aims to build key skills as a secure foundation for later learning.
ESC is working closely with the Jersey Early Years Association, the Jersey Child Care Trust, pre-schools and day nurseries to develop details of the scheme, with a view to providing, if possible, a sufficient number of places in September 2009 for all children who reach their fourth birthday between 1 September 2009 and 31 August 2010.
Further information about the scheme including FAQs and an explanation of the different nurseries and a PDF of a recently produced leaflet about the scheme, are available at the States of Jersey website www.gov.je/nurseryeducation or by contacting the Department for Education, Sport and Culture on 445504. (from Gov.je)