The Shared Foundation for Children Scheme, backed by the Department for Education and Skills, was launched at the beginning of this term following more than two years of consultation and debate with parents and early years providers. York is one of five local authorities in England piloting such a scheme.
The initiative will be introduced in three phases over the next three years. By 2003 each of the city's 51 infant and primary schools will be the focus of a local partnership offering a dedicated early years centre with access to at least two and a half hours of free education every weekday, supplemented by a variety of care options including childminding, holiday playschemes, nurseries, pre-schools and playgroups. The first schools in the scheme, Tang Hall, Wiggington and Stockton on the Forest, have formed partnerships with local early years providers to respond to local needs.
York council's early years manager, Heather Marsland, said, 'This is an exciting new system which will provide seamless childcare and early years schooling opportunities according to local parents' wishes and needs. It will allow the partnerships to tailor-make packages for parents whatever their circumstances.
'Presently in York we have a system where some children start formal education at aged four, but now every child will be able to benefit from quality pre-school education and care, and start full-time formal school in the first term after their fifth birthday. In addition to this, some parents find themselves juggling with separate childcare and pre-school arrangements, whereas this system will offer care and schooling together.' She said she thought there was plenty of evidence to suggest that starting formal education too early provided children with no particular advantages, while quality pre-school learning and childcare 'could be far more enriching'.
Councillor Janet Looker, the executive member for education, said that the initiative 'was totally child-and family-focused'. She added, 'We have worked hard since 1997 to secure free early years places for all three-and four-year-olds in the city, and this is the logical progression giving parents access to quality early years education and a choice of childcare options.'