Setting the target for the number of children meeting their early learning goals to 75 per cent at the age of five is equivalent to an extra 40,000 to 45,000 children a year, the government said.
Delivering a major speech at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, Keir Starmer set key targets for education, the police, the NHS, the economy, housebuilding, and clean power.
He said the studios ‘were a beacon to the world of British creative brilliance’ so he’ was delighted to launch the plan for change there.
Setting out the six milestones he said, ‘We face an almighty challenge to hit these milestones by the end of this Parliament. Like I say, we’re starting from ground zero. Waiting lists over 7 million. Housing starts and permissions the lowest for a decade. One in 3 children not ready for school at the age of five, that’s kids in Reception not starting to read, they’re struggling to speak.’
Milestone: Ensure 75 per cent of children are ‘school-ready’
In more details of the milestones released online after the speech, the government said it would measure progress to ensure children are ‘school-ready’ by meeting a target of 75 per cent of five-year-olds reaching a good level of development in the Early Years Foundation Stage assessment by 2028.
‘This is an increase from 67.7 per cent currently, and would mean an extra 40,000 to 45,000 children a year hitting developmental goals,’ they said.
How will we the government achieve this milestone?
The government says its ‘first step for the opportunity mission is recruiting 6,500 extra teachers, focussing on subjects with shortages and areas with the biggest recruitment challenges. This will be critical to children’s success in school. But to access excellent teaching, and free teachers to teach the whole class, children must start school ready to learn.
‘Delivering our next steps in giving children the best start in life will require accessible, integrated baby and early childhood services to build the foundations for future success.’
The government says it will:
- Roll out government-funded childcare support to improve access, delivering the expansion to 30 funded hours and supporting 3,000 new and expanded school-based nurseries, increasing the availability of high-quality childcare places where they are needed most.
- Work in partnership with the sector, reforming training and support for the workforce to drive up standards. Only by listening to the expertise and experiences of those on the ground can we deliver this together.
‘We will work towards a stronger early years system, beginning with offering sustained professional development and working with providers to help spread evidence-based programmes as part of comprehensive plans to drive high-quality early education and care.
‘We will ensure that the Reception year sets children up for success in the rest of primary school, by rolling out schools’ access to evidence-based programmes that boost early literacy and numeracy skills.
- Strengthen and join up family services to improve support through pregnancy and early childhood.
‘This includes continuing to invest in and build up Family Hubs and Start for Life programmes to support early child health, parenting and home learning programmes, and strengthening health visiting services for all families, and improved early identification of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).’
The early years sector welcomed the focus on the sector, but reiterated calls for investment, highlighting how plans to hike national insurance contributions for nursery employers will affect their sustainability and impact on their ability to deliver on teh government's pledge.
Sector welcomes focus on early years but highlights need for investment
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, who represented the early years sector in a roundtable discussion with the prime minister about the plan earlier this week, said, it was ‘undoubtedly positive that the prime minister has identified early education as key to the government’s opportunity mission' and that it has ‘the potential to mark the start of a new approach to the early years' with ‘the needs of the child at its centre, and at long last recognises and values the important role that our sector plays in the lives of children and families.'
He added, 'What we need now are the practical changes – and investment – that will help ensure that the ambitions outlined today can become a reality.’
He added, 'Of course, if we are going to give all children, regardless of background, the best possible start in life – and support them to succeed not just at school, but beyond – we simply must be willing to invest what is needed to deliver consistent quality provision, and attract and retain the knowledgeable, experienced and passionate early educators that we know make such a difference to child's early learning experiences. As such, it remains critical that ministers ensure that our sector is adequately funded both now and in the future, particularly in light of the changes announced at the Budget and the financial pressure that they will undoubtedly place on providers.’
Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) said, ‘It’s good to see children’s outcomes are now a key part of government strategy, that politicians value their early education and better life chances.’
‘It’s positive to see the Best Start in Life is all about supporting children with their early learning and development, but we would say that early years professionals do so much more than get young children ready for school. Their first five years should be treated as the most important stage of their development, a stage in its own right, not just as a springboard for school.'
Referring to the increase to employers’ national insurance contributions in the Budget, she added, ‘In order for early years professionals to continue doing the amazing work they carry out each day, the Government really needs to step up to support the nursery sector to cope with the additional costs they are imposing on employers from April. This will seriously challenge providers’ sustainability at a time when they are gearing up for a huge expansion of funded hours in September 2025. This does not bode well for all children getting the best start in life.’
Jane Harris, chief executive of Speech and Language UK, said, ‘We’re glad the Government has recognised that far too many children are starting school without being ready. Speech and language challenges are one of the biggest causes of this and the approach inherited from the last government, is failing almost two million children who are struggling to talk and understand words. This must change.
‘If the Government are serious about tackling this, we need training for all early years staff as well as Government funding for nurseries and Family Hubs to deliver early language interventions, rather than just for Reception classes.’
The National Education Union said the target around school readiness was not helpful, highlighting the language about children being 'ready for school', which he said was 'hurtful' to children and families.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the school leaders' union, NAHT also welcomed the focus on early years.
'Early support and high-quality intervention is one of the nearest things we have to a silver bullet when it comes to education policy, he said. 'Cuts to support services over the previous decade have had a devastating effect and we hope the represents an important turning point so that every child is able to start school ready to learn and thrive.
'School leaders are seeing an increasing number of children arrive at school with speech and language delays. The prime minister is right that we should make that a priority and we are pleased the government has recognised it. To address this issue, we need to see investment in speech and language therapy so that every child that needs it gets the specialist support as early as possible.'
JRF, principal policy adviser Abby Jitendra, said the government needed to focus on ‘the drivers of hardship’. She added,‘It’s absolutely right for government to focus on the early years and school readiness, where families face the highest risk of poverty because the burden of care falls most heavily on them. The government’s priority should be to transform the life chances of disadvantaged families first, making sure childcare and early education are good quality and affordable for them. We also need to make sure that Universal Credit allows families to afford the essentials and scrap the two-child limit.’
Labour’s six ‘milestones’
1. Higher living standards in every region in the country, raise real household disposable income.
2. Building £1.5m new homes and planning reform.
3. Recruit 13,000 police officers and PCSOs. Safer streets, ‘more police on the beat’, tackling anti-social behaviour.
4. Ensure 75 per cent are ‘school-ready’ – The best start in life for every child with a record proportion of five-year-olds starting school ready to learn.
5. Clean power by 2030 – Decarbonise the electricity grid by 2030.
6. Waiting lists on NHS cut. Treat 92 per cent of patients within 18 weeks.
