while the extra funding is welcome, the initiative looks likely to
present some challenges for settings, as Charlotte Goddard explains.
From April this year, disadvantaged three- and four-year-olds in early years settings in England will benefit from extra funding in the form of the early years pupil premium (EYPP). The funding builds on the pupil premium, introduced in schools in 2011, and early signs point to its effectiveness in tackling disadvantage. The EYPP funding - 53p an hour, to a maximum of £302.10 a year - has now been allocated in seven local authority pilots, launched this month. However, nurseries are already concerned that identifying children eligible for funding will be more challenging than it might be for schools.
In general, children who would be eligible for free school meals later on are eligible for the EYPP at age three and four, as well as looked-after children and those whose parents are in the armed forces. But while schools can point to a specific benefit - free food - to incentivise parents to register their children, nurseries have to communicate the less immediately obvious benefits of the EYPP money by itself.
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