Kids arriving at school still wearing nappies, says former children’s commissioner

Anne Longfield said she has heard 'many concerning experiences' from school staff about children arriving to start school still 'wearing nappies' as well as being in 'buggies' and 'unable to communicate at the expected level'

Kids have been arriving at school still wearing nappies, the former children’s commissioner for England says.

Too many children are “held back” due to not getting the help needed to be ready for school, Anne Longfield warns. A report by her Centre for Young Lives think tank, in collaboration with the Child of the North initiative, says pre-school provision is in “crisis”.

And it says inequalities have likely been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. About a third of children were not considered “school ready” in 2022-3, the report says. It urges the government to put in place positive parenting programmes and home visits by professionals to boost family support.

Ms Longfield, executive chair of the Centre for Young Lives, said: "I have heard many concerning experiences from school staff about children arriving at Reception wearing nappies, still using buggies, and unable to communicate at the expected level or to socialise with other children. Some of these children have developmental problems, struggle with speech and behaviour, and can require significant extra attention and support from already overstretched schools."

The language gap between kids from more and less advantaged communities has been “widened” by the pandemic, the report says. It warns the gap “is likely to hinder an entire generation of our youngest members of society”. Surveys of schools and nurseries indicate, the report says, “high levels of concern around speech and language with significant numbers of children below age-related expectations at the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage”.

The report, looking at Early Years Foundation Stage data on five-year-olds' development in England, highlighted 72% of pupils not eligible for free school meals [FSM} were deemed "school ready" in 2022-23, compared to only 52% of FSM-eligible kids. And it pointed out the postcode lottery of school readiness – with just 59% of kids in Manchester "school ready" in comparison to 84% in London.

The report says: “These inequalities are likely to have been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with a recent report showing a 13-percentage point difference between the proportion of children being school ready before and after the pandemic.” The report calls for action “to prevent a downward spiral from poor spoken language through poor literacy and numeracy to longer-term effects on adult employability and the costs to society of intergenerational disadvantage”. Recommendations include investment in early childhood education programmes, as well as connecting "systems more effectively through shared information to provide more integrated support throughout a child’s educational journey".

It comes as last week Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said early years was her "first priority". She announced extra childcare places in school-based nurseries will be available from next year to help deliver the expansion of government-funded childcare.

Ms Longfield added: "The Government's commitment to 300 new state nurseries is an opportunity for schools and communities in disadvantaged areas to tackle these problems head on by establishing new early years support to boost children's development and tackle poverty by providing childcare support to help parents work. None of these problems will fix themselves. Our preschool system is disjointed, is struggling with a recruitment and retention crisis, and has been historically underfunded."

Judy Clegg, professor of speech and language therapy at the University of Sheffield, said: "Urgent action is required to provide support, so every child can listen, talk, and engage with others-skills essential for thriving in the classroom, learning to read, making friends, and succeeding in school.”

A government source said: "This is yet another example of the trail of devastation the Conservatives left across education. This report will make tough reading for the Tories, who should be doing some soul searching. Instead, they spent their conference bashing maternity pay and defending Liz Truss ' disastrous mini-budget. This Labour government is focused on fixing the foundations and rebuilding Britain, beginning the work of rolling out school-based nurseries, implementing early speech and language interventions, and driving forward the child poverty taskforce."