Star date: 28th February 2019

NO NEW GOVERNMENT FUNDING FOR SALFORD COUNCIL NURSERIES

Tory Children and Families Minister, Nadhim Zahawi, has announced an extra £24million funding for maintained nursery schools during the next academic year – but no new funding or help for Salford Council's five threatened local authority nurseries.

The Minister, who will be speaking at the Manchester School Readiness Conference today, will also announce more funding to train health visitors to spot children's early language and communication skills. Commenting, GM Mayor Andy Burnham says, the announcement is "good news for our children and families" – unless they live in Salford, of course!

Full details here...

Today, Children and Families Minister, Nadhim Zahawi, will be speaking to an audience of three hundred early years professionals at the Manchester School Readiness Conference, where he is expected to big up additional funding next financial year of £24million to maintained nursery schools, 'providing reassurance for these settings which tend to care for higher numbers of disadvantaged children, often most at risk of falling behind...'

Meanwhile, there's no new help for Salford City Council's five threatened OFSTED rated 'outstanding' nurseries, despite lobbies in Parliament, petitions, protests and letters flying from the City Mayor to the Department For Education.*

Due to early years funding changes, Salford Council states that it's left with a financial hole of £1.5million and cannot afford to maintain its nurseries long term, although funding has been found to keep them open while a re-tendering process to outsource them is run (see previous Salford Star article – click here).

The Salford Council nurseries have a large proportion of 'disadvantaged children' but Nadhim Zahawi's non-funding will anger many staff and parents who were hoping for a financial lifeline, particularly following the Minister's original statement that the Government would be 'flexible' on funding (see here).

Zahawi will also announce funding for specialist health visitor training for those who check on a child's development at age two, to identify speech, language and communication needs early on.

"Being able to communicate and express yourself is the gateway to success, not just in school but in later life" he will say "It's these crucial early years that make the most impact on a child's future path – because for those children who start out behind their peers, it's so much harder to catch up.
 
"The evidence tells us that we need to improve children's communication and language before they arrive at school, when so much of a child's time is spent at home, to help get them on track to be confident, able learners" he will add "If we are to improve outcomes for disadvantaged children, we must think about how we can do things differently – including through parents.

"No parent has all the answers" he will explain "So we need to make it easier for them to kickstart their child's learning at the earliest opportunity, whether by encouraging them to take part in educational activities as a family, support from trained experts at home to identify concerns earlier, or better access to high-quality early years education."

First off, four hundred health visitors in 49 council areas identified as being in high need will be trained, followed by another six hundred health visitors from 2020 onwards.**

The new announcements come to try and alleviate poverty at the earliest possible stages of life, as children who start school with poor vocabulary are twice as likely to be unemployed as an adult. A Salford Council report three years ago showed that 'Speech and language is a big concern in Salford, with around 50% of children being flagged as having a language concern at the age of two years' (see here).

The training programme is a joint initiative with Public Health England..."Health visitors have trusted relationships with families and play a vital role in supporting young children's health and wellbeing" says Professor Viv Bennett, Chief Nurse at Public Health England "This important new training will help more children develop the language and literacy skills they need to reach their full potential, ensuring that specialist support gets to those that need it most."

Speaking about the announcement, Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, says: "The early years of a child's life are critical in giving them the best start and the best opportunities to get on. Speech and language skills are essential to that which is why this announcement is good news for Greater Manchester – and good news for our children and families.

"This joint programme will enhance the work we are already doing across the city-region, doing things differently and driving forward pioneering approaches to close the educational inequality gap and ensure no child is left behind" he adds.

It's all good news – except for children, staff and parents at the threatened five Salford Council nurseries...
 

* For a full background on the Salford Council nursery campaign see previous Salford Star articles – click here and click here

** It's not known whether Salford is to be one of the areas in the new health visitor training programme – as soon as the Salford Star can get the information it will be updated on this article. Update: Salford is not included in the first wave of the programme