This article looks at plans to encourage pre-schools and schools to work more closely together in the future – and help make it easier for parents to manage their childcare needs.

Over the last few years, many pre-schools have taken advantage of the government’s commitment to expand childcare. The benefits of expanding childcare are many – parents get a more flexible and useful service, and children are able to spend more time in the setting they love with their friends (instead of, quite possibly, having to move between settings). The pre-school gets more funding, thrives and may be able to carry on providing childcare in the long term. Pre-schools can expand in many ways – it all depends on what parents want. Some pre-schools open breakfast clubs before the morning session, some run a holiday club during school holidays, but the most popular option has traditionally been the lunch club.

Focus on lunch clubs

Willow Pre-school tells us why a lunch club works for them.

The Willow Pre-school is in a rural location with a socially mixed range of users – 28 children from several neighbouring villages. Next year, it celebrates its 25th anniversary. It is based in the village hall and open five days a week, for morning and afternoon sessions. The group has been running a lunch club three days a week since 2004, working closely with the village school. The pre-school committee agreed to open the lunch club after the village school changed its admission policy. They decided to let children (coming up to the age of five) start school part-time, three afternoons a week. For the pre-school, this was an opportunity to provide parents with uninterrupted childcare/schooling.

By providing a lunch club, the pre-school enabled parents to drop off their children at 9.15am and not have to collect them until 3.15pm. The children arrived in the morning for the pre-school and lunch club session and could then be walked to the school at 1.00pm, where they remained until the end of the school day at 3.15pm. This seamless service also enabled several parents to take up part-time work. By walking the children to school, the pre-school leader also had the opportunity to see the reception teacher three times a week, leading to a much better understanding and more communication and involvement between the two settings.

Initially, staff at the pre-school had doubts about the lunch club. They feared they would lose the small amount of free time they had at lunchtime – and have additional responsibility. However, getting a c staff rota in place meant that no one worked more than four hours. In addition, the pre-school made sure that the lunch club supervisor always had help from a parent or carer from the volunteer rota. Because no one child was in the care of the pre-school for more than three hours and 45 minutes, the pre-school was able to keep its sessional registration.

Pre-school supervisor Victoria Jenners says, “The lunch club has proved very popular – with both children and parents. The children are excited to attend, and I think feel very grown up having their own lunch boxes. We, as staff, were concerned about preserving our own bit of ‘time out’ on the two days a week that we have afternoon sessions, but now we often sit with the children to have our own lunch. The atmosphere is lovely; we support the children’s developing social skills – encouraging them to chat appropriately and to listen to each other as we eat. We are also currently taking part in the Alliance’s Feeding Young Imaginations campaign, with the aim of encouraging healthy eating.

We continue to operate as a pre-school, but with the benefit of having the children in the group for longer. From the positive comments we have had from carers and the high numbers of children who stay with us for lunch, I am pleased we took this step. Another benefit is that it’s really opened up dialogue with the school and has led to us sharing information about the children with them, which makes it much better for them when they start there full-time.”

As this shows, expansion can provide a number of benefits for a pre-school. Opening a lunch club obviously worked well for Willow Pre-school – for the children, the parents, the staff and the school.

Government policy – children’s centres and extended schools

At present, only two key areas in pre-school services are expected to expand in the coming years. Firstly, the government has set high targets for the development of children’s centres – 2,500 by 2008 and 3,500 by 2010. We will all, no doubt, already be familiar with the growing number of children’s centres across our local area. These multi-agency centres for the under-fives have been a primary focus for most local authorities for several years. The other main area of expansion, though, is only just beginning to gather steam. In 2002, the government unveiled plans for schools to develop additional services through its extended schools plan – nearly four years later, the effects of this are beginning to take shape.

Extended schools – benefits for the wider community

For decades many schools have been underused – only opening for limited times during the day and closing for weeks at a time during school holidays. Despite often having the largest space and most facilities in a local area, schools did not traditionally open up to the wider community. The idea of the extended schools plan is to change that by encouraging schools to open round the clock, providing extra services like childcare, giving access to sports halls, running IT classes in the evening or renting space to special interest groups such as a local drama club.

Additionally, there are plans for schools and services such as healthcare and job centres to work more closely together. Imagine how much easier it would be if you could get your child’s repeat prescription when they are at school? Or getting careers advice while you do the school run? This may happen sooner than you think as more and more services for children and their families begin to be placed within schools.
So when is this all happening? The government has stated that it would like to see extended schools in operation across the country by 2010. Over the next five years, pre-schools will need to adapt to these changes.

Benefits for pre-schools

Many pre-schools have already been working on school sites in some form for years. How will this expansion of schools affect pre-schools in general? Firstly, the government is recommending that, by 2010, all schools provide childcare from 8.00am to 6.00pm, throughout the year. This will mean a significant increase in the demand for breakfast clubs, lunch clubs, out-of-school clubs and holiday clubs. As mentioned earlier, pre-schools are in a good position to provide these.

At present, schools do not have to house a pre-school service. However, it is expected that many will now want to do so, particularly primary schools. A pre-school will have a number of advantages by locating on a school site, such as:

• Occupying premises which may be more suitable, and which are sometimes purpose-built for children.
• Helping children to make the adjustment to ‘big school’ more easily because their pre-school and reception classes are in the same place.
• Enabling parents to collect from pre-school and school in just one school run.
  

Opportunities to expand to provide wraparound services such as breakfast, lunch or after-school clubs.

Benefits for parents

Extended schools will also give parents more opportunities to get involved in school activities. For whatever reason, many parents may have had a bad time at school, which can make them reluctant to go back there as an adult. However, extended schools look set to help make a much more relaxed environment for both children and their parents in the future by combining traditional school functions with a range of more fun activities.

Pre-schools have always tried to involve parents in their children’s education, whether it’s by sitting on committees, helping with fundraising or as a parent volunteer. Most parents report that this is a rewarding experience, which helped teach them new skills and make new friends, as well as giving them the joy of sharing in their child’s education. It is to be hoped that extended schools will take a few lessons from pre-schools!

Support for pre-schools

The Pre-school Learning Alliance has written a factsheet for pre-schools explaining the extended schools plan in more depth. It has also produced a pack for headteachers and governors, which explains what a pre-school can offer a school. For more information, go to www.pre-school. org.uk/extendedschools to download the factsheet or pack.

In addition, the Alliance will be piloting a new partnership constitution for pre-schools during 2006. This will enable the integration of a pre-school with a school by formally involving school representatives within the pre-school committee structure. If successful, the Alliance is hoping to roll out the constitution in the future.

If you are interested in further information about childcare expansion or how your pre-school can get involved in the extended schools programme, please contact the Pre-school Learning Alliance’s Business Development team on tel: 020 7697 2500.