All 3-4 year old children are legally entitled to funded, part-time non-compulsory early learning and childcare. In addition so are around a quarter of 2 year olds - those who are looked after by the local authority or whose parents are in receipt of certain benefits.
Local education authorities are responsible for making this provision and are funded by the Scottish Government to provide this care. Overall funding provided to local authorities takes account of the extra cost of making early learning and childcare provision (and other services) available in rural areas.
Local authorities can choose to provide transport to facilitate access to early learning and childcare in rural areas. The Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc Act 2000 allows them to provide free transport to and from places offering early learning and childcare, although they do not have a duty to do so.
Admission requirements and choice of ECEC settings
All children aged 3 and 4 years, as well as around a quarter of 2-year olds are entitled to early learning and childcare. Local authorities must make provision for children from the start of the school term following their second or third birthday, until the end of the school term before they are eligible to start primary school (age 4½ - 5 ½). Some local authorities have different eligibility criteria, such as at third birthday rather than term after third birthday. Therefore, in practice there is some variation in the start date for funded early learning and childcare across Scotland.
There are cut off dates for enrolment in each term:
- Autumn term – born between 1 March and 31 August
- Spring term – born between 1 September and 31 December
- Summer term – born between 1 January and 28 February
If parents of children with birthdays in January or February choose to defer their child’s entry to primary school, local authorities will provide an additional year of free early learning and childcare. Children with September to December birthdays can have an extra year of free early learning and childcare, should parents choose to defer their child’s entry to primary school. This is at the discretion of their local authority.
Funded early learning and childcare placements are allocated by local authorities. Parental preference is taken into account, but allocation depends on availability of local places and local authority admissions policies. The choice of setting available to families is not restricted to their own local authority boundary.
Group size and child/ staff ratios
The Health and Social Care Standards, which set out what families should expect when using any service within the health or social care sector, including ELC, make it clear that children's needs should be met by the right number of people and that staff working in the setting should have time to support, care for and to speak with children and their families. Guidance on the Care Inspectorate website states that the ratios are:
- 1:3 ratio for children 0-2 years
- 1:5 for children aged 2-3
- 1:8 ratio for children aged 3-5 who attend for more than 4 hours per day (1:10 for those who attend less than 4 hours)
Children attending early learning and childcare are usually grouped in playrooms or “classes” in line with these age bandings, or in some settings 0-2 years and 2-5 years.
Keyworker systems are commonly in place to meet children’s emotional and care needs as well as many aspects of educational provision. It is also common for children to work with a number of practitioners during the course of a session.
All practitioners are responsible for engaging children in all aspects of the curriculum, under the supervision of the manager or headteacher. Usually there is no specialisation of staff by curricular area, though colleagues with particular expertise may play a leading role in some areas, such as music or expressive arts.