These schools were drawn from 46 that took part in a two-year Department of Education scheme that gave grants to schools to provide 15 hours of free weekly childcare to the most disadvantaged children.

Gyimah described the ongoing work of a number of schools in London in developing their early years offer by extending their opening hours to 8am to 6pm to help working parents with childcare.

Gyimah revealed that a £5m Teaching Schools Alliances fund would be used to encourage schools to improve preschool provision for the most disadvantaged two-year-olds, including establishing partnerships with private, voluntary and independent (PVI) nurseries for childcare provision.

This pilot scheme raises interesting questions about the potential benefits of easing the transition between nursery provision and early years education in schools. Identifying children who are most likely to fall behind holds the potential to provide extra support in a timely and effective way, as early as possible, to improve school readiness and general child wellbeing.

But there are barriers to the practical implementation of onsite childcare and early years education in schools including space limitations and the need for better workforce training. There may also be a disparity in partnerships across the country if this scheme were to be rolled out nationally, with both PVI and local authority providers taking part.

The nature of early years provision provided in schools also featured in the discussion. Gyimah described the distinction between play and learning as “a false dichotomy”.

He said “I know some people say we are ‘school-ifying’ the early years, and that it is too much too soon. I don’t agree. Listening to some of the criticisms, you would imagine rows of small children lined up in classrooms, sitting in silence and learning about quadratic equations from a teacher.”

“But I’ve seen school nurseries and I’ve seen the way they are run. They’re bright and cheerful. Children take part in messy play; they read together, sing and recite rhymes.”

The benefits of preschool education that supports social and cognitive development are well documented including the crucial role of play in encouraging learning and improving child wellbeing. It seems a balance should be struck between more structured exercises and informal play to best improve children’s later outcomes.

But it is vital that we don’t overlook the role of parents and families. Both parenting and the home learning environment are shown to have a particularly strong impact on children’s social and behavioural development in the early years.

Some children and families will need targeted family or parenting interventions. By placing childcare in schools, this is an opportunity for child-minders and early years teachers to work together to identify those most at risk and avoid later problems developing.