Early Education Fund for 2, 3 & 4 Year Olds

Ben Rhydding Pre-School Playgroup is registered to receive the Government’s Early Education Funding for 2, 3 & 4 year olds (Universal Entitlement) and up to 30 hours (Extended) Entitlement provided by Bradford Council.

The funding entitles all 3 and 4 year-olds to 15 hours of free early education each week for up to 38 weeks of the year. From September 2017 you may be eligible for up to 30 hours of free childcare.

Your child becomes eligible from the 1st of September, 1st of January or 1st of April following their 3rd birthday. When your child becomes eligible, you will be asked to complete and sign a parent/carer agreement form by the pre-school team.  For the 30 hour offer, you will need to provide proof of eligibility.

If for any reason you have to move your child to another setting, such as a relocation, you must try to avoid moving them mid-term and give us at least six weeks’ notice.  The funding you sign for does not follow your child – it stays at the setting where it was claimed each Term.

If you do not want to take up all 15 hours as soon as your child becomes eligible but do want to reserve sessions in a future term, please speak to a member of staff as you may be asked to pay for the sessions to reserve them.

Early Years Pupil Premium is a top up of the Early Education fund, paid to the Pre-school for eligible 3 & 4 year olds to provide extra resources/ training/ opportunities to help close the gap between the additional support disadvantaged children get at age 2 through the free Early Education Entitlement and from age 4/5 through the school-age Pupil Premium.

The criteria for eligibility is similar to that of the 2 year old funding and ‘Free School Meals’ eligibility.  Bradford Council will automatically send us the information for who is eligible from the information given when filling out the Parent Agreement form for the funding.

Some two year olds are entitled to free Early Education Fund if you as a family meet certain eligibility criteria (see below) it is not an entitlement for all children as the three and four year olds Education Education Fund is.

What are the eligibility criteria for families?

As criteria changes from year to year, please visit the following website for up-to-date information from the Government:

https://www.gov.uk/free-early-education

NB:  The Early Education fund offers 15 hours free childcare for your 2 year old. However, currently we can only offer morning sessions until your child is three years of age due to adult:child ratios and subject to availability of space.

To learn more about the Early Education Fund you can contact us.