Pre-school learning back on the agenda

GUERNSEY will hold talks with other countries to learn from their pre-school initiatives, Education minister Robert Sillars has revealed.

He announced plans to hold further discussions after attending the British-Irish Council summit in Wales yesterday.

The announcement brings nursery education back into the public eye after the Mulkerrin report earlier this year suggested a voucher system should be used to provide pre-school education for children most in need.

Mr Mulkerrin said the scheme would cost much less than the £1.7m. Education had estimated it would need for its nursery/pre-school scheme.

Deputy Sillars said: 'The focus on early years policy at the Cardiff summit provided me with an opportunity not only to learn about how other administrations meet early years needs and to bring that knowledge back to Guernsey, I was also able to showcase and pass on my learning from the work currently being undertaken in the island.'