It highlights how high-quality early years settings play a crucial role in supporting successful development in young children, including their language, social, emotional, and physical skills, and behaviour, but warns that the ongoing closure of nurseries and unprecedented recruitment and retention challenges are putting the quality of provision for children at risk.
It highlights ‘the alarming rise’ in early years developmental delays since the pandemic, which it says has led to large numbers of children who are not ready for school.
Schools report children arriving at Reception in nappies, and recent surveys of schools and nurseries have shown high levels of concern around speech and language with significant numbers of children below age-related expectations at the end of the EYFS, it says.
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