Nursery World - Early Years Pupil Premium: Part 4

Whether it’s gin and tonic or apple crumble and custard, some things work better together than apart. By Charlotte Goddard

Some early years providers are finding they can get more from their EYPP funding by combining it. Collaborative working also has other benefits: nurseries overcoming suspicions to help each other with common challenges and to share ideas.

Sharing funding can be challenging. ‘Settings seem to find this difficult, I think it maybe due to the competition element,’ says Caroline Eaton, EYPP Project lead at Early Education.‘ They seem to like getting together but often wait to hear what others have to offer. Another challenge is timeliness – many settings are receiving EYPP funding relatively late on in the term, which doesn’t leave a lot of time to make group decisions. However, some providers may already be members of early years networks, and can use these structures to identify common issues affecting their EYPP-eligible children and possible shared interventions. Early Education has created 15 Learning Together About Learning local networks as part of its Department for Education-funded project. Not all have gone so far as to pool funding, but all are sharing information and ideas.

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