Thousands of New School Nursery Places to Be Rolled Out Across England

Published: 04 September 2025 | The English Chronicle Desk

The government has announced a major expansion of early years provision in England, with up to 7,000 new school nursery places set to be created by September 2026. Backed by a £45 million investment, the initiative aims to ease pressure on parents, support working families, and ensure that children—particularly those in disadvantaged areas—have access to high-quality early education.

The Department for Education (DfE) confirmed that the new funding will be used to establish an additional 300 school-based nurseries, building on the first 300 that were launched during the initial phase of the programme. Schools will be able to apply for grants of up to £150,000 either to create new nursery facilities or to expand existing ones. Priority will be given to schools serving some of the most disadvantaged communities, in a bid to close the gap in access to early years education.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the scheme was part of the government’s wider Best Start programme, designed to give every child the strongest foundation in life. “School-based nurseries can offer a nurturing and stable environment for children that carries through into primary, and a helping hand for working parents tackling dual drop-off,” she said. “Delivering more school-based nurseries means more choice and convenience for parents, and more opportunities to target parts of the country where families are most in need of additional support.”

The government has already made significant steps toward expanding childcare provision. Last October, £15 million was allocated to schools to create an initial 300 nurseries. That figure was later increased to £37 million to help meet the demands of the September 2025 childcare rollout. The first phase of the programme delivered an extra 4,000 nursery places, with 189 of the funded nurseries set to open their doors this month.

The latest expansion coincides with the rollout of free childcare hours for younger children. From September 1, eligible working parents in England are entitled to 30 hours of free childcare per week for children over nine months old. Ministers argue that this policy will boost family incomes, support parents back into work, and strengthen the wider labour market.

The announcement has been welcomed by many in the childcare sector. Jane van Zyl, chief executive of Working Families, praised the move, saying: “Quality, affordable childcare is one of the biggest barriers to work, so steps that make it more accessible will boost labour market participation as well as family incomes. For parents with school-age children, co-located nursery provision can make daily logistics more manageable, which makes a real difference to working lives.”

However, concerns remain about whether the workforce can keep pace with demand. Purnima Tanuku, executive chairwoman of the National Day Nurseries Association, said that while the creation of more places was welcome, school-based nurseries still represented a relatively small proportion of early years provision. “Nurseries have worked hard to meet the ambitious expansion by September, but due to workforce pressures, we know that around 70% of nurseries are not operating at full capacity as they are carrying an average of four vacancies,” she said.

This week, the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) also warned that while growth in staffing numbers is currently “on track” to meet government targets, recruitment and retention challenges could jeopardise the long-term success of the childcare expansion. To tackle these issues, early years teachers working in disadvantaged communities will be offered a £4,500 incentive payment, in the hope of attracting and retaining talent where it is needed most.

With the government under pressure to deliver on its promise of universal access to affordable childcare, the £45 million investment marks a significant step forward. But experts caution that without sustained efforts to address workforce shortages, the ambitious plans may struggle to live up to their potential.