Early Years

Officials said there had been “no improvement” in results for seven-year-olds in recent years, despite the introduction of flagship reforms to give all infants access to weekly nursery sessions. It was claimed that up to a fifth of parents in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Developmental dyslexia, dyslexia that is not caused by brain trauma, is typically diagnosed at around seven to eight-years-old, however a team from the Children’s Hospital Boston in the United States found they could see signs of the condition on brain … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Thousands of primary schools have already signed up to spend more than £7.7 million on new phonics products and training to drive up their pupils’ standards of reading, new Department for Education figures show today. So far 3,211 schools have … Continue reading → Continue reading →

At a time when the government has been accused of forcing the closure of Sure Start children’s centres, it may come as a surprise that it is, for the first time, offering to fund Early Years Professional Status (EYPS) training for those … Continue reading → Continue reading →

More free places in nursery or childcare are being made available to two-year-olds in England, under plans set out by Chancellor George Osborne. Mr Osborne says there will be 260,000 places for children from the most deprived homes – up … Continue reading → Continue reading →

More than 250,000 toddlers are to be given free nursery or childcare places in an attempt to help parents get back to work, the chancellor has announced. George Osborne outlined a scheme to provide 15 hours a week of free … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Mothers in deprived areas are put off from playgroups by fears about cliques of other mothers – or because they think they are not from the “right social class”, research suggests. Sean Coughlan reports for the BBC. A study from … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Providing the best grounding in mathematics at primary school is of fundamental importance to children’s future success in education, life and at work in today’s mathematical world, according to an Ofsted report launched today. Good practice in primary mathematics: evidence … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Children born in the summer in England are at an academic disadvantage throughout school, says a report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The study says that among seven-year-olds, August-born children are more than three times as likely to be … Continue reading → Continue reading →

In the immediate wake of the riots, much was made of a particularly telling detail of the huge disturbance that took place in London’s Clapham Junction. Nearly all of the shops on that stretch of road were attacked. Many were … Continue reading → Continue reading →