Merton is get an extra £2.2 million to deliver 15 hours free weekly childcare and nursery schooling for two-year-olds from the most hard-pressed families, the Coalition Government has announced.

This is great news, and comes on top of nearly £500,000 more for building projects to support ‘early years’ schooling, for example, converting part of an existing buildings into extra nursery space.

There is huge evidence that ‘early years’ education makes a big positive difference to young children.