Return to Agenda

ITEM EX10

EXECUTIVE – 7 JANUARY 2003

DEVELOPING THE FOUNDATION STAGE OF LEARNING IN OXFORDSHIRE

Report by Acting Chief Education Officer

Introduction

1. In November 2001 the Executive approved a process of public discussion on strategies and proposals for developing the Foundation Stage of Learning for children aged 3 to 5 in Oxfordshire. The strategy and the main proposals arising from it were set out in a discussion document which was widely distributed in December 2001. Open meetings were held in January 2002 and 99 written responses were subsequently sent to the Chief Education Officer. In parallel with the public discussion process, the County Council carried out an opinion survey with parents of young children aged between 2 and 6 in the county. The Council also carried out two initial surveys of primary school buildings. The main points arising from the public discussions and from the three supporting surveys were summarised at the same time in a special report. A copy of that report is in the Members’ Resource Centre.
2. On 25 June, the Executive considered the outcomes of this first round of public discussions and evidence gathering activity, as well as the advice of the Learning & Culture and Social & Health Care Scrutiny Committees. The Executive confirmed its approval for the County’s five-point strategy for implementing the Foundation Stage of Learning. It also agreed that formal consultations should take place in Autumn 2002 on a proposal to establish a new entitlement for four-year-old children to have half-time funded admission to primary schools in Oxfordshire from the beginning of the Autumn term after their fourth birthday, starting in September 2004. The Executive also agreed to consider the resource implications of this and of the other key proposals for implementing the Foundation Stage of Learning in Oxfordshire as part of its Budget and Medium Term Financial Planning for 2003/04 and beyond.
3. In September 2002, the County Council published a consultation document entitled ‘3 to 5s Learning’. (A copy is in the Members’ Resource Centre.) This contained proposals for introducing a single main point of admission to Oxfordshire primary schools in September 2004, as well as other key proposals for implementing the Foundation Stage of Learning. Printed copies of the document were widely distributed and open meetings were held during October 2002. Nearly 200 written responses to the document have subsequently been received. The main points arising from the meetings and from the written responses are set out in Annex 1 to this report. Notes of the open meetings and copies of all the written responses received are available in the Members’ Resource Centre.
4. A commentary on the main points raised in the consultations is attached at Annex 2
5. The outcomes of the consultations have recently been reported to:

• The Oxfordshire County Council and Teachers’ Joint Committee (7 November)
• The Oxfordshire Admissions Forum (12 November)
• The Learning & Culture Scrutiny Committee (3 December)
• The Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership (6 December)
• The Social & Health Care Scrutiny Committee (11 December)

6. The purpose of this report is to help the Executive to asses the consultation responses reported above. With this in mind, a number of strategic and resource considerations are set out in the sections which follow.

Strategic Issues

7. Access to and range of early years provision in Oxfordshire – in February 2002 this was assessed by Ofsted in the following terms:

"Traditionally, provision of early years and childcare relied very heavily on independent and voluntary providers. There was a considerable level of expertise, but providers were unable to call upon advice from the authority to improve their quality. Children had access to good pre-schooling in some parts of the county but in others, especially urban and socially deprived areas, these options were more limited. The authority’s slow response to national developments/initiatives aimed at equalising opportunities for all parents exacerbated the situation. Oxfordshire had lagged behind similar authorities many of whom had partially addressed this issue by lowering the age at which children could attend school and reducing the number of entry points into reception classes. Headteachers were frustrated by the authority’s slow response to the admission of children into primary schools before their fifth birthday and to ensuring high quality provision for the foundation stage."

(Ofsted, February 2002)

These comments were contained in what was otherwise a very positive inspection report on the County’s Best Value Review of Early Years and Childcare.

8. Admissions to primary schools
   
   – a single main point of entry to primary schools would:

• give greater parity of entitlement to all children in the reception year
• settle the long-standing problem of Oxfordshire’s primary admission arrangements being out of line with those of its geographical neighbours (as well as with those of a large number of other LEAs in the Country)
• give primary schools greater continuity of funding and staffing for the Foundation Stage
• simplify organisational and funding arrangements for LEA early years provision (for example in relation to Early Years Units, Aided Schools and formula funding)
• allow primary schools the time and opportunity to settle young children into the school’s pattern of learning. Sometimes these children will come from a wide range of different pre-school providers
• enable primary schools to liaise with local pre-school providers as part of a focused annual programme of visits
• help the LEA to fulfil its statutory duty to ensure sufficiency of funded early years places for three and four year olds across the whole of the County.

