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Balls Pledges Every Child to have Access to Best Quality Early Years Care and Education
Dated: 01/09/2008
Balls Pledges Every Child to have Access to Best Quality Early Years Care and Education
Leading childcare experts joined Ed Balls today in championing the introduction of the early years foundation stage and Ed Balls said it would provide ‘a level playing field so all children start school with an equal chance of doing well’.
From Monday all children in this country will have the right to the same high standards of early learning and care that the best childminders and nurseries already provide.
The EYFS, which becomes statutory today (1st September), will give every child - especially those from a disadvantaged background - an equal right to the best quality care and learning to prepare them for school.
It is part of a package of measures to target help at families most at risk of disadvantage to prevent their children falling behind at an early age. The package also includes:
- Extra cash to deliver 15 hours of free childcare and early learning for the 25 per cent most disadvantaged three and four year olds – a year before their peers receive the same entitlement
- £305 million allocated for early years graduate leader training, so we can have one graduate in every early learning setting and two in areas of particular disadvantage.
- Over the coming year a number of new programmes will also be rolling out in Sure Start Children’s Centres as part of our Child Poverty Strategy. These include: enhanced work focussed services delivered in partnership with Job Centre Plus; using new Child Development Grants to encourage disadvantaged parents to use services; and HM Revenue and Customs advisers working in centres to help parents to better understand and use the tax credits system, to meet childcare and other everyday costs.
From today (Monday) the EYFS applies to all formal childcare settings for children aged under 5 and is based on the principles that:
- All children need to play in order to have fun and in order to begin to understand the world around them
- Welfare and safety of children is paramount
- Parents should be kept up-to-date with what their children are doing and encouraged to get involved as much as possible Each child should be allocated a key member of staff and should be encouraged but allowed to develop at their own pace and in their own way.
The Government believes that the EYFS is crucial in addressing gaps in later school attainment:
- Gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged children kick in as early as 22 months, and accelerate in every subsequent year of their life so that – for example – a child from a poor home is half as likely to get five good GCSEs than his or her peers, and a child brought up in care is statistically more likely to end up in prison than university.
- By the age of seven, high achieving children will have an estimated vocabulary of over 7,000 words, but a child from a disadvantaged family may have only 3,000. They learn one new word a day, compared to three new words a day by the high achievers.
The Effective Provision of Pre School Education research shows us that good quality play-based early learning can enhance a child’s overall development and give a child a head start that lasts right through primary school. This research also shows us that an earlier start – under the age of three – is related to better intellectual development and that it is disadvantaged children in particular who benefit significantly from good quality pre-school experience. The same research shows us that, overall, disadvantaged children tend to attend pre-school for shorter periods of time than those from more advantaged groups (around 4-6 months less), which is why it is so important we target these children with our out reach programmes.
The EYFS includes 69 goals which most children will achieve by the age of 5 such as being able to count to ten, spell their own name, understand what is right and wrong and why, and dress and undress. However the EYFS does not involve children being tested and stresses that all children will reach these goals at different ages. Children will not be tested or deemed to have failed if they don’t reach them. Instead early years settings will complete profiles for each child so that primary schools have an accurate picture of the child’s development.
A recent survey for the Times Educational Supplement has shown that nine out of 10 teachers support the EYFS, believing it will lead to more of a focus on children leading their own learning, with the support of teachers.
Ed Balls will also start a new programme – Every Child A Talker – designed to make sure all early years settings are able to identify any problems with language development at the earliest possible stage, and to work with parents and other professionals to make sure they are addressed.
In a joint letter to the managers of the country’s 3,000 children’s centres, CLICK HERE Ed Balls and Beverley Hughes, Children's Minister, said:
“It is the disadvantaged children who have most to gain from the high quality care and education embodied in the Early Years Foundation Stage, which comes into effect today.
“The EYFS will help make sure that all young children have the chance to engage in stimulating play and hear and respond to rich and varied language. And children’s centre staff will be able to use it to engage mothers and fathers, to make sure these experiences are built on at home.
“We are investing most heavily, and centres can have the most impact, in areas of disadvantage where staff can reach out to those with the greatest needs, and increase their aspirations for their own children and for their own future.”
Ed Balls continued:
“The gap in opportunities between the most and least disadvantaged children opens up when children are just toddlers. Of course many will catch up later on. But if we are to increase social mobility and address the root causes of social inequality then it’s vital we tackle this early on.
