Disadvantaged children ‘behind before they even start at school’

SUPPORT FOR children during the first years of their lives is disjointed, meaning many from disadvantaged backgrounds are behind by the time they start formal education, a report has found.

Yorkshire-born Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner for England, has published a report looking at the provision of early-years services for one to five-year-olds across the country.

The report, Best Beginnings, said services often failed to target disadvantaged children with development problems who needed the most early help.

It found that last year 29 per cent of five-year-olds in England were not at the expected level of development by the time they started school, including 45 per cent of children receiving free school meals.

In Middlesbrough, 38 per cent were not achieving the expected level of development aged five, while in Dudley and Sandwell in the West Midlands it was 35 per cent of children, it said.

The report comes amid a recent warning from childcare providers that one in four nurseries and pre-schools fear closure within the year, rising to one in three in the most disadvantaged areas, as a result of the lockdown.

The commissioner’s office analysed data on all children in England who had not met the expected level on half their earlylearning goals at the age of five and tracked them through to the end of primary school.

It found the children were five times as likely to end up being excluded by the age of 10 and twice as likely to have had contact with children’s social care.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Our fantastic nurseries, childminders and preschools provide crucial support for children and families.

“That’s why this Government has always championed the earlyyears sector and why we are continuing to back early-years entitlements with £3.6 billion this year.”