9. The role of Private and Voluntary (PV) sector providers – these providers are highly valued partners in the provision of early education and childcare. In many parts of the County they will share responsibility with LEA primary schools for planning and providing for children in all three years of the Foundation Stage. This will not only be within local professional networks (or ‘clusters’) of early years providers, but also in the context of partnership schemes involving individual pre-school groups and LEA primary schools working jointly to provide Foundation Stage Learning for young children in their area. A number of these partnership schemes are already up and running. Across the county are more than 30 others at various stages of preparation.
10. Sufficiency of publicly funded early education places. In Autumn 2002 only 59% of three year olds have access to a funded education place – and in many parts of the County, pre schools do not have the capacity to offer all three year olds their full entitlement to a half-time place. A change in admissions policy would create greater choice for parents and create the capacity for children to have their full entitlement in communities where there is currently insufficient provision. It could also create capacity for pre-schools to offer extended childcare places for which there is currently considerable unmet demand.
11. Childcare and "extended schools" – Working with local and community PV partners, primary schools have a vital role to play in supporting parents and families outside of the normal school day and also in providing extension and study support activities for children. This is an important aspect of the Council’s strategy for implementing the Foundation Stage of Learning. In the County Council’s survey of parents carried out in the Spring Term 2002, 70% of those questioned said that they would be prepared to make use of and pay for such extended provision if it were available in their child’s school. In principle such provision should be offered at all primary, nursery and special schools, particularly in those areas of the County where social need is greatest. In addition, the provision of out-of-school childcare linked to the main school programme has the potential to support the recruitment and retention of teachers, public sector workers and other skilled staff within the County. In this sense it helps to promote and sustain the prosperity of individuals and organisations in the County. Childcare provision in schools is now also being promoted by Government as a key element of its strategy for supporting children and families and for extending the role of schools as ‘hubs’ for a range of community services. In this sense it helps to build and to safeguard local communities.
12. Quality of Early Years provision and the impact on children’s achievement. This is a key element of the County Council’s proposals. Indeed, no expansion of Foundation Stage provision in schools can be properly contemplated without it. Investing in the right foundations for children’s learning will improve their achievement at Key Stages 1,2,3 and beyond (at present the County’s test scores for children at each key stage only stand at around the UK average and generally are ranked unfavourably when compared to our LEA statistical neighbours). It will also improve their confidence as learners throughout life and help them to achieve their potential. The public consultations have shown that there is strong support for increasing the age-weighted pupil unit for reception-year five-year olds from the present level of £1556 per annum per full-time equivalent, to £2045 per annum. This would allow primary schools to provide more teaching and non-teaching support for children in the Foundation Stage and enable the LEA to set clear staff/pupil ratios for children in primary and nursery schools. It would also bring the funding level for reception year five-year olds into line with that for the other, younger children in the Foundation Stage.
13. Investing in good quality buildings and facilities – this is another key element in the County Council’s proposals for the Foundation Stage. It is likely to need a long-term investment programme whose objective should be to bring all Foundation Stage classrooms in primary schools up to the standards set out in the County’s Early Years Unit (EYU) scheme. During autumn 2002, officers have assessed all primary schools to establish the current position across the County. Our assessment shows the following picture

• 55 primary schools (24%) already meet the requirements of the EYU
• 57 primary schools (25%) have good potential to meet the EYU requirements but some investment of resources is needed to enable them to do this
• 98 primary schools (44%) have potential to meet the EYU requirements, but will need a significant or major investment of resources to enable them to do so
• 17 primary schools (7%) will find it difficult to meet the EYU requirements even with a major investment of resources.

14. Meeting Children’s Special Educational Needs (SEN) – one consequence of developing coherent provision for young children’s learning in the Foundation Stage, is that their special educational needs are likely to be identified at an increasingly early age. This is a development which is much to be desired, since it will also enable children’s special needs to be addressed at an earlier age as well. However, earlier identification, assessment and provision will make additional demands on resources, and these must be recognised along with other resource implications set out above. For example, in the context the Foundation Stage, it would make sense for special needs index funding to be extended to four and three year olds in LEA schools. It would also be useful for there to be increased funding to support individual young children with identified SEN in PV providers.

