Call for action over children's life skills

One in six two-year-olds in Sunderland were behind on developing key life skills last year, new figures suggest.

Children’s charities say the worrying number of toddlers nationally who are falling behind will have grown duringthepandemic,andurgent investment in the early years sector is needed to get them “schoolready”.

Nursery nurses and health visitors examine children aged between two and two-and-a-half years old to check their mentalandphysicaldevelopment, as part of the Healthy Child Programme.

The figures show that,83.2%ofchildreninSunderland met the standards for communication, problem solving, social interaction, using fine motor skills such as holding a pencil, and gross motor skills including kicking a ball in 2019-20.

That was lower than the

North East average of 87.4% – the highest proportion nationally where 83.3% of children met expectations.

Imran Hussain, director of policy at Action for Children, said: “Sadly, what is not reflected in these latest statistics is that the situation hasbecomemuchworseover the last 12 months.

“The first few years are critical to children, yet over the last year our frontline staff have seen children off all ages regress in speech,behaviour,education and social skills.”

He says the Government must urgently invest in children’s centres and family hubs.

A Department for Education spokeswoman said: “We have kept nurseries and childmindersopentoensure the continuation of the care and education of our youngestchildren,andwecontinue to fund settings as usual.”