Sir Keir Starmer’s plan to identify early years education and development as one of six milestones to accelerate the Opportunity Mission is a welcome move.

The very start of life is a vital time for children but at present too much teaching and learning time is lost in the classroom because children struggle to cope owing to developmental delays.

As such, tackling this so more children are school-ready means they will have a better chance of success throughout their time in education.

Big changes needed

However, a lot needs to change to reach the goal of a record proportion of children hitting their early years development goals. 

Almost five years on from the beginning of the Covid pandemic, lockdowns and the closure of schools to most children, I am still hearing about the long-term impact that 18-month period has had on schools and children.

Primary teachers and staff describe the pressures caused by the high numbers of children starting school with developmental problems, including not being toilet trained or arriving at school in toddler buggies.

There are also communication and socialisation problems that are making it even tougher to get young children to concentrate or to play and interact with other children.

Long-term impact

Left unresolved, these problems will not go away. School leaders talk about the ongoing challenges around school attendance and worsening classroom behaviour, the high numbers of pupils with mental health problems, and the impact of poverty and deprivation on children and families.

We know that youngsters who fall behind in language and maths at an early age are twice as likely to leave education without English and maths GCSEs. Children who are not school-ready are around three times more likely to be not in education, employment or training by the ages of 16-17.

However, as the secretary of state has pointed out, this is also putting a huge strain on school time, resources and teachers themselves. Some primary teachers are devoting hours to coping with a lack of school readiness that should be spent on teaching.

The big question now is how the government achieves its goal. This isn’t a problem schools can ever solve on their own. They need to be supported with a boost to early help programmes and much better family support, particularly in the most disadvantaged areas.

Expanding scope to oversee early years

Given this, the Department for Education will need to widen its scope beyond schools and be closely involved in rebuilding early intervention support.

The reason the last Labour government introduced Sure Start was because it recognised that there were millions of children growing up in families who were struggling and who needed some extra help. These were often children who were most likely to go into education behind where they should be.

Rebuilding that kind of trusted, welcoming, family support and early intervention is crucial to boosting the number of children who are school-ready.

The government says it knows where it wants to go. The prime minister and secretary of state now need to be ruthless in corralling the machinery of government to reach their destination.

Anne Longfield OBE is chair of the Centre for Young Lives and a former children’s commissioner for England

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