Resource Issues

15. The proposals set out in the ‘3 to 5s Learning’ consultation document are likely to have significant resource implications for the Council in future years. Six main proposals are highlighted in the document:

1. the additional revenue costs of a single main point of admission and the associated cost of additional free school meals entitlements;
2. an increase of the age weighted pupil unit of resource for reception-year five year olds from £1556 to £2045 per annum (at current rates) to bring it into line with that for younger children in the Foundation Stage;
3. a medium to long-term investment programme in primary school buildings and facilities;
4. the establishment of a development fund specifically to support partnership projects involving voluntary and private sector providers and LEA primary schools;
5. additional funds to support individual young children with special educational needs especially those attending voluntary and private sector provision;
6. the establishment of a childcare development fund to support the development of the new childcare provision on primary school sites;

Proposals (b) to (f) are set out in the order in which they were ranked by those who sent in written responses to the ‘3 to 5s Learning’ consultations (see Annex 1).

16. Proposal (a) – establishing a single main point of admission from September 2004 – would make its first impact in 2004/05. The Best Value Review of Early Years and Childcare in February 2001 estimated that most of the extra cost of this could be met through additional revenue support grant received from Central Government. However, the picture has now changed significantly with the introduction of the government’s new funding arrangements for local authorities, which take effect from 2003/04. The precise impact of these new arrangements on the Council’s funding for three and four year olds is being assessed. With this in mind, the estimated cost of the change of admissions policy, including the associated extension of free school meals entitlement, is being recalculated and will be reported orally to the Executive. Because it makes its first impact in 2004/05, this proposal does not appear in the high priority bids for Learning & Culture that will be considered by the Executive on 21 January.
17. Proposal (b) – increasing the age-weighted unit of pupil resource for reception year five year olds – is seen as essential by almost all of those who have commented on the consultation proposals. This is partly for reasons of equity, but partly also because it is the only mechanism by which many smaller schools will be able to finance a change in admissions policy. In these schools, the funding generated by additional half-time pupils will not be enough to cover the costs of a year-round teacher for the youngest children, nor the costs of adequate learning resources for the children concerned. Although linked nominally to the older children in the year group, this proposed new funding would in fact benefit all children in the cohort including the very youngest ones. It would put the LEA in a strong position to set an expected staffing ratio of one qualified adult to every fifteen children in the reception year. The estimated cost of this proposal is £1m per annum. Unlike the previous one, this proposal could be phased in over two consecutive financial years, with seven twelfths of the costs falling in the first year and five twelfths in the second. This proposal is included in the high priority bids for Learning & Culture that will be considered by the Executive on 21 January.
18. Proposal (c) – investing in primary school buildings and facilities in order to enable them to meet the quality standards required of Early Years Units – is supported by a large number of those who responded to the consultation. The total estimated cost of bringing primary schools up to the basic quality standards set out in the County’s Early Years Unit scheme is £16m. The only way in which costs on this scale can begin to be addressed is, as stated in paragraph 13 above, to establish a long-term investment programme in primary school buildings and facilities. It is suggested that this could be planned over a period of five years initially, starting in 2004/05. In the first instance the fund could be set at £500k per annum and rise gradually in each year thereafter. It could be focused either on rural schools or on schools located in areas of high social need. Furthermore, schools could be asked to bid for improvements from this Investment Fund. As a condition for securing resources from the Fund, schools could be asked to contribute an appropriate proportion of the project costs from their devolved capital monies. Currently, this proposal does not feature in the high priority bids for Learning & Culture budget that are being considered by the Executive on 21 January.
19. Proposal (d) – the establishment of a partnership development fund for pre-schools – can help a significant number of rural communities to acquire good quality early years provision through the encouragement of closer collaboration across different sectors. This will help to make a reality of the County Council’s stated policy of working in partnership with private and voluntary sector providers. One issue that has emerged strongly during the past year of public discussion and consultation is the sustainability of certain pre-school providers, particularly where sudden problems emerge with their buildings. Several high-profile cases of this kind have arisen during this period. In these cases, the LEA has been under considerable pressure to intervene, particularly in cases where the pre-school places in question are needed to ensure adequacy of provision for 3 and 4 year olds in the local area. With such cases in mind, it is proposed that the scope of the fund is extended to include sustainability as well as partnership. A sum of £100k has been included in the high priority early years bids for Social & Health Care in 2003/04 and this is to be considered by the Executive on 21^st January. It is recommended that consideration be given to doubling this sum in 2004/05 and to increasing it again thereafter.
20. Proposal (e) – additional funds to support young children with special educational needs (SEN) – received relatively less support in the consultations than the proposals set out above, but is nevertheless considered by officers to be a high priority. Any additional funding voted for this proposal should be earmarked for supporting individual SEN children in PV settings. Currently, the additional support costs for these children have to be funded from the general statementing budget where there is often competition for resources. A sum of £100k per annum in 2004/05 and rising gradually thereafter would begin to address the current resource shortfall.
21. Proposal (f) –establishment of a childcare development fund for primary schools – received significantly less support from those who responded to the consultations that the others listed above. With this in mind it is recommended that it is not pursued for the time being. It should be considered again later in the year when budget priorities for 2004/05 and beyond are being drawn up and when the Government’s future arrangements for distributing New Opportunities Funding (NOF) for childcare expansion are confirmed.
22. In summarising the above resource priorities, the Executive is advised that the five priority areas discussed in paragraphs 16 to 20 above are best seen as a complete package. This will ensure quality of provision for children and help to develop effective partnership across sectors. Given the strong messages coming from the recent public consultations, it would be difficult for the County Council to allow young four-year olds to be admitted to primary reception classes without having a long term plan for addressing all the various elements of the package.
23. The resource priorities can be summarised as set out in the table below. In each case, sums which at present do not appear in the high priority bids for Learning & Culture in 2003/04 are shown in italics and bracketed.

