New Care Inspectorate guidance has stressed the need for preschool staff to simplify language as they help young children get ready to read in primary school. The document (bit.ly/inspectorsreport) highlights the importance of creating quiet areas in nurseries, reading and singing to children from an early age and having staff who know how to ask open questions. Research shows that young people who attend a high-quality nursery have a head start in the early years of primary school. Children living in poverty can be up to 18 months behind in vocabulary skills by the age of 5.

New guidance to help schools drive up attainment has been published ahead of the launch of the Scottish version of England’s “pupil premium”. Under the new scheme - known as the pupil equity fund - headteachers will receive about £1,200 for each pupil from P1-S3 who is eligible for free meals. The guidance gives details of the most successful approaches and interventions when it comes to closing the attainment gap (bit.ly/equityinterventions).

Teachers have around two months to make their voices heard on draft national benchmarks, which are intended to “streamline” assessment guidance on literacy, English, numeracy and maths from the earliest stages of formal education. Education Scotland said the benchmarks would “ensure greater consistency in the collection of assessment data across the country”. The deadline for feedback is 31 March, with the finalised benchmarks due to be published in June. Comments can be submitted at bit.ly/EduBenchmarks

The youngest children in a class are more likely than their older peers to receive medication for ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), international research has found. The Australian study of children aged 6-15 (bit.ly/ADHDstudy) echoes findings in North America, which suggested that developmental immaturity was being mislabelled as a mental disorder and treated unnecessarily with stimulant medication.