Item 09 - Early Learning and Childcare Update
West Dunbartonshire Council · 18 March 2026
Back to Educational Services Committee — 18 March 2026 and its agenda
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WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE COUNCIL Report by Chief Education Officer Educational Services Committee: Wednesday 18 March 2026 _______________________________________________________________ Subject: Early Learning and Childcare Update 1. Purpose 1.1 This report provides progress made to provide high quality Early Learning and Childcare in West Dunbartonshire Council. 2. Recommendations 2.1 It is recommended that Committee notes: (i) progress to deliver high quality Early Learning and Childcare. 3. Background 3.1 Early Learning and Childcare Within Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) we deliver, across all our settings, up to 1140 hours to eligible 2 year olds, and children aged from 3 to those not yet attending primary school. Places for children under the age of 2 are available in our partner settings and in some of our council run settings. These places support our eligible and vulnerable children and working families who require access to childcare. Overall children are very well supported, provided with exciting learning opportunities, and are nurtured by well trained staff. 3.2 Training We continue to offer a wide range of training to all our ELC providers through our Professional Learning Framework and our framework for this session aims to support the actions identified in our delivery plan, staff development needs and to support all children. Some of the most recent training has led to staff further developing their skills in approaches to support health and wellbeing and pedagogical leadership. We are pleased to note that all 10 of our Learning Assistants and some Early Years Assistants that are undertaking their SVQ 2 qualification at West College Scotland are on track to meet the requirements for this by the end of the session. ITEM 9
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4. Main Issues 4.1 Children’s Progress Attendance continues to be robustly monitored on a monthly basis within our early years settings and training to staff has been provided to develop a more consistent approach. The average rolling attendance across West Dunbartonshire Council settings for August to December 2025 is 85.82% which is lower than last year at this time, however, we attribute this to low December attendance due to the high number of viruses at this time. We continue to work in partnership with settings to highlight the importance of good attendance to ensure the best outcomes for all children. 4.2 Digital Resources To further support our ELC settings in developing children’s digital skills we are resourcing each setting with iPads. In line with the curriculum, this will offer our children greater opportunities for enhanced engagement and motivation. They will also further support development of essential digital literacy skills and provide support in a range of ways to personalise, extend and develop children’s learning in all areas of the curriculum. 4.3 National Early Language and Communication The National Early Language and Communication (NELC) multi agency group was established by Scottish Government to reduce the barriers of language and communication difficulties in young children. West Dunbartonshire was the first local authority, in August 2024, to establish a multi-agency response group, which consists of representatives from health, midwifery, speech and language, libraries, education and education psychology. This session we identified a nursery to act as a pilot for this work, which Includes: upskilling staff, increasing parental engagement and implementing a developmental tracker with children aged from 0-3 to support their stages of development and identify next steps in learning. There has been very positive feedback from parents involved with this programme, on the positive impact it has had on their understanding of their role in supporting their child’s language and understanding. Some comments from parents involved in the pilot are: ‘My child loves the water play learning bag; her speech has improved a lot since starting nursery.’ ‘The play bag is very useful and beneficial. A great reminder of how important regular play is for development.’ ‘My child loves playing with the ducks and water toys it keeps him busy. He used lots of facial expressions and said boat for the first time.’ Our work was recognised by the NELC team as being sector leading. We will continue to roll out this work across all our other 0-3 settings.
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4.4 Scottish Book Trust We were delighted to receive a donation of 6000 books from the Scottish Book Trust in December 2025. This allowed us to provide all our ELC children with 2 books for Christmas and to resource all our ELC settings, partners and childminders with some new books for the children to enjoy. 5 People Implications 5.1 Support is provided for Early Learning and Childcare staff teams and leaders to enable effective delivery of the high quality ELC and the expectations of the statutory offer of 1140 hours for eligible 2 year olds and 3 year olds to pre school aged children. 5.2 To date, we have supported 26 Modern Apprentices. Twenty-one have completed their training, achieving a Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ) Level 3 within our Early Learning and Childcare settings and have been supported into employment with the Council. Five Modern Apprentices are working towards their qualification at present. Additionally, since 2022 we have supported 26 career changers, or ‘upskillers’. Upskillers are employees whose training is fully funded through Skills Development Scotland. Twenty-one of them have completed their qualification and 4 are currently participating in working towards achieving their qualification. We will continue to promote this career path and route to qualification. 6. Financial and Procurement Implications Financial Year Revenue (£m) Capital (£m) 2021/22 9.723 5.880 2022/23 9.485 0.794 2023/24 9.742 0.287 2024/25 9.725 0 2025/26 0 0 Please note for 2025-26 - Under the terms of the Verity House Agreement, the Budget removed ringfencing of early years funding. ELC expansion funding which was previously ringfenced within the Specific Revenue Grant (SRG) is now baselined. The full ELC quantum is therefore now included within the General Revenue Grant (GRG).
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7. Risk Analysis 7.1 The Key Risks: Maintaining high quality Early Learning and Childcare at all funded providers to ensure that they meet the National Standard Criteria. Failure to deliver 1140 hours curriculum by confident, well trained Early Learning and Childcare staff teams. Evaluations of good for environment by Care Inspectorate are at risk if Early Learning and Childcare building assets are not maintained. 8. Equalities Impact Assessment 8.1 There was no requirement to undertake another Equalities Impact Assessment for the purposes of this report as it provides an update for Committee. 9. Consultation 9.1 Regular consultation with stakeholders including parents and carers, Early Learning and Childcare staff, Unions, Council partners and partner Early Learning and Childcare providers continues through the various Council fora and regular meetings. 9.2 Feedback from recent parent/carer consultation Our statutory consultation closed with parents and carers on 30 November 2025. This is an important consultation to help us gather views and work to improve the service that we provide. The full consultation report has been attached as an appendix to this report. Key findings and actions from this are outlined below: 175 responses were received from the consultation 85% of respondents were current ELC users 94% reported finding it easy to access provision 88% of respondents use their full funded entitlement, primarily to support their child's school readiness and to enable parents to work 91% of respondents were satisfied with the quality of service provided Council settings were the first choice for 142 respondents, and 139 ranked the school-day model as their top preference. 82% of parents were confident in completing applications online, however, this dropped to 50% when applying for partner settings. Overall the consultation demonstrated strong uptake and satisfaction with funded ELC in West Dunbartonshire.
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We will now consider the following actions to further improve the provision we offer: To provide further flexibility, we will look to extend wraparound care and extended hours, where possible, Improve communication on the application process and alternatives to the online process for those who find this digital process complicated or inaccessible, Through a broader range of ways than currently exist, provide more clarity on how to apply for all provision, Ensure that provision for children with ASN is consistent, particularly at times of transition, and, Continue to promote the opportunity for parents to purchase hours for their child in advance of their eligibility date for entitlement. 9.2 Legal Services and the Section 95 Officer have been consulted in relation to the content of this report. 10. Strategic Assessment 10.1 This report reflects the Council’s aspiration to have resilient and thriving communities, a strong and flourishing economy and a council that is inclusive and adaptive. These are some of the strategic priorities for 2022-2027. Gillian Hamilton Chief Education Officer 26 February 2026 ___________________________________________________________________ Person to Contact: Alison Bowers, Senior Education Officer, Education, Learning and Attainment Telephone No: 07813 534420 Email: alison.bowers@west-dunbarton.gov.uk Appendix 1: Background Papers: Wards Affected: West Dunbartonshire ELC Parental Consultation Report None All
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