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Nottinghamshire County Council’s Early Years team has been working closely with childcare and early education providers to create additional quality childcare places across the county, including for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

The creation of new childcare places is a key focus of the work to implement childcare reforms announced in March 2023 to offer eligible working families 30 hours of funded Early Years childcare a week by September 2025 and wraparound childcare from 8am to 6pm around the primary school day by September 2026. 

Councillor Tracey Taylor, Nottinghamshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Children and Families, said: “Childcare helps to provide children with the best start in life and get them ready for school. We are committed to making sure that families have more choice and greater flexibility in how and where they can access high-quality childcare. Many of our schools and settings have already benefitted from support to increase the number of places they offer as well as wraparound care. 

“We will continue to work with schools and childcare providers across the county to provide the places our children and families need.”

To date, 149 new early years places and 670 new wraparound places have been developed using funding allocated for capital investment as well as support for start-up costs for new wraparound childcare provision. There are more places due to open in the next year, providing additional funded childcare places for babies and young children, as well as extending access to wraparound childcare.

Sarah Atkins, owner of Safe Haven Nurseries, said: “Over the course of 2023 we could see that Safe Haven was growing at pace and would soon reach capacity meaning families from our local community and surrounding areas were being turned away. By securing the early years capital funding, it helped us towards creating the safe and stimulating environment we had envisioned for our families and their children. Since doing so, Safe Haven has been able to allocate funded places for a further 25 families and still growing. We endeavour to continue to deliver a high standard of care and education for the children, breaking down barriers to learning and encouraging all families to access the funded hours that their children are entitled to.”

Rebecca Lewis, Headteacher at Westdale Infant School, commented: “This support has enabled us to enhance and expand our popular wraparound provision, increasing capacity by 20 places, following a period of successful recruitment.  Increased capacity means more of our youngest nursery children can start their day as early as 7.30 am and enjoy care until 5.30 pm, alongside ensuring everybody who wants a place can be accommodated.”  

Nottinghamshire County Council remains committed to developing early years provision and investing in earlier intervention. An estimated 460 children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have been supported to access early years childcare and early education by enabling early years providers to enhance their staffing to meet the needs of the most vulnerable children. Schools with early years provision have been able to access this support for the first time this academic year, creating opportunities for additional specialist support. 

The council has also introduced a SEND Bridging Funding pilot to ensure that children with SEND who have accessed additional funding in their private, voluntary or independent nursery, see this funding continue with them into school to support a smooth transition. 

Kathryn Cooper, Killisick Pre School, said: “We work with many children who are eligible for a variety of types of supplementary funding. Over recent years we have been particularly grateful to have been awarded Early Years inclusion funding for numerous children. This has enabled us to meet the individual learning needs of those children more successfully.”

The county council does not run any provision itself but has a duty to ensure there are enough childcare places across the county, supporting early years providers and distributing government funding.

For help with childcare funding or to find childcare in your area, visit Nottshelpyourself | Childcare and Early Learning Page