Charity calls for free pre-school place for every child

Free pre-school education should be offered to every child in the year before they officially start school to ensure they are given a strong start in life, a leading children’s charity said today.

An investment programme for education announced in the last Budget will see 50,000 additional childcare places, including 5,000 after-school places and 10,000 pre-school places aimed at three- to four-year-olds by 2010.