Early Years Service

The Early Years Service aims to give children a sound foundation for learning. We provide good quality combined nursery education and day care. With our partners in the voluntary, community and private sectors, we offer a diverse range of services for all under fives and their families, including children in need and children with special educational needs (SEN).

For information relating to the Early Years Foundation Stage team, click on the link under Related Information on the right.

Childcare for Islington 2008 (Childcare Sufficiency Assessment) - summary and full report published

The full Childcare for Islington 2008 Report was published in April 2008. The report is broken up into the contents page (in relation to all eight chapters), the eight chapters and the appendices. Please note, this is a working document and is very long (about 260 pages). The main public document is the summary report published on the website on 31 March 2008.

Childcare for Islington - Summary Childcare Strategy Action Plan 2008 - 2011

The summary action plan to address the findings of the CFI 2008 report is attached below, together with contact details for further information.

Childcare for Islington - Childcare Sufficiency Assessment – 2009 Refresh of Summary Report

The 2009 update or ‘refresh’ of findings in the Summary CFI Report is attached below. The main report on childcare sufficiency in Islington will be the original CFI 2008 report until March 2011, when the next full sufficiency assessment will be published. In the meantime, the Council is doing a short update in March 2009 and again in March 2010, looking in particular at changes in population, supply of childcare and other key developments impacting on the demand for childcare.

If you have any queries please contact:
Childcare Strategy Team, telephone 020 7527 5560/6702, email jane.wright@islington.gov.uk

To download the reports, click on the links at the bottom of this page.

Early Years Service - Useful Information for Parent

We have plenty of information to help parents, from our admissions policy to our council-run nursery schools and early years centres. The Children's Information Service, telephone 020 7527 5959, can help you find out about childminders, nurseries, after-school and holiday provision.

We also have information about free nursery education for three and four year-olds, council-run nursery schools and early years centres.

Children's Centres can help parents with education, health and family support services for children up to five years of age and their parents. While Sure Start can offer support to families with children under four years old.

For more information, click on the links under the main navigation list on the left side of this page, and those on the right under Related Information.

Information for Providers

We have information about the Early Years Support Team co-ordination of day care placements for children in need, Early Years Finance Team for grant aid and claiming nursery education grants. We also have information for the support and training of early years training practitioners. 

Complaints

For complaints about central council services, see the link to Complaints on the right of this page. For complaints about childcare or early education services, whether provided by council, voluntary or private sector, follow the complaints procedure of the provider.

If the complaint is still not resolved, you can contact the Ofsted complaints helpline on 08456 404040.