CEY0008

Written evidence submitted by Little Jungle – School of Early Childhood

Introduction

We own a nursery for 85 FTE children, which was founded in 2011. We operate in Southeast London. We are passionate in what we do and believe that all children should have access to a high-quality early years’ experience. The scientific evidence clearly shows how important these formative years are to children’s future success in life.

We are good at what we do. We are consistently rated Outstanding by Ofsted, and despite other settings near us not being at full capacity, we are full, and have been full since we launched. We also have in excess of 500 families waiting on a space at Little Jungle.

But we are struggling to survive. We have made month on month losses for 6 months now and have never made more than a 10% gross profit (on average we make around 6&-7%). Our parents pay us on time, and we operate the business efficiently and with a strong sense of business acumen.

What is the general problem?

There is no real quality incentive for nurseries, and most nurseries do the bare minimum, with a captive market. They employ the most junior people they can, pay as little as they can, and do as little as they can. Fees are high, and parents know they will need to pay high fees.

There is no quality childcare incentive, as quality has not been defined. This is the first thing to grapple with. How do we build quality into the Early Years sector?

Because of this, the sector is not valued, neither by parents (it is often seen as babysitting so that they can get to work), whilst educators see their roles as “childcarers” not professional educators, with a clear career path (other than becoming a nursery manager, which is not what most educators want).

How do we run our setting?

We run it as it should be. But in doing so, we have made it an unviable enterprise. We are child centric, pay people decent wages, hire people who are passionate about Early Years Education, buy high quality ingredients and produce, employ a talented chef, have excellent systems in place around health and safety, IT, benefits and communications and waste management. In effect we run like a public service. Like a public primary school perhaps. Not like a business.

This is education, not a café or a factory or a service company. And, once you do it right, there is no turning back.

What would make us viable?

1. Financial incentives to run a high-quality early years setting, like additional funding for each person we employ that is qualified, on a scale, with the most incentives paid for qualified early years teachers.
2. Significantly reform the funding we receive, this would enable us to pay higher wages, attract more talented educators, lower fees and give children what they deserve.
3. Funding should also start at 1 years old. That is when most children enter the sector.
4. Not paying business rates. Nurseries have big spaces for the children in their care, but they are being penalised for giving children space.
5. Not paying VAT. Nurseries can’t claim it back as they can’t charge VAT.
6. Minimum pay scales for nursery staff.
7. Reforming OFSTED to support a high quality early years sector.
8. Give parents higher tax breaks (around £500 per parent per month) towards childcare costs, administer through TFC.
9. Invest in the early years sector, publicly own more nurseries. Just like state primary schools.
10. Funds for maintenance and other costs that nurseries can access.
11. Remove child to adult ratios, or make these more flexible. Most of the early years settings know what they are doing, and it’s not about how many adults you employ but the quality of those adults that really impacts at what ratio you can run a nursery room.

December 2022