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Guidance

School-Based Nursery Capital Grant

Information for eligible schools about the School-Based Nursery Capital Grant 2024 to 2025.

Updates to this page

From:
Department for Education
Published:
17 October 2024
Last updated:
20 February 2025
Show all updates

  1. Updated the page to highlight that we will aim to publish the results of the School-Based Nursery Capital Grant 2024 to 2025 by the end of May 2025.

  2. Applications for the School-Based Nursery Capital Grant 2024 to 2025 and the registration of interest closed at midday on 19 December 2024. Applicants will be notified of the outcome in spring 2025.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. First published.

This guidance was withdrawn on

Applications for the grant closed on 19 December 2024.

We have published:

We have contacted all applicants to tell them the outcome of their application. There is no appeals process.

We will send successful applicants more instructions, including:

  • a grant agreement that they must sign
  • terms and conditions of the grant
  • information about a support package to help you through your project

Applies to England

The School-Based Nursery Capital Grant is for eligible state-funded primary-phase schools to bid for up to £150,000 of funding of capital funding.

The funding can only be used for capital expenditure to repurpose spare space within the school building to create or expand nursery provision.

This is the first stage in a long-term commitment to expand school-based nurseries across England.

For more information, refer to Establishing school-based nursery provision, which explains the requirements and recommendations for expanding or opening new school-based nursery provision.

Contacting you about the outcome of your application

We emailed all applicants in spring 2025 with the outcome of their application. 

If your application is successful, we will: 

  • issue a grant funding agreement to sign before any funds can be released 
  • provide more details about payment processes, reporting requirements, and timelines before you sign the agreement 

The grant funding agreement is legally binding and outlines: 

  • your roles and responsibilities 
  • the terms and conditions you must follow to receive funding

Online application service

Applicants could sign into the online application service to:

  • check their application status  
  • download a copy of their application and any supporting documents 

Supporting documentation that was submitted by email was available to download in January 2025.

Registration of interest

The registration of interest has now closed. The information submitted will help inform the development of the programme.

If you registered your interest, you may be contacted by us to discuss support options. If we contact your school, it won’t affect the outcome of any future grant applications.

Contact us

To submit a query about school-based nurseries, use the customer help portal.

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