£1m fund to help parents support early years learning

Parents of disadvantaged children aged between two and five years old will be able to download the free app to their smartphones and iPads where there is currently a bank of 22 games to play alongside their children.

Run by organisation Character Counts, the app, known as EasyPeasy, aims to get more parents to support their children’s learning and development, and provides support though a virtual network and messaging service.

It is one of six new projects supported by £1m of funding, which has been provided by the Sutton Trust and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to close the attainment gap between the most disadvantaged early years children and their peers.

The other five projects, run by different organisations on a smaller scale, aim to address the low up-take of free 15-hour childcare as well as engage parents though training programmes that last several weeks.

Stories for You and Yours, an 11-week programme by the Reader Organisation, will look to improve the literacy skills of disadvantaged young children by encouraging shared reading.

Originally for women leaving prison, the project will try to encourage parents to share stories, songs and rhymes with their children through a weekly “Magical Story time”.

Caroline Mason, chief executive of Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, said: “Parental involvement is key to successful outcomes for children.

“The Parental Engagement Fund is targeted at providing parenting support and tools to reduce the attainment gap between the richest and the poorest families in the UK.”

Sutton Trust research suggests there is a school readiness gap between poor children and those from wealthier backgrounds of around 19 months by the age of five, with an Early Years Toolkit from the Education Endowment Foundation also showing at the same time that effective parental engagement can boost disadvantaged children’s learning.

Peter Lampi, chairman of the Sutton Trust and of the Education Endowment Foundation, said: “We know that the attainment gap between the richest and poorest pupils begins before they have even started school.

“Tackling this disparity early on is critical to breaking the cycle of disadvantage and improving social mobility,” Lampi said.