Sponsored by
DEC to monitor pre-schools call
EARLY LEARNING: Aimee Kermeen reads with some pre-school youngsters at Victoria House Nursery which was shortlisted in last years Isle of Man Newspapers Awards for Excellence in the customer service category. PHOTO: Mike Wade MW120831 (63).
NURSERIES should come under the umbrella of the Department of Education and Children and not the Department of Social Care.
That’s the view of one private nursery owner who believes the system, already in place in England, would mean better monitoring of the learning and development opportunities afforded to children.
Carolyn Nicholson, who owns and manages Victoria House Nursery, in Victoria Road, Douglas, also believes it would mean smaller private nurseries would be able to afford to employ qualified early years teachers. This is because under the DoSC the ratio of staff to child is prescribed as 1:8, whereas under the DEC this would be 1:20, meaning the higher wages paid to a teacher could be offset by employing fewer nursery nurses.
Victoria House, which celebrates its eighth birthday this week, already delivers a pre-school curriculum, delivered by a fully qualified early years teacher. But Carolyn said even if every nursery did not employ a teacher itself, being regulated by the DEC could mean having a peripatetic teacher to monitor and support every nursery.
Victoria House’s early years teacher Sue Kapur said: ‘If you close down pre-schools, as has happened in the Isle of Man, you have got to have regulation. There should be some kind of kitemark to say what the quality of education is like.’
Carolyn added: ‘We want a level playing field for every single child in the island. For instance, the most vulnerable children, why shouldn’t they have what other children have?’
She agreed, with or without DEC regulation, that some families simply cannot afford to send their child to nursery and said those people should receive assistance. For instance, she disagreed with the universal nature of the new voucher system - introduced after government announced it would no longer provide pre-school education as of this month and leased its nurseries to private operators - which will see parents entitled to £350 credit towards the cost of nursery places whether or not they need the assistance. By means testing, the money saved could be put towards further help for those in the lower pay bracket. At the moment, an additional £800 for those eligible for free school meals is available on top of the £350.
Sue said the Effective Provision of Pre-School Education project in the UK has explored the impact of pre-school education on children’s cognitive and social/behavioural outcomes, as well as other important background factors such as family and home learning development. The project has shown children who attended pre-school have been set up for life in these areas and, to achieve that, they should be attending at least three sessions a week.
Carolyn said the culture of Victoria House is to ‘deliver a top class education in a caring environment, equipping children with inherent personal, social and cognitive development’. In 2011 the nursery achieved the Step Into Quality award, linked to Lancashire Education Authority, which recognises all round excellence in learning provision.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Isle of Man
Monday 20 May 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 8 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 23 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 8 C to 13 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: North west