resource priority	additional funding required
	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09
1. single point of admission and free school meals	____	(275))	(275)	(275)	(275)	(275)
2. raise unit of resource for reception year five-year olds	____	500 (580)	1000	1000	1000	1000
3. partnership /sustainability fund for pre-schools	100	100 (200)	100 (250)	100 (300)	100 (300)	100 (300)
4. early years investment fund for primary school buildings	____	(500)	(550)	(600)	(650)	(700)
5. meeting young children’s SEN in PV settings	____	(100)	(125)	(150)	(125)	(200)
TOTAL	100	600 (1735?)	1100 (2200?)	1100 (2325?)	1100 (2400?)	1100 (2475?)

Conclusions

24. Over the past two years – following the Best Value Review of Early Years and Childcare in February 2001 - the County Council has been carrying out a well planned process of research and development, public discussion and, most recently, consultation on its proposals to implement the Foundation Stage of Learning in Oxfordshire.
25. At the heart of the County Council’s proposals is the desire to make more coherent provision for the Foundation Stage of Learning across the whole of the County, and particularly in LEA primary schools. Because of the wide variations in admissions policy, and because of the differences in funding levels between pupils at different points within the reception year, many primary schools find it difficult to offer coherent and good quality provision for young children in the Foundation Stage. If young children are to get off to the best possible start in learning within Oxfordshire’s maintained schools system, this needs to change
26. That being said, the County Council’s proposals will also require primary schools to work much more collaboratively with other providers in their local community. The aim should be to ensure that there is continuity of early learning experience for young children in their areas. To be effective, these collaborative arrangements will need to be based on parity of esteem between all providers, no matter which sector they belong to.

RECOMMENDATIONS

27. The Executive is RECOMMENDED:

1. to note the outcome of the 3 to 5s Learning consultations;
2. to consider the medium-term resource implications arising from the County Council’s proposals for implementing the Foundation Stage of Learning in Oxfordshire and to decide on the overall approach it wishes to adopt towards these;
3. subject to the resource implications, to approve the introduction of a single main point of admission in September of each year to Oxfordshire’s primary schools starting in September 2004 at the earliest, and to commend this change of policy to the Governors of Aided and Foundation Primary Schools in the County;
4. subject to the above, to agree the accompanying measures in relation to:

• free school meals entitlement;
• primary schools’ discretion to offer full time places, subject to local consultation;
• right of parents to defer their child’s admission to primary school in the reception year;

1. subject to the above, to agree the various measures proposed in Annex 2 to the report in response to the concerns raised during the ‘3 to 5s Learning’ consultations, particularly in relation to small schools, nursery schools and the publication of guidance for parents.

ROY SMITH
Acting Chief Education Officer

Background Papers: "Learning 3 to 5s" – first discussion document on developing provision for the Foundation Stage of Learning in Oxfordshire, OCC, December 2001

"3 to 5s Learning" – consultation document on proposals for a single main point of admission into Oxfordshire primary school reception classes, OCC, September 2002

Cntact Officer: Rick Harmes, Principal Education Officer (Lifelong Learning) Tel: 01865 810626

December 2002

Return to TOP