Ministers have been warned by headteachers that new school-readiness targets “must not become another stick to beat schools” with.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson today launched a plan for a new data tool to give schools a target to aim for in terms of improving outcomes for children in Reception year, based on the performance of similar schools.
The government has also announced that councils will have to agree targets to increase the number of children ready for school in their area.
The Department for Education said it was providing a clear direction to schools and councils to come together to “tackle the shocking reality that one in every three children start formal school at age 5 not yet ready to learn”.
Children not ready to start school
Ministers previously set a target of 75 per cent of children being “school-ready” by 2028. Today Ms Phillipson will warn that it is “a national scandal” that the disadvantage-related development gap is well established before children start school.
The DfE said its school-readiness data tool, which will be launched this autumn, will support schools in making decisions about where to focus their efforts in Reception year.
It added: “It will show schools the development target they should be aiming for based on comparator schools, and single out areas of focus for schools to improve their current scores.”
The DfE said the tool has been developed using the government’s approach to driving up school attendance, where “comparison data against other similar schools has helped drive 3 million more days in school already this year compared to last”.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, welcomed the government’s focus on early years education but warned that it cannot look at “targets alone”.
“School leaders have seen, first hand, the impact of the erosion of early years services, with more and more children arriving at school having not received the support they desperately need and deserve,” he said.
“Our caution to government is that targets alone won’t solve the problem, and targets must not become another stick to beat schools with.”
Mr Whiteman added: “We hope that today’s announcement will be followed shortly with further information about the tangible actions government will take to ensure every young child and family gets the support they need.”
At a regional school improvement conference in Sunderland today, Ms Phillipson said: “How can there be a fair race to success in our society when whole groups of children start so far behind?
“Nearly half of the disadvantage gap at age 16 is already there by age 5. It breaks my heart that, for these children, here in our country, a quarter of the way through the 21st century, background still means destiny. It’s a national scandal.”
Ms Phillipson also said that, as well as government and school leaders, “parents have responsibilities, too”; that they must “make sure their children arrive at school ready to learn, whether that’s their first day in Reception or last day in Year 11”.
A poll of primary school teachers in May found that most believe the government will miss its target of three in four children being ready for school in the coming years.
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