Children who were living near Sure Start centres in the first five years of their lives performed better in their GCSEs than those who were not, according to a report whose author warns that the current government’s family hubs are unlikely to have the same impact.
The research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) concludes that access to Sure Start centres - set up to provide support to families with children under the age of 5 in England - “significantly improved the educational achievement of children, with benefits lasting at least until GCSEs”.
Impacts were “much larger” for children from the poorest backgrounds and those from non-white backgrounds, according to the IFS report, published today.
Children living near a centre in their early years and eligible for free school meals (FSM) had better performance at GCSE by three grades compared with those eligible for FSM who were not living near a centre - equivalent to the difference between getting two Cs and three Ds and getting five Cs, the research shows.
The impact of Sure Start centres
While analysis of the effects of Sure Start has been carried out previously, this latest research is said to be the first evidence of how the programme affected children’s educational outcomes up to the age of 16.
The report states: “Children who lived within a short distance (2.5 kilometres) of a Sure Start centre for their first five years performed 0.8 grades better in their GCSEs.
“By the time they took their GCSEs, effects were six times higher for those eligible for free school meals than for those not eligible for them.”
The research, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, used data from the Department for Education and the National Pupil Database, looking at the academic outcomes of 6 million children.
The IFS describes Sure Start, which was introduced in 1999, as “the first large government initiative to provide holistic support to families with children under the age of 5 in England”.
The shift from a Labour government to a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government in 2010 “brought a change of focus in early years policy - moving away from Sure Start and towards increasingly expanding funding for subsidised childcare to support parental employment”, the report says
The IFS says funding for Sure Start fell by more than two-thirds and more than 1,340 centres closed between 2010 and 2022.
The report adds that it is “critical” that the family hubs programme and the Start for Life scheme introduced by the current government “draw on lessons from Sure Start”.
The DfE has previously described the family hubs - at centres in 75 local authorities in England - as a “one-stop shop”, with trained staff on hand to give advice and offer programmes for improving children’s development at home.
But the report says that, in contrast to Sure Start, the family hubs have a wider remit rather than just a focus on children up to age 5,, a less clearly defined set of services and “much less funding: just over £100 million per year, compared with £300 million per year in the first year of Sure Start”.
The research also concludes that access to a nearby Sure Start centre at an early age increased the likelihood of children being recorded as having special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) at age 5, “but significantly decreased” the proportion of children recorded as having SEND by the ages of 11 and 16.
The probability of having an education, health and care plan (EHCP) by the age of 16 decreased by 9 per cent, which the IFS said was equivalent to more than 1,000 children a year.
The report says it is likely that Sure Start increased the reporting of special educational needs for some children while reducing the actual need for support for others.
The Department for Education has been contacted for comment.
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