More children doing better at the end of the EYFS

However, while figures for children in deprived areas demonstrate an improvement, there has been no narrowing of the gap between disadvantaged children and their peers, because overall all children have done better.

The Early Years Foundation Stage Profile statistics for 2013/14 show that 60 per cent of all five-year-olds achieved a good level of development, up from 52 per cent in 2012/13 figures.

In the most deprived areas, 56 per cent of children achieved a good level of development, up from 44 per cent on last year’s figures.

But there is still a gap of 12 percentage points between children in the poorest neighbourhoods and others, which is reflected at national level with wide variations in how well children do throughout England.

In 2014, at local authority level, the proportion achieving a good level of development ranges from 41 per cent in Leicester to 75 per cent in Lewisham.

In 110 local authorities the achievement gap between the two groups has narrowed and in the other 52 it has had widened.

Girls continue to do better than boys. There is a 16-point gap between girls and boys: sixty-nine per cent of girls achieved a good level of development, compared to 52 per cent of boys, but this is narrowing slightly in most areas of learning.

As in the previous year, children do best in physical development, while mathematics and literacy remain the areas of learning with the lowest proportion achieving at least the expected level.

In 2013/14, 66 per cent of children reached the expected level in literacy and 72 per cent in maths. This compares with 61 per cent for literacy and 66 per cent for maths in the previous figures.

Childcare and education minister Sam Gyimah said that ‘more must be done’ to make sure that children, especially the most disadvantaged, are ‘put on the right path’.

The minister highlighted that the Government had provided the new early years pupil premium and stronger qualifications, suggesting that it was up to the workforce to do the rest.

Mr Gyimah said, ‘Ensuring parents have access to affordable, flexible and high-quality early years provision is a key part of our plan for education.

‘We know the first few years of a child’s life can be make or break in terms of how well they go on to do at school and beyond. The statistics published today clearly show that some progress is being made but more must be done to ensure children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, are put on the right path.

‘Parents need to be confident that while their children are out of their care they’re not only safe, happy and having fun but at the same time developing important skills like playing confidently with their friends, speaking, and understanding words, letters and numbers.

‘The Government has provided new funding through the early years pupil premium and strengthened qualifications to raise standards. It’s now up to those who support our children to ensure they get the start in life they deserve - something parents and I both want to see.’

But early years organisations were angered by these comments, highlighting ongoing issues such as under-funding of places for three- and four-year-olds.

The National Day Nurseries Association said that at £300 the early years pupil premium was less than the rate for schools and said that the majority of nurseries were being paid less than the cost of providing nursery places for three-year-olds.

Chief executive Purnima Tanuku said, ‘We appreciate the Government has looked at ways to help support children from disadvantaged backgrounds and the Early Years Pupil Premium will be a step in the right direction when it comes in next year. But this again falls short at £300 per child per year, far less than the EYPP in schools. We would urge the Government to show its commitment to supporting nurseries working with disadvantaged children by leveling the playing field with schools and putting the EYPP on an equal footing.’

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, said he was ‘extremely disappointed that the minister has used these results, which show a marked improvement in outcomes across all areas of development, to direct unfair criticism at the early years sector.’

He agreed that more needed to be done for disadvantaged children, but said the Government needed to acknowledge its role in supporting these improvements, adding that the Early Years Pupil Premium would do little in practice without more funding.

‘Childcare professionals continue to do remarkable work in the face of inadequate funding and extremely limited practical support,’ he said.

‘We continue to endeavour to work with Government to build a sustainable, affordable and high-quality childcare system, but unless the government recognises that it is currently failing in its own responsibilities to ensure that the early years sector is adequately supported, it is difficult to see how this can be achieved.’

However, chief executive of the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years (PACEY), Liz Bayram, welcomed ‘the minister's recognition that early learning happens while children are having fun.

‘We also welcome his acknowledgment that helping young children to develop essential social and emotional skills such as talking, listening to and playing with others is as important as understanding letters and numbers. Childcare professionals share his goal that more needs to be done to close the attainment gap for disadvantaged children.

‘Local authorities have a key role to play in sharing good practice and providing support to settings that need to improve. More must be done to ensure more local authorities are prioritising early years and learning from their neighbouring authorities.’