15-30 Hours of Free Childcare for 2, 3 & 4-Year-Olds
Children living in England are very fortunate to have their early years childcare supported financially by a variety of Government funding schemes. The 3 most important, popular and widely-available schemes are:
- 15 hours per week of free childcare for eligible 3 & 4-year-olds;
- 30 hours per week of free childcare for eligible 3 & 4-year-olds;
- 15 hours per week of free childcare for eligible 2-year-olds.
Little Acorns Nursery School supports all three schemes for families who have been successful with their funding applications.
This free childcare can really help families, especially parents who wish to return to work and those wishing to improve their standard of living. With more people working, it also benefits the economy, of course.
Perhaps most importantly, Government funding of early years childcare greatly helps children. Studies have shown that children who receive a good early years education, for example at nursery or pre-school, really do benefit. That’s in both the short term and the long term. A Department for Education study showed that children attending high quality early years education settings benefit socially, behaviourally, cognitively and, of course, educationally. Indeed it’s abundantly clear that early years education gives children a very healthy head-start so they can really hit the ground running by the time they start school around the age of 5. Many of the benefits of early years education are, as we said before, much longer-lasting, even into adulthood. Perhaps we’ll cover more detail on that in a future post. Either way, though, it’s clear that this financial support from the Government is incredibly important.
Let’s look at each of the schemes …
Please note: in all funding cases discussed here, the Government funding is paid direct to the setting (not the family) and strict rules apply to settings in order to be eligible for the funding. Little Acorns Nursery School qualifies on all counts and welcomes families whose childcare is funded in this way.
Free Childcare for 3 to 4-Year-Olds
15 Funded Hours for Children Aged 3-4
The great news is that all children aged 3 to 4 living in England are eligible to receive …