Nursery schools outperform primary schools even though a significantly greater proportion of children in nursery school settings live in difficult socio-economic circumstances, according to a Department for Education and Employment report. The report, Developing and Extending Nursery School Services, was drawn up for the DfEE last spring by a team of six nursery headteachers led by Sian Rees Jones from Bognor Regis Nursery School in West Sussex. It was presented to last week's London conference on the future of maintained nursery schools, organised by Early Education.