This brings the total number of excellence centres to 91 and means that the Department for Education and Skills is on track for meeting its target to have 100 such centres by next year.
Early Excellence Centres are intended to serve as beacons for early years and childcare services by sharing good practice with other centres and organising training activities for local practitioners. They are also 'one-stop shops' where children and their families have access to high-quality, integrated care and education services.
One of the newly designated excellence centres is Spencer Nursery School, a 35-place nursery in Sutton, Nottinghamshire, which was threatened with closure in the 1990s. Headteacher Fiona Downing said, 'We are planning on extending our present services and are looking forward to working with other linked services with the local authority, such as social services, which we already have some links with, and health.
'We are also going to look at how to expand our further training. Plans for the future include the possibility of running a playgroup and working with local childminders. It should be a very exciting phase for us all.'
Another new excellence centre, Hythe Community School in Kent, is to have a purpose-built unit for pre-school children and two new reception classes.
Early excellence funding will also be used to replace its speech and language unit. Once the centre is open in spring next year, local families and carers in the community will have access to a wider range of education and daycare services for babies, toddlers and pre-school children.
The school's headteacher, Carolyn Chivers, said, 'We are absolutely thrilled. Parents, staff and children have worked hard with Kent County Council to achieve the award and we are proud to receive national recognition.'
Meanwhile, the DfES has published the second annual evaluation of the Early Excellence Centre Pilot Programme, reporting on the functioning, benefits and costs of the 29 centres involved in the pilot programme between August 2000 and July 2001. The report found that although there was 'increasing recognition' by Early Years Development and Childcare Partnerships of the potential of the early excellence centre programme to support the achievement of their targets, EYDCPs and local authorities needed to recognise more fully the role of their excellence centre.
The programme was found to provide a 'rich source of successful practice covering a wide spectrum of professional issues'. Areas of practice cited include effective training strategies, men's involvement in services, special needs, outdoor provision and supporting young parents.
* For the full list of early excellence centres see the website www.dfes.gov.uk.