Flexibility and stretching delivery is a key way providers can respond to changes in families' needs. Provision all year round supports working parents who find it hard to make their annual leave entitlement and childcare arrangements fit the traditional term-time-only model. The experience of settings who have already offered such flexibility identifies benefits for the business and children too.
A 'stretched offer' is where settings provide the 15-hour entitlement over a reduced number of hours a week for more weeks of the year. This practice is already becoming widespread, as many providers open beyond the traditional 38 week terms and some allow parents to use their hours without distinguishing between term-time and holiday periods. Two such settings are Quaggy Children's Centre in Greenwich, London, run by the voluntary sector Quaggy Development Trust, and the family-run A Touch of Eden Nursery in Stanwick, Northamptonshire. Both settings allow parents to use their total of 570 hours across the year and both work within their local authorities' Code of Practice.
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