Item 13 - Early Learning and Childcare Update
West Dunbartonshire Council · 24 June 2026
Back to Educational Services Committee — 24 June 2026 and its agenda
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WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE COUNCIL Report by Chief Education Officer Educational Services Committee: Wednesday 24 June 2026 _______________________________________________________________ Subject: Early Learning and Childcare Update 1. Purpose 1.1 This report provides an update on 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. We also provide places with some childminders across the local authority. 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. ITEM 13
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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 attendance across West Dunbartonshire Council settings for April 2026 is 87.67%, which is an improvement in all other months since August this session. 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 Supporting Improvement As part of the continuous improvement journey the central team carry out supportive improvement visits to settings. These visits help leaders and settings to validate, or identify, their strengths and key next steps for focussed improvement. They also help them in their preparation for external inspection. This session, the central team have carried out 19 of these visits where the focus has been on the quality improvement aspects, children’s progress and nurturing, care and support. It also allows us to identify areas for focus within our strategic delivery plan, identify future training offers and where targeted support can be of help. Our ELC settings report that they find these visits beneficial and supportive. 4.3 ELC Inspections under the new Quality Improvement Framework Since the new framework was introduced in September 2025, a number of our settings have been inspected. Seven of our settings have been inspected by the Care Inspectorate and four by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education. Almost all grades received have been the same or better than previous inspections of these settings. 4.4 Early Years Assessment and Progression Framework We are currently reviewing our processes for assessing children’s progress across the early years and intend to implement a revised approach from August 2026. A working party has been established to evaluate and develop this new Early Years Assessment and Progression Framework which includes a range of representatives working across Early Years. The current progress records have been in place for some time and in light of the change to the HMIE and Care Inspectorate shared inspection framework, which has a new quality indicator with a focus on curriculum and the national practice guidance, ‘Realising the Ambition’, which outlines clear expectations that children should experience a holistic, play based curriculum in early years, this review is timely. Recent analysis has also shown that there are areas where we could improve our assessment and tracking of children’s progress across the wider curriculum. Through the revised approach we believe that we will be able to better support children’s learning and attainment holistically and in all curricular areas whilst also developing their skills. There will be a clear focus on ensuring that Getting it Right for Every Child and United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child are at the centre of this work.
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4.5 Literacy and Parental Engagement Project We are pleased to note, colleagues from Strathclyde University have secured funding to allow them to engage with three of our settings in a short term project which will focus on improving literacy and parental engagement. The project will also upskill staff knowledge in this aspect and build their capacity. Through the work it is anticipated that children’s attainment in literacy skills will improve and parents/carers will have a greater understanding of how best that they can support their children in this key area of development. 4.6 Clydebank Increased Registration The additional changing facilities work at Clydebank ELC has now been completed. This has allowed us to amend the registration for the service with the Care Inspectorate. We are now able to accommodate more eligible 2 year olds in the local area to access their 1140 entitlement at the service and better support the local community and families. 4.7 Thrive at Five For the next three years, West Dunbartonshire Council will be working in partnership with Thrive at Five. Thrive at Five is a UK based charity and community focused initiative which is aimed at ensuring children from birth to age five develop strong foundations for life and learning. The goal of this joint programme, which aims to reach up to 2500 of WDC children, is to achieve long term sustained improvements in children’s developmental outcomes and reduce the number of children starting school with developmental concerns. The programme will be externally evaluated by the Centre for Evidence and implementation. Thrive at Five have worked with local authorities in England to date, however, WDC will be the first Scottish local authority to work in partnership with them. This work will involve an investment of £500,000 per annum from Thrive at Five alongside repurposed monies to the value of £150,000 from the WDC education budget. It will take a joined up approach where all agencies working with families will work collaboratively with a key focus on improving children’s speech language and communication skills, supporting parents/carers and the home learning environment. This work will also involve the recruitment of a skilled local team of up to 10 people to deliver the programmes. (Please see attached appendix 1) 4.8 Deferrals Year Total number of school deferrals accessing another year of ELCC Number of Jan – Feb school deferrals accessing another year of ELCC Number of Aug – Dec school deferrals accessing another year of ELCC Delayed year 26- 27 152 79 73 0 25 - 26 140 60 80 1 24 - 25 156 94 62 1 23 - 24 126 81 45 2 22 - 23 92 55 37 0
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Children whose birth date falls on or after the first date of the school term start date in August have an automatic entitlement to access a deferred year in ELC. The data above shows the current numbers of children accessing a deferred year. We are able to accommodate those families who wish to access a deferred year for their child within our existing service. The Scottish Government publication of ‘Funded Early Learning and Childcare Statistics 2025’ states that the number of deferred registrations for 2025 represented 35% of children eligible for a funded deferral place, which was an increase from 34% in 2024. In West Dunbartonshire, we don’t currently hold this information, however, we can confirm that in session 2024/2025 15% of the entire pre school role elected to defer and in session 2025/2026 16% of the entire pre school role elected to defer and access an additional year in their ELC setting. 4.9 Increase in Childminders in West Dunbartonshire This session we provided the Scottish Child Minding Association with funding to help them recruit and train more childminders within West Dunbartonshire Council. Through this funding they have successfully recruited three new childminders in WDC and supported them through the requirements which will allow them to offer childminding services to local families. We anticipate that they will be fully registered with the Care Inspectorate soon and will then be able to enter into partnership with us to offer eligible childcare to families. 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 Since 2021, we have supported 35 Modern Apprentices. 23 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. At present three Modern Apprentices are working towards their qualification and two more are recruited to begin in August 2026. We will also look to recruit one more MA for August 2026. We also linked in with West College Scotland to offer interviews to newly qualified early learning and childcare practitioners and received five applications for our supply posts. All five who applied were successful at interview and will be added to our supply register as soon as their recruitment checks are completed. Ten members of staff working in ELC settings across the authority are currently working on their SVQ Level 2. We have received very positive feedback about this cohort from the college with all ten on track to gain this qualification by the summer. This group contains three upskillers, namely early years lunchtime assistants who with this qualification, could seek employment as a learning assistant and also seven learning assistants gaining the correct qualification to meet their SSSC conditions. We also have
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three members of staff, one Principal Officer and two Lead Officers in the final year of their Bachelor of Arts in Childhood Practice. . 6. Financial and Procurement Implications 6.1 There are no financial or procurement implications arising from this report. 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 is providing 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 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 8 June 2026 ___________________________________________________________________
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Person to Contact: Alison Bowers, Senior Education Officer, Education, Learning and Attainment Telephone No: 07813 534420 Email: alison.bowers@west-dunbarton.gov.uk Appendices Appendix 1 – Thrive at Five WDC Summary – Joint Presentation Background Papers: none Wards Affected: All