This presentation to the APPG argues that maintained nursery schools are essential to the development of a self-improving early years system. We need to be given the freedoms to innovate and expand: "you can mandate adequacy but you cannot mandate greatness; it has to be unleashed.”

1. Dr Julian Grenier
grenier@outlook.com
@juliangrenier
Presentation to
the All-Party
Parliamentary
Group on Nursery
Schools and
Nursery Classes

2. History and challenges
• “Good quality can be found across all types
of early years settings; however quality was
higher overall in settings integrating care and
education and in nursery schools.” Sylva et.
al. (2004)

3. Why quality matters
• It matters for children
and families now and
over the long term
• The benefit of
attending a high quality
pre-school equate to
41 more points at
GCSE, the equivalent
to gaining seven B
grades at GCSE,
rather than seven C
grades. [reference]

4. Maintained Nursery Schools
• The only sector of the school system
which Ofsted finds to have quality as high
in economically disadvantaged areas, as
in other areas
• The most highly rated sector in terms of
Ofsted inspection outcomes (Ofsted
Statistics, 31.12.15)
• The most highly rated sector in terms of
Ofsted’s ParentView

7. Aspiration
• “Pockets of excellence
are fantastic and act as
trailblazers for the
system, but their impact
will be marginal if we
cannot find a way for the
rest of the system to
learn from their
success.”
Nicky Morgan: educational excellence everywhere

8. Reality
A third of
maintained
nursery
schools in
England have
closed since
1980.
Early
Education,
2015

9. Preserve and protect our nursery
school silos… or develop?

10. A self-improving early years
system
• The traditional model of the school may
not be the most effective organisation and
the traditional model of the school leader
may not be the right person to take this on.
• Nursery schools are highly innovative and
we are well-placed to bring together PVI
settings, school-based early years
classes, and childminders and to develop
a self-improving early years system.

11. • Many Nursery Schools are already playing
a leading role in developing quality across
their locality

12. Successes
• Sheringham can demonstrate some
promising practice around improving
quality

13. Ofsted outcomes- settings
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Sheringham
Newham
London
England
% Inadequate
% RI/satisfactory
% Good
% Outstanding

14. Ofsted outcomes - childminders
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Sheringham
Newham
London
England
% Inadequate
% RI/satisfactory
% Good
% Outstanding

15. System leadership
Carefully putting the
pieces together:
• clusters of
schools, settings
and providers
• a local-solutions
approach
• co-construction
• system leaders
Nursery schools are essential: pull one that
block out of the system, and …

16. Unleashing
greatness
“You can mandate
adequacy but you
cannot mandate
greatness; it has to be
unleashed.”
Michael Barber and
Joel Klein