CEY1412
Written evidence submitted by Charity Pre-School, Bradford, West Yorkshire
I am the manager of a Charity Pre-School in West Yorkshire, specifically in the Bradford Local Authority region. I was appointed in September 2008. I have a staff team of 8 (including myself), one of the team is our Treasurer and does not work directly with the children.
Our charity trustees have been in pace for a number of years and have now decided to be completely ‘hands off’, they wish to be replaced as soon as possible.
Our pre-school has about 50% funded children – either on a 2 year place or funded through the Nursery fund for 3 year olds. We have some children who qualify for 30 hours.
The issues we face are below:
Recruitment
- We have not found recruitment to be an issue in the last 2 years. We appointed an apprentice in September 2020 and she has just completed her apprenticeship – the delay in this was completely down to the apprenticeship company. Their many faults have been documented in their recent OFSTED report where their grading was Inadequate.
Qualifications
- Of the 6 early years practitioners who work with the children, 3 hold QTS. 1 is a Level 4 practitioner and 2 are Level 3. I believe this to be exceptional.
- My issue with qualifications is that they need to be checked against the ‘full and relevant’ list. I hold a bachelors degree in Education (Bed Hons) in the 3 – 12 age range. I also hold QTS. My degree is not recognised but my QTS is. Fortunately I also have an EYPS qualification.
- I know of other practitioners who, despite having many years of experience, are now ‘unqualified’ because their qualification doesn’t appear on the list.
- We have students who come to us on placement. Schools are encouraging students, who want to work in early years, to study Health and Social Care. We then break it to them that this qualification will not be relevant as they will need a Level 3 Childcare qualification.
Child care or Early Education
- Early Years should be fully recognised as a provider of early education and not child care. We are governed by the same legislation as schools and overseen and inspected by OFSTED. We answer to the same high standards as schools but we are treated differently and less respectfully than schools.
- We are continuously referred to as ‘child care’ and not as early education. My pre-school is lucky enough to employ 3 qualified teachers but we are treated as ‘baby sitters’ rather than teachers.
- An example of this is from the Covid19 pandemic, everyone was told to stay home but early years were told to stay open. No concern was shown for early years staff, we were simply expected to carry on. Teachers in schools were able to remain at home, early years staff were told to go to work. I remember being so scared of the whole situation yet I was having to go to work every day. My friends who were teachers were able to remain at home on a rota system.
Funding
- Paperwork
- Monetary amount
Fees charged to parents
- My pre-school has kept its fees as low as possible. We haven’t increased them in several years although this is likely to change soon. We are unable to charge parents to cover snack if they are in receipt of funding, this has to be a voluntary contribution. We wouldn’t want to charge a huge amount but we know that a small amount would benefit our setting. I have personally paid for the snack for the children in the past in order to save the pre-school some money.
Trustees
- How difficult can it be to appoint new trustees? They need a clear DBS check (which is absolutely the right thing) but they also need to navigate the government gateway and complete a long and complicated form. My newest trustee happens to be a trustee of multiple charities and he has said that the form he needs to complete to join my pre-school is unnecessarily complicated. Becoming a school governor is much, much more simple process so why is it so difficult for an early years setting.
Students
- I fully recognise the benefit to students to have a placement in Early Years. We have offered placements to Level 2 and Level 3 students over the years. We receive no funding for this whereas schools receive funding. This is unfair. The students we have and the students school have are sometimes studying for the same qualification so payment for students should be universal.
Free fruit, PE grant, Covid catch-up
- Schools receive free fruit for the children to have at break times, my pre-school does not. We cater for the same age children, so we should have access to this too.
- PE grant – schools receive PE grant money to promote being active. In Early Years we know how important it is to be active but we receive no extra income to help us facilitate this.
- Covid catch up. At pre-school, we know that children have missed out – even though they may be only 2 years old. We have had to identify gaps in their development and plan around these. Schools were given funding to enable them to give extra support and pre-schools were not. If we can identify and fill the gaps now, we will save money later on.
January 2023