Children and Young Persons Development

Entitlement and provision for early years education
In the ECM agenda and Childcare Act 2006 it became an entitlement that all 3 and 4 year olds in England have free part time early years education, part time being 15 hours per week and 38 weeks a year. The government will pay funding to local authorities so that this part time education can happen. However should a parent want to their child to do any extra hours in the early years education they will have to pay for the extra hours that they do.
In early year provision Child initiated play is encouraged when supporting very young children, this is not in the place of a formal education but works well alongside one. It allows the young children to play with their peers and `learn through play`. It’s been found that this type of learning is very important in young children
The early years foundation stage is a framework for learning and development for children from birth to when they leave reception.
Foundation stage take place when children are ages between 3 and 5 years old this includes children that are in nursery and reception in schools. This stage will be continued throughout their first autumn term when the children move into year 1. This is done make transition from nursery to school easier for the child.
The different types of schools in relation to educational stage(s) and school governance
There are four mainstream state school types meaning that they are funded by the local authorities, these schools have to follow the national curriculum.
The four types of mainstream state schools are:
• Community schools,run and owned by the local authority. They support the school by providing support services and developing links with the community.
• Foundation schools or trust schools are run by their own governing body and form a charitable trust with an outside partner where they have to buy in any support services.
• Specialist schools tend to be secondary where they specialised in a particular subject. A large percentage of secondary schools in England have specialist status having this gains them additional government funding.
• Voluntary schools are split into two:
- Voluntary aided schools are mainly religious or faith schools and are run by their own governing body however the buildings are normally owned by religious groups.
- Voluntary controlled schools are run and funded by the local authority however the building is again owned by a charity or religious organisation.

There are two types of schools which are not funded by local authorities. These types of schools are;

• Independent schools - where parents pay fees which fund the school along with investments or charitable donations. They do not have to follow the national curriculum and the Head Teacher and governors decide on who gets in.
• Academies – they are linked with the local authorities. However they have more freedom than state schools as they are not maintained by authorities.