Fewer early years pupils have reached expected development standards because of the pandemic’s disruption to their education, a new report has found.
The study of reception year children aged four to five was focused on a cohort who were all aged three or four during the first lockdown from March 2020, while in the second and third lockdowns they were in their reception year.
It found that parents and schools felt that children had been disadvantaged in their social and emotional wellbeing, language and numeracy skills when entering reception classes in 2020 because of their experiences in the pandemic.
Four and five year olds were less likely to meet expected levels of development in 2021 than before the pandemic, and the proportion of children in the sample reaching expected levels in all areas was 59% in 2021 compared with 72% for the 2019 cohort.