“I am driven by a determination to make sure that the most disadvantaged children get the very best start in life. We want to give all children a level playing field and help all parents get the best care and support for their children.
“I believe that every child in this country is entitled to the benefits of learning through play as set out in the EYFS and that their parents are entitled to the reassurance that their children will be well supported and cared for by high quality childminders and nursery workers.
“As we saw from last week’s Ofsted report, the numbers of childcare settings that are outstanding have doubled and 97 per cent are satisfactory or better. It is heartening that childcare in this country is improving but we don’t believe that ‘satisfactory’ is good enough, and we want to drive up standards even further.
“All of these childcare providers, who are registered with and inspected by Ofsted, will now need to adhere to the new EYFS. The very best childminders, nurseries and children’s centres will already be implementing the best practice on which the EYFS is based, but we want to drive up standards and ensure everyone working with children do the best they can to help them learn and develop at their own pace.”
Alison Garnham, Joint Chief Executive of the Daycare Trust, said:
“The Early Years Foundation Stage could give parents a powerful tool to enable them to judge the quality of different childcare providers which has previously not been available.”
Liz Bayram, Chief Executive of NCMA, said:
“The launch of the EYFS marks a positive step forward as it will further ensure registered childminders are part of the wider childcare profession, working on a level playing field with their colleagues. NCMA supports the principle of achieving positive outcomes for all children in a consistent framework and registered childminders are ideally placed to deliver the EYFS within their childcare settings and provide children with the best possible start. EYFS is play focused and child-led just as childminding settings are.
"Given the diverse nature of the childminding community it is crucial that local authorities do not see today as marking the end of support for childminders when it comes to EYFS. We know from evidence that childminders who access training and development opportunities or are part of quality improvement childminding net works deliver improved outcomes and it is important that local authorities continue to invest in these schemes to ensure all practitioners have the skills and support to translate the EYFS into high quality outcomes for the children in their care."
Purnima Tanuku, Chief Executive of National Day Nurseries Association, said:
“Our day nursery member base has welcomed the principle of the EYFS, and is currently busy preparing for the implementation due to take place in September. Day nurseries have been positive about the flexible framework that brings together the existing frameworks of Birth to Three matters and the Foundation Stage and this has been evident throughout the consultation and training stages. Day nurseries are committed to high-quality early years care and education, and the framework of the EYFS will build on the fantastic work they already do across the country.”
Steve Alexander, Chief Executive of the Pre School Learning Alliance, said:
“The Pre-school Learning Alliance believes that the EYFS reflects good practice, promotes playbased learning and can potentially transform the life chances of every young child.
“The EYFS ensures that children’s development is monitored consistently by practitioners and involves parents at all stages. It encourages a creative approach to celebrating a child’s achievements and highlights areas where they may need additional support. Early identification of potential developmental challenges is key to preventing more serious difficulties at a later stage in their development. Sound observation and a clear understanding of children’s overall development are therefore essential skills for Early Years practitioners.
“The Alliance celebrates the arrival of the EYFS. Childcare practitioners in the Alliance ’s directly run nurseries and our members managing community pre-schools and nurseries throughout England are working hard with partners to make it a success – for all children.”
Anne Longfield, Chief Executive of 4 Children, said:
“The EYFS provides an extremely important framework for early years development, learning and care, based on support which recognises that all children are unique and respond well to learning through play. Building on much of the good practice already in place out there it has enormous potential to develop current early years approaches. The challenge now is to ensure that it makes a difference on the ground to help raise standards among all children and close the attainment gap between children from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers.”
The start of EYFS and the package of measures announced today builds on the Government’s record of transforming childcare:
- The creation of almost 3,000 Sure Start centres
- Twelve and a half hours of free early education for three and four year olds, that is taken up by 95 per cent of eligible children
- A doubling in the numbers of available childcare places since 1997
- The introduction of the childcare element of the working tax credit that pays up to £140 a week for one child and £240 a week for two or more
Ed Balls added:
“The EYFS is just part of our early years strategy, which is designed to give our children the best possible start in life. We also have almost 3,000 Sure Start Children’s Centres delivering a universal service for parents, children and their communities and today I’ve written to their managers to celebrate their commitment, thank them for their efforts and share our ambitions with them.
“They are leading the way, by bringing together and integrating early childhood services in every community, making it easier for all families to access the help they need – from health services, from JobCentre Plus and from other agencies.”
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