The increase in the free entitlement to 15 hours a week from September has meant more nursery education for most children. However, for the three- and four-year-olds attending Newcastle's maintained nursery schools (rated outstanding by Ofsted) it represents a cut, as these settings have always provided full-time education.
I hope Nursery World readers will back us in our campaign to save our full-time places, as cutting our excellent provision will, I fear, only disadvantage our children, their families and our community.
At present, our children make huge progress across all areas of learning within a safe environment, where staff are highly trained and highly motivated and treat children as individuals. Under the reduced hours, children will leave nursery without the same raft of skills and abilities needed to embrace school life and cope with its pressures.
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