School-Based Nursery Capital Grant
Information for eligible schools about the School-Based Nursery Capital Grant (SBN Capital Grant) 2024 to 2025.
Applies to England
The School-Based Nursery Capital Grant is a one-time grant available for eligible state-funded primary-phase schools. Schools can bid for up to £150,000 of funding to use for capital expenditure to:
- convert spare space within school buildings into a new nursery
- expand an existing nursery
The grant cannot be used for any of the following:
- to upgrade existing nursery provision without adding new childcare places
- for new builds on spare land
- for extension projects which do not also include the use of existing spare space in the school building
This is the first stage in a long-term commitment to expand school-based nurseries across England.
For more information, and before applying for the grant, read:
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, which provides:
- details of the capital scheme
- more detail on the eligibility criteria
- guidance for filling in an application as well as the template of the application form
- Establishing school-based nursery provision guidance, which details the requirements and recommendations for expanding or opening new school-based nursery provision
Who can apply
Applications for grant funding are open to state-funded primary-phase schools in England that already offer some early education, such as a reception class. Projects must use surplus space in the school building. The grant cannot be used for new builds on school land.
Maintained nursery schools, special schools and pupil referral units (PRUs) cannot apply for this grant because they do not have spare space created by declining primary school rolls. They are, however, encouraged to register their interest in opening new nursery places in the future. This will help inform future development of the programme.
To qualify, your project must meet all the eligibility criteria within the application. This includes securing support from your local authority and obtaining consent from your landlord or relevant freehold landowner where necessary. We will evaluate applications that meet the eligibility criteria against the assessment criteria detailed in the School-Based Nursery Capital Grant 2024 to 2025 guidance.
Any responsible official representing the school, such as a school or multi-academy trust leader, can submit your bid. The bid coordinator must have access to your DfE Sign-in account to apply for the grant through the online application service.
How to apply
Make sure that you read the guidance and application form carefully.
10 December 2024 update:
Any supporting documentation larger than 1MB cannot be uploaded to the online application service. In the first instance, please compress your attachments so they are less than 1MB and upload to the online application service alongside your application.
If you need to submit supporting documents exceeding 1MB and cannot upload them onto the system, please email them to images.schoolnurseries@education.gov.uk, including your school’s name and URN in the subject line. This will help us match supporting documentation to your application. Ensure that emailed supporting documentation is in PDF format and that the file name clearly states what it is, for example, site_plan_image1. Use this email only for queries about supporting documents.
After emailing supporting documentation, you will be sent further instructions on how to continue your application on the online application service, to ensure it is submitted successfully.
Any documentation emailed to the Department after you have submitted your application will not be considered.
We advise emailing your supporting documents at least 5 working days before to the deadline of midday on 19 December 2024, to allow for enough time for you to complete the rest of your application on the online application service.
You must submit your application via the online application service by midday on 19 December 2024. We will not accept applications made through other routes or after this deadline.
To help you prepare your application, you can view the template of the application form in the School-Based Nursery Capital Grant 2024 to 2025 guidance. However, applications must be submitted through the online application service.
All bid co-ordinators must use the school’s DfE sign-in account to apply for the grant on the school’s behalf. If you wish to apply but do not have a DfE Sign-in account (required to access the online application service), you must request an account by 12 December 2024.
Registration of interest
If you are interested in opening a school-based nursery in the future but you are unable or ineligible to apply in this round, you can register your interest online. This includes schools that:
- do not meet the current eligibility criteria
- are considering opening a nursery within a more extended timeframe
- are facing other challenges at this time which prevent an application being made
You should detail why you would like to open or expand school-based nursery provision, the key challenges that prevent you from doing so, and what support may help you to achieve this in the future. Your contribution will help inform the development of the programme.
The Department for Education (DfE) may contact you to discuss support options. If we contact your school, it will not affect the outcome of any future grant applications.
Maintained nursery schools that are unable to access the registration of interest through the Online Application Service can register their interest by submitting the above information, as well as their school, URN and contact details through the Customer Help Portal.
The registration of interest will close at midday on 19 December.
Webinars
In November 2024, DfE hosted webinars for schools and local authorities to hear about the school-based nursery capital grant and ask some questions. You can watch recordings of these webinars:
- School-based nurseries capital grant 2024 to 2025 webinar for schools – 5 November
- School-based nurseries capital grant 2024 to 2025 webinar for local authorities – 6 November
- School-based nurseries capital grant 2024 to 2025 webinar for schools, local authorities and responsible bodies – 28 November
Contact us
To submit a query about school-based nurseries, use the Customer Help Portal. Multi-academy trusts should include which school your enquiry relates to. To allow enough time for the team to assist you, we recommend that you submit your enquiry at least 5 working days before the application deadline. While we will try to respond to all enquiries, we cannot guarantee a response before the application deadline.
Do not submit multiple requests for the same issue.
We are unable to provide any advice related to individual applications due to their competitive nature.
Updates to this page
Last updated 9 December 2024 + show all updates
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Updated to clarify that Pupil Referral Units are excluded from applying for the grant, that supporting documentation larger than 1MB cannot be uploaded to the Online Application Service and must instead be compressed or emailed to images.schoolnurseries@education.gov.uk, and that maintained nursery schools unable to access the Online Application Service can request to be placed on the registration of interest for future school-based nurseries by submitting their details through the Customer Help Portal. A link to webinar which took place on 28 November was also added. Also updated the ‘School-Based Nursery Capital Grant 2024 to 2025 guidance’ to clarify how the department will allocate funding in the case of a tie breaker which results in more successful applications than funding available, to clarify the role of local authorities, to state that applicants who are not awarded the SBN grant can chose to continue with their significant change application, without needing to submit a new one, and that bid coordinator must use the schools DfE sign-in account to apply via the Online Application Service.
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Added links to webinar recordings. Also updated the ‘School-Based Nursery Capital Grant 2024 to 2025 guidance’ to clarify the following: that the grant cannot be used for new builds on spare land, or extension projects which do not also use existing spare space in the school building, that successful applicants will need to cover overspends from their own sources of funding and cannot use the grant to reimburse expenditure incurred before the grant is awarded, that academies can apply for the grant even if they have already applied for a significant change and that schools who are unable to complete a consultation before the deadline should contact the Customer Help Portal. We have also updated the guidance to: inform applicants who want to work in partnership with a PVI or childminder that any pricing agreed with an enterprise must not be more favourable than the expected market rate, inform applicants that successful schools will receive the capital funding through their usual channels and unsuccessful schools will automatically be placed on the registration of interest.
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First published.