HEADLINE: Rochdale among first ten areas to benefit from £4,500 bonus to attract top nursery teachers
Rochdale is one of the first ten areas in the country to benefit from new £4,500 bonuses designed to attract qualified graduate teachers into local nurseries, giving more children the best possible start in life.
The scheme launches today and will expand to 30 communities later this year. Areas were chosen on the basis of deprivation, teacher shortages and how ready children are for school, and eligible nurseries in Rochdale will be contacted directly with a link to apply.
The bonuses will also help more local families take up their funded childcare entitlement, worth up to £8,000 a year on average, by giving nurseries the qualified staff they need to open up more places.
Fewer than one in ten nursery staff currently hold a graduate teaching qualification, yet the evidence is clear that better qualified staff lead to better outcomes for children. Just 58% of children in the most deprived communities reach a good level of development by the end of reception, compared with 77% in the least deprived areas. Putting more qualified teachers into nurseries in towns like Rochdale is aimed squarely at closing that gap.
Alongside the bonus, new partnership grants will for the first time fund nurseries and schools to work formally together, sharing teaching approaches and building stronger links with families so children arrive at school confident and ready.
Paul Waugh, MP for Rochdale, said:
"Every Rochdale youngster deserves the very best start in life, whatever their background, and that begins in the early years.
Our nurseries, and the brilliant people who work in them, do an incredible job, often on tight budgets. This is real money to help them attract and keep the best qualified teachers right here in Rochdale.
We know children in towns like ours can start school months behind their better off peers, and that gap can shape the rest of their lives. Getting more highly qualified teachers into our nurseries is one of the best ways to close it, and it is a huge help for working families at a time when every penny counts.
I am delighted Rochdale is in the very first wave of this scheme, and I will keep pushing to make sure local families and nurseries feel the full benefit."
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said:
"It shouldn't matter if you're born in Sandwell or Middlesbrough, in Rochdale or Rotherham - every child deserves the best teachers, with the best tools at their disposal, to give them the very best start in life.
"These measures will help nurseries attract and keep more qualified staff - so they can deliver the funded childcare that saves families up to £8,000 a year in the communities that need it most."
The Early Years Teacher Recognition Payment is open to teachers holding Qualified Teacher Status, Early Years Teacher Status or Early Years Professional Status, working in private, voluntary and independent group-based nurseries in eligible areas. It is part of the government's mission to get tens of thousands more children school-ready by 2028.
