early years

Documents the views of professionals from 91 centres and provides an overview of early intervention delivered to children under five and their families. This report summarises the learning from the first phase of the project and explores the options for securing standards and sustaining success in the future.

Attendance has been steadily improving in the last few years, but there were still 57 million days of school missed in 2009/2010. The evidence shows that children with poor attendance are unlikely to succeed academically and they are more likely not to be in education, employment or training (NEET) when they leave school.

This report examines the trends in school attendance, parental sanctions and effective school practice.

Study that sets out to consider some of these issues, exploring three of the most common and easily accessible measures used in England for identifying the quality of centre-based early years settings.

Study that explores what we do and do not know about the roles that ‘informal childcare’ play for different families. It shows how these have evolved over the past decade – and discusses how they may continue to evolve – in the light of demographic and policy changes.

The All Party Parliamentary Group for Sure Start was founded in June 2010 in order to enable Parliamentarians to focus on and further the understanding and development of Sure Start centres.

During 2011 the group undertook a series of inquiry sessions designed to hear the views and experiences of a range of key stakeholders at the heart of Sure Start delivery. The sessions were designed to inform Parliamentarians‘ understanding of the factors influencing local decisions, the way that services are being reconfigured and explore ways that services can be developed and improved.

The Local Government Association (LGA) commissioned the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) to carry out a review of early intervention approaches to inform the practice of local authorities(LAs).

This study complements three other studies funded or supported by the LGA to help authorities to evidence impact and assess value for money (VfM).

The free entitlement to education is the Department’s primary financial intervention in children’s early education. All three- and four-year-olds are entitled to 15 hours per week of free education, starting the term after a child’s third birthday. The scope of the entitlement has evolved since it was introduced in 1998 for all four-year-olds.

This research aims to provide local authority early years and children’s services leaders, and children’s centre managers, with evidence of how children’s centre services are targeting the most disadvantaged families.

In particular, how they are defining, identifying and prioritising families in greatest need of support, and the practical implications of targeting for local authorities, for children’s centres and for policy.

Annual report that presents evidence from inspection and regulatory visits undertaken between September 2010 and August 2011 by the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

It takes evidence from inspection activity across the full range of Ofsted’s statutory remit, which includes early years and childcare, provision for education and skills in schools, colleges and adult learning, children’s social care and local authority services for children.