Alliance comments on new EYFS Profile statistics

Commenting on the EYFS Profile statistical breakdown by pupil characteristics, Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, said:

“The fact that there remains such a substantial gap between the proportion of children eligible for free schools meals achieving a 'good level of development' at the end of reception and the proportion of their peers achieving the same is a significant cause for concern. Although we of course recognise that children are individuals who naturally learn and develop at different rates, this persistent trend of poorer children generally achieving lower EYFS Profile results than their wealthier peers is simply not acceptable.

 

“Equally, these statistics should serve as a sharp reminder to government of the need to ensure that children with special educational needs receive the support they both need and deserve in their early years. Far too often, we hear of providers struggling to deliver the level of care and education that children with SEN need due to a lack of sufficient funding, and it is not right that many of these children continue to miss out on vital quality early years experiences as a result.

 

“If the government is genuinely committed to improving the life chances of all children, it must do more to close these gaps. This means adequate investment into the early years sector to ensure that every child, regardless of background, has access to the quality early years provision and support they need to succeed in the long term.”

 

ENDS

ABOUT THE ALLIANCE 

  • The Pre-school Learning Alliance is the largest and most representative early years membership organisation in England. A registered educational charity, it also provides high-quality affordable childcare and education to support children and families in areas of deprivation throughout the country. 
  • The Alliance represents 14,000 member settings and supports them to deliver care and learning to more than 800,000 families every year. We deliver family learning projects, offer information and advice, produce specialist publications, run acclaimed training and accreditation schemes and campaign to influence early years policy and practice. 
  • The Alliance website is   
  • The Alliance is running the Fair Future Funding campaign, which calls on the government to ensure that early years funding meets the rising cost of providing 'free entitlement' places. The campaign has 5000 supporters to date.