New legislation that prevents schools in Northern Ireland from offering reception places was announced last week in the DoE's response to the Review of Pre-school Education in Northern Ireland. All existing reception classes will be phased out by September 2007.
The report said, 'For many children, reception provision represents less than a full year's pre-school education, causing a lack of continuity.
Moving children on their fourth birthday from pre-school settings to reception has a negative impact on the voluntary/private sector, particularly their ability to plan financially and to manage staffing levels.'
The move was welcomed by early years organisations. Siobhan Fitzpatrick, chief executive of early years organisation NIPPA, said, 'We have been lobbying for this since the pre-school expansion programme in 1997. We welcome it because some schools have been using reception classes to boost their numbers.
'We're not suggesting that in areas where there are no reception classes, children will be better off at home - we know that there is enough quality nursery and playgroup provision to meet children's needs sufficiently.'
In 1999, the DoE stopped funding new reception places where there was alternative quality provision, after a report found that the educational provision for reception was less than satisfactory.
The report also outlines plans to raise the admission age for nursery schools and classes, from two years to three years and two months. The move, which received widespread support from respondents, will ensure that two-year-olds remain in a more age-appropriate environment.
At the launch of the report at Edenderry Nursery School, Belfast, education minister Angela Smith announced that her department would take the lead in early years provision, and that from 2007, Northern Ireland's Sure Start programme will move from the Department of Health to Education. She said that the Government will 'immediately move to implement other key recommendations' contained in the report.
The actions in the report draw on the Effective Pre-School Provision in Northern Ireland research, published last week (News, 27 April).
Outcomes from the Review of Pre-school Education in Northern Ireland can be downloaded at www.deni.gov.uk.
And the new EPPNI research shows that children are better off in group-based care.