Government delivers thousands more school-based nursery places
Source: gov.uk (2025-09-03)

Working parents will have their lives made easier as government opens 300 new or expanded nurseries on school grounds.

Working parents will have their lives made easier as the government is opening 300 new or expanded nurseries on school grounds, helping to cut down on the school run and giving children a seamless start to their education.

Meeting the latest milestone in its Plan for Change, the government has confirmed schools report over 4,000 extra school-based nursery (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/establishing-school-based-nursery-provision) places will be available across England this September as it vows to boost childcare access in disadvantaged communities in the next phase of the rollout.

Thanks to the government’s initial investment of £37 million, 189 of the 300 government-funded new or expanded nurseries (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-based-nursery-capital-grant-application-outcomes) are set to be up and running this month.

Providing stability for children in their early years can help them get ready to start school. This leads to better outcomes, more opportunities to lift their life chances and stronger social cohesion that binds us all together.

Children growing up in the same nursery and primary schools means they can thrive in an environment they trust, with friends, siblings and teachers they know, which is so important for their development.

Amid the ongoing success of the first phase, the government is determined to go further and faster to offer more choice for parents in every corner of the country.

As part of its drive to give every child the best start in life (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/giving-every-child-the-best-start-in-life), it will invite more schools to bid for up to £150,000 funding from a £45 million pot to create a further 300 new or expanded best start school-based nurseries - offering up to 7,000 more places - from September 2026.

The second phase (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-based-nursery-capital-grant-2025-to-2026) will prioritise quality bids from schools serving some of the most disadvantaged communities, delivering thousands of new places for families who need them most.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said:

The change we have delivered for working people this September is just the beginning - through our Plan for Change we are determined to give more children the best start in life.

School-based nurseries can offer a nurturing and stable environment for children that carries through into primary, and a helping hand for working parents tackling dual drop off.

Delivering more school-based nurseries – under our Best Start umbrella - means more choice and convenience for parents, and more opportunities to target parts of the country where families are most in need of additional support.

Making life easier for parents under the pressures of the school run means they can keep working with confidence, earn more money and supporting wider economic growth, a priority in our Plan for Change.

This comes the same week as the government has delivered 30 hours of free childcare from age nine months to reception year, with take-up expected to be over and above initial projections at over half a million children.

That’s a promise made and a promise delivered, with 9 in 10 parents getting one of their three top choice nursery places. Alongside the best start school-based nurseries rollout, the government is upping funding for the sector to £9 billion next year to support delivery of a brilliant early years education to give every child the best start in life.

Cinnamon Brow C of E Primary was backed by the scheme last year, and, in partnership with PVI provider Let’s Be Kids, is now rolling out 15 new nursery places for children from 9 months old in a previously unused classroom. The school will offer wraparound care for children from early morning to 6pm.

Headteacher Rachel Pimblett says:

Applying for the government-funding to expand our nursery was a no-brainer.

We have families from all circumstances and backgrounds at our school, and it’s so important to us to be able to support each and every one of them as much as we can.

With the new nursery, children get more consistency because they’re able to be here with their siblings from their earliest years all the way up to age 11, and offering childcare around the school day is a huge help for working parents. They keep asking why we didn’t do it sooner!

Adeola Olasosebikan’s youngest daughter will be joining her older sister at St George’s Catholic Primary Academy in Scarborough this term. The school, which is also one of the first 750 offering a free breakfast club, will be rolling out early years provision to two-year-olds for the first time thanks to government funding.

Adeola said:

Having the nursery and school in the same place makes things so much easier for me and my husband.

We both work long hours, and so having a single drop-off and access to a free breakfast club is a life saver. It means we can make it to work on time, and know our girls are at school being well looked after and having fun.

My oldest daughter already attends St George’s and absolutely loves it– she wants to go to the breakfast club even when I’m not working!

CEO at Working Families, Jane van Zyl, said:

Any expansion in the provision of funded childcare places is good news for families. It will help ease the financial pressure many parents face and enable more, particularly mothers, to return to work or increase their hours.

Quality, affordable childcare is one of the biggest barriers to work, so steps that make it more accessible will boost labour market participation as well as family incomes.

For parents with school age children, co-located nursery provision can make daily logistics more manageable, which makes a real difference to working lives.

Gingerbread Interim CEO, Lisa Pearce, said:

Affordable childcare is vital for single parents to find and stay in a job and to provide stability for their families. For those living in so called ‘childcare deserts’, it’s the availability that can be the biggest challenge.

Today’s announcement is therefore incredibly welcome as it will mean childcare places in those areas increase, which in turn should mean better support for single parents to balance work, parenting and childcare effectively.

With free breakfast clubs saving parents £450 a year (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-breakfast-clubs-summer-term-2025-take-up-by-region) and setting older children up with a supportive start to the day, alongside the cap on branded uniform items (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/millions-of-families-to-benefit-from-lower-school-uniform-costs) and £1.4 billion to fix the inherited state of crumbling classrooms (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-protects-education-priorities-in-face-of-inherited-22-billion-blackhole), the government’s Plan for Change (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/plan-for-change) is building a better future for working families.

A future that boosts work choices, life chances, and makes the daily balance of kids and career that much easier.

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