It is widely accepted that the first few years of a child’s life are critical to their future development and as such a lot of emphasis should be placed on achieving quality early years education.

To ensure that every child has the same equal opportunities, regardless of their background, in 2018 the Department of Education announced a new funding stream focused on raising standards in this young age group.

The School Nurseries Capital Fund (SNCF) was created to ensure that more 2 to 4-year-old children get access to high quality school-based nursery places. A total of £30 million is being made available to schools in the most deprived areas of England to ensure that more nursery places are created that can offer a higher quality early years education.

The fund applies to schools looking to bid for a new or an extension of a current nursery, provided it is directly linked and governed by the school, academy or MAT. Crucially, these need to target disadvantaged children in order to qualify for the fund. For more information, the Department of Education has published a guidance document, aimed at helping the following organisations in their bids:

• Local authorities

• Schools

• Academies

• Multi-academy trusts

• Educational institutions

• Charities

For further information you can read the full guidance document for 2018/19 here.

Applications for 2019/20 are yet to be announced, however, if you are an academy or MAT looking for additional funding to accomplish your educational goals, then please contact Surveyors to Education on  01530 276127 or email enquire@s2e.org.uk.