Best Bear news release
Children’s Minister: Early Years Foundation Stage narrowing the gap and raising achievements for five year olds
14 October 2009
Children’s Minister, Dawn Primarolo today celebrated the first year successes of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) as new data shows the Framework is helping to drive up achievement in early years across the country. Over 23,000 more children are reaching a good level of development than prior to the introduction of the EYFS in September 2008.
As well as overall achievement reaching its highest level since records began, putting the Government only 1 percentage point away from the 2011 target, the achievement of the most deprived five year olds has also improved. The gap between the lowest achievers and their peers has also narrowed, to its smallest ever, from 38 per cent in 2006 to 34 per cent in 2009.
Dawn Primarolo said:
“I am delighted with today’s results which show the early successes of the Early Years Foundation Stage and our early years reforms. Following the introduction of the EYFS, overall achievement is the highest it has been since records began. This means more children are getting the best possible start in life and this really is cause for celebration.
“The Government is committed to raising standards for all children and these statistics show that the unprecedented investment in early years and our determination to make early years a modern public service of the highest quality is really paying dividends for the millions of young children across the country.
“I am proud of the thousands of professionals working in early years; their untiring efforts to implement the EYFS over the last twelve months have really paid off. I look forward to celebrating their successes and building on these across the country so that every child gets the best start in life.”
Sir Jim Rose said:
“These results, from this year's Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP), show clear and sustained improvements in major aspects of children’s language learning. They are testimony to the high quality of teaching that practitioners and teachers are now providing for children in the early years. This shows that it was necessary to give the EYFS a real chance to bed in. Settings and schools deserve full credit for what is being achieved in these respects. Their hard work will provide a firm foundation for children as they engage with revised Primary Curriculum and benefit from an entitlement to a broad and balanced education.”
The statistics are the first set since the introduction of the EYFS. The findings include:
- The overall achievement of five year olds has improved in every region;
- Over 100 local authorities narrowed the gap between the highest and lowest achieving five year olds;
- Overall achievement has improved by 3 percentage points nationally, only 1 percentage point away from the 2011 target and the highest rate of achievement since records began;
- Boys achievement improved in 11 out of 13 early learning goals and remained stable in the remaining two; and,
- Improvements across all areas of learning
Sue Ellis, National Director of Early Years, National Strategies said:
“These percentage increases represent thousands of children and each one of them is an individual good news story because we know that every additional point gained at five leads to better outcomes at seven. Even more pleasing is the fact that the achievement gap has narrowed because that means that the most vulnerable five-year-olds now have a better chance of doing well in primary school and beyond. The gains in communication, language and literacy are very encouraging as more children have grasped the basics in reading and writing. Many parents have noticed the difference that it has made to their children this year and have seen them go from knowing just a few letters at the beginning of the year to being able to read and write.
“These results for five-year-olds reflect the commitment of the early years sector to improving outcomes for every child. They represent a real accolade for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) which became a statutory requirement last September. The National Strategies has worked with the early years sector to build confidence in the EYFS and to make sure that more and more children benefit from the best possible start.” |