Additional funding of £62m for the full roll-out of Wales’ ground-breaking Foundation Phase has been made available by Education Minister Jane Hutt ensuring the successful rollout of the programme across Wales.
The budget available for this year and the next two years is now over£174m, which, including the£5m already announced, is an increase of£67m on the original Foundation Phase budget.
Jane Hutt said: "The £62m in additional funding for the Foundation Phase, which I have secured, is great news for our youngest learners."
The Foundation Phase is Wales’ exciting learn through play based curriculum which is being rolled out for three to four year olds in this academic year and over the next three years when all children in Wales aged three to seven will benefit from this fantastic approach to learning.
The Minister said: “I have been lucky enough in recent weeks to visit schools which are now delivering our Foundation Phase. Only last Friday I visited Cilffrew Primary School in Neath where I saw children having a great time learning through this new and exciting initiative, with skilled staff, in excellent indoor and outdoor facilities. It is wonderful to see schools embracing the ethos of the Foundation Phase with children learning through experience and play rather than more formal classroom based lessons.
"My commitment was to find full funding for the Foundation Phase and for it to be introduced from September 2008, and that is precisely what has been delivered with our three and four-year-olds experiencing the new curriculum from the start of term.
"The Welsh Assembly Government promise to fully fund the Foundation Phase is demonstrated by the level of new funding now available to support the employment of additional staff and to train the existing and future workforce. Schools, settings and local authorities are now well positioned to fully deliver the Foundation Phase across Wales.
"The work of the Foundation Phase Task and Finish group and strong partnerships within the Welsh Assembly Government have secured the future of this outstanding programme. I am sure the Foundation Phase will now go from strength to strength and Wales will reap the benefits of having a world class early years education system."
Minister for Finance and Public Service Delivery Andrew Davies said:
"Theadditional £60m over two years to fund the full roll out of the Foundation Phase will ensure that our children get the best possible support in the early years of their education. We as a Welsh Assembly Government recognise the importance of investing in this ground-breaking new curriculum and the significant funding announced in the draft budget demonstrates this."
Notes
A short video cast about the Foundation Phase can be found at:
http://new.wales.gov.uk/topics/educationandskills/policy_strategy_and_planning/early-wales/foundation_phase/whatchildlearn/?lang=en
Photographs of the Education Minister's visit to Cilffrew Primary school in Neath are available on request by emailing matthew.flye@wales.gsi.gov.uk
