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The Nursery Education Grant

The Nursery Education Grant entitles all three and four year olds in England to a free early education place for up to two years before they reach statutory school age (the beginning of the school term immediately following your child's fifth birthday).

The table below shows when your child will become eligible for the free place.

If your child is born between:	They are eligible for a free place from:
1 April and 31 August	1 September following their third birthday until statutory school age.
1 September and 31 December	1 January following their third birthday until statutory school age.
1 January and 31 March	1 April following their third birthday until statutory school age.

Each eligible child is entitled to up to 5 x 2½ hour sessions of free nursery education per week, for 38 weeks of the year. As the maximum number of sessions will vary in line with school terms please contact the Early Years Team for specific information in this respect on 0161 770 3163.

All you have to do to access your child’s free place is to fill in an application form at any provider (nursery, pre-school, playgroup or independent school), which is registered with Oldham Early Years Service, provided that there is a space available.

Registered providers have agreed to meet certain standards of early education and care by:

Creating a high quality learning environment.
Setting continuous quality improvement targets.
Implementing the early years foundation stage curriculum.
Agreeing to be regularly inspected by OFSTED (The DCSF quality watchdog).
Implementing both Equal Opportunities Policies and the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice.

Please click here for a list of frequently asked questions about the Nursery Education Grant.

Please click here to download a leaflet explaining further details about the Nursery Education Grant.

If you have a query that is not covered in any of the above links, then please contact Oldham Early Years Team, who will be happy to help, on 0161 770 3163 or call in at their offices at 5 Barn Street, Oldham, OL1 1LP (just behind Oldham Police station)

Factsheet - Finding a Nursery Place For Your Child

Oldham Family Information Service can send out details of all providers in your area within Oldham who are registered for the Nursery Education Grant. Details on these lists include:

address and phone number of the childcare provider
opening hours
costs
facilities.

These lists are free of charge. To request a printed list, please call the Family Information Service on 0800 731 1518, or e-mail: familyinfo@oldham.gov.uk