Alliance comments on latest Early Years Foundation Stage Profile statistics
20th November 2014
Commenting on the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile attainment by pupil characteristics statistics, Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Alliance, said:
“While we welcome the fact that EYFS Profile results are improving across the board, it is greatly concerning to see that there are still significant attainment gaps between particular groups of children at the end of the EYFS.
“The fact that children receiving free school meals and those speaking English as an additional language continue to perform less well than their peers clearly underlines the need for targeted support and intervention in the early years. It is essential, therefore, that early years providers receive the support required - both practical and financial - to deliver the individual care that these children both need and deserve.
“It is also clear from these statistics that there is a need to provide greater support for children with special educational needs, and we hope that the new SEND Code of Practice will play a key role in better enabling providers to do so. However, again, without adequate support from government, providers will struggle to deliver the level of tailored care and education needed to adequately support these children.
“We are also concerned to see that the gap between summer-born children and their peers remains so high. Such a disparity not only highlights the need to ensure that these children are adequately supported in the early years, but also that any assessments that take place as such an early stage of learning accommodate for the significant age gaps between the children undertaking them. This is particularly important given government plans to introduce baseline assessments, which will take place at the beginning, rather than the end, of reception.”
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Notes for editors
The Early Years Foundation Stage Profile attainment by pupil characteristics, England 2014, show that:
- The proportion of children eligible for free school meals achieving a good level of development has increased from 36% in 2013 to 45% in 2014. However, this is still 19 percentage points less than the proportion of all other children achieving a good level of development (the same gap as last year).
- The proportion of children speaking English as an additional language achieving a good level of development has increased from 44% in 2013 to 53% in 2014. However, this is 10 percentage points less than the proportion of children who speak English as a first language achieving a good level of development (compared to a gap of 11 percentage points last year).
- The proportion of children with special educational needs achieving a good level of development has increased from 14% in 2013 to 19% in 2014. However, this is now 47 percentage points less than the proportion of all other children achieving a good level of development (compared to a gap of 42 percentage points last year).
- The proportion of summer-born children achieving a good level of development has increased from 40% in 2013 to 49% in 2014. However, this is 22 percentage points less than the proportion of autumn-born children achieving a good level of development (compared to a gap of 23 percentage points last year).
ABOUT THE ALLIANCE
- The Pre-school Learning Alliance is the largest voluntary sector provider of quality affordable childcare and education in England.
- Through direct provision and its membership of 14,000 nurseries, sessional pre-schools and parent and toddler groups, the Alliance supports over 800,000 children and their families in England. The Alliance also develops and runs family learning programmes, offers information and advice, runs acclaimed training and accreditation programmes and campaigns to influence early years policy and practice.
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