It was lovely to visit Busy Bees Nursery in Seahouses a few weeks ago, graded Outstanding – and enthusiastic – by Ofsted.
Given its excellence, it’s unsurprisingly at full capacity, so I’ll be talking to Northumberland County Council about space and expansion, both there and across the rest of our constituency’s nursery provision.
That’s especially important given the Department for Education announced the expansion of 30 hours of free childcare per week to all children from 9 months until the start of school, increased hourly rates paid to providers and the introduction of childminders grants!
- £204m to support the hourly funding rate paid to providers to deliver existing free childcare in England in 2023-24
- £288m in 2024-25
- £153m for training of early years staff during the 2021 Spending Review period
- Free L3 early years qualifications through the Lifetime Skills Guarantee for adults without a L3+ qualification
I also heard how Busy Bees Nursery is one of the great local community causes in Seahouses supported by the Co-op, whose members have raised £117 million since 2016.
