Should eception classrooms for children between 3 and 5 years old be classified as nursery or classbase accommodation?
A. Some LEAs include reception classes in their Early Years and Childcare Development Plan. With the recent introduction of the ‘Foundation Stage Curriculum’, it is increasingly common for children from 3-5 years to be taught in shared accommodation within a school ‘Early Years’ unit. Where reception classes are incorporated within ‘nursery’ or ‘early years’ provision, the accommodation involved should be measured but can be excluded from the capacity calculation by being marked with an ‘E’, as long as the LEA enters the normal year of admission on page 1 of the form as ‘Y1’ rather than ‘R’ (the number of years will therefore be 6 not 7 in a ‘normal’ primary school, although the admission number will continue to apply to the reception year). Otherwise, if the reception year is included in the admission details, the accommodation these pupils use should be included in the assessment. The LEA should be clear whether reception classes are part of Early years provision or not, but if there
