This in from the council, in their own words. Ed
Of those eligible, 71.5% are either attending a nursery provision or childminder setting. This is a significant rise from the previous 40%.
The national average, set by the Department of Work and Pensions, is 62.6%. In the South East region, the average figure is 67.5%.
Providers and parents embracing the offer
Since June 2013, 1,195 applications have been processed, with 1,076 children being found eligible for funding; 89% of these parents have then taken up the funding. Currently, 409 two-year-olds are receiving funded early years education opportunities.
Providers across the Island have embraced the two-year-old offer and have used the Government capital and revenue funding to generate more places and enhance the quality of provision; leading to better outcomes for children under three. During the last twelve months two-year-old capacity on the Island has increased, with approximately 350 new childcare places being developed across the Island.
“Greatly exceeding the targets”
Councillor Jonathan Bacon, Isle of Wight Council leader, said:
“I am really pleased to see that not only are more children and families benefitting from the free early education places from age two, but that so many more places are being made available across the Island. We are greatly exceeding the targets set by the government, which is enabling us to support more local families.”
The quality of ‘early year’s’ provision on the Isle of Wight judged Good or Outstanding by Ofsted remains at a high level of 83%. 9% of day care providers are still awaiting an Ofsted judgement after registration.
Image: emilygoodstein under CC BY 2.0
