Research by the Centre for Young Lives, chaired by Anne Longfield, and Child of the North highlights “the huge number of young children in England not starting reception class ‘school ready’”.
Researchers share an “alarming rise” in early years developmental delays since Covid-19 resulting in huge numbers of children who are not ready for school.
“Schools report children arriving at reception in nappies, and recent surveys of schools and nurseries have shown high levels of concern around speech and language with significant numbers of children below age-related expectations at the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage,” states the report.
In 2022/23, a third of children were not considered school ready, increasing to 45% among children eligible for free school meals, researchers found.
Their analysis of children deemed not school ready shows that they were nearly 2.5 times more likely to be persistently absent from school than their peers and around three times more likely to be NEET (not in education, employment or training) by the ages of 16 and 17.
It also finds that the percentage of school ready children varies across the country, from just 59% school readiness in Manchester to 84% in London.
The report sets out how high-quality early years settings play a crucial role in supporting successful development in young children, including their language, social, emotional, and physical skills, and behaviour.
The Centre for Young Lives and Child of the North are calling for a series of commitments from government in a bid to reduce the risk of “a downward spiral from poor spoken language through poor literacy and numeracy to longer-term effects on adult employability and the costs to society of intergenerational disadvantage”.
It is urging government to supplement its pledge to open 300 new school-based nurseries with:
- Investment in early childhood education programmes
- Improvements and extended training opportunities for professionals and families
- Connecting systems more effectively through shared information
- It also highlights existing examples of good practice designed to support children with school readiness.
These include The Nuffield Early Language Intervention Preschool which has been developed to boost the language skills of children and better prepare them for school entry and Sheffield Small Talk – a speech and language therapy clinic, providing inclusive no-cost provision for all preschool children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Longfield said: “I have heard many concerning experiences from school staff about children arriving at Reception wearing nappies, still using buggies, and unable to communicate at the expected level or to socialise with other children.
“None of these problems will fix themselves. Our preschool system is disjointed, is struggling with a recruitment and retention crisis, and has been historically underfunded.
“This report provides affordable, realistic proposals and shares best practice that will support a new focus on transforming support for children and families. If we get it right, we can transform the life chances of millions of children.”
A separate report by Ofsted highlights best practice around progress for pre-school children in literacy, mathematics, understanding the world, and expressive arts and design.
It finds that “early education is too important to be left to chance. A high-quality early years curriculum is particularly important as not all children get the same start in life – for example, due to differences in the level of help they receive at home.”
