Narrowing the ‘attainment gap’ between disadvantaged children and their better-off peers has been a focus of successive governments for decades – but with little impact. A recent report from the Education Policy Institute found in recent years the gap has started to widen again in primary and even slightly in early years.
While coronavirus has disrupted the life of every child in the country, the most negative impact has been more strongly felt by poorer households, and by children already suffering, or at risk from, abuse or neglect.
Charity Buttle UK surveyed frontline workers at the point that lockdown restrictions were lifted and found 83 per cent had seen an increase in need for food banks, with knock-on effects on children’s mental health and the ability to concentrate and learn.
Respondents reported that the three adverse childhood experiences most impacted by Covid-19 were mental health problems (77 per cent); domestic abuse (67 per cent); and child neglect (40 per cent). ‘We were not seeing anything new, but there was a lot more of it,’ says Joseph Howes, chief executive of Buttle UK.
A Sutton Trust report published in July found that isolated young children were at risk of developing issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder, attachment problems or a sense of grief, which could have fundamental and long-term effects.
Some children have, however, benefited from having had more time at home, and from the removal of daily pressures. A small-scale study from researchers at the universities of Reading, Oxford and Southampton found that parents of two- to four-year-olds reported fewer difficulties paying attention or restlessness during lockdown, as well as improvement in the behaviour of boys.
Communication and language development is at the centre of the Government’s national ‘catch-up’ strategy for the youngest children. Reception classes (not PVI settings) are being funded to run the Nuffield Early Language Intervention, a 20-week programme delivered by teaching assistants.
While a focus on communication and language development is important, managers need to ensure a focus on the child’s personal, social and emotional development, says Professor Chris Pascal, director of the Centre for Research in Early Childhood and co-author of a Sutton Trust report on Covid-19 and social mobility.
‘The greatest damage will be to children’s emotional and mental health and well-being,’ she says. ‘Physical development is also important – some children have been very constrained in terms of outdoor play and the development of their gross motor skills.’
The Sutton Trust research found many parents felt their child’s progress in communication and language had not been negatively impacted by lockdown: 43 per cent said there had been no impact, and 37 per cent said there had actually been an improvement. But there was a marked difference when it came to social and emotional development and well-being, with 45 per cent of parents reporting a negative impact, and just 27 per cent no impact.
CASE STUDY
My First Friends Nursery, Brighton
The most common issue parents of children at community nursery My First Friends are dealing with during the pandemic is financial hardship. ‘Most of our places are fully funded, but we are finding parents can’t even afford extras such as lunch or additional hours,’ says deputy manager Demita Harman.
My First Friends has been part of the FareShare Go scheme since 2017, receiving surplus food from supermarkets. Previously this food was used in the setting, for snacks and breakfast club, and parents could also select any items they needed. During lockdown the nursery was able to access extra supplies in partnership with Waitrose and FareShare Sussex, allowing them to create food parcels to help families that needed support, adding hard-to-find items such as toilet paper and nappies.
Children in the setting have helped to put the parcels together. FareShare Sussex, funded by Comic Relief, will deliver eight to 16 tonnes of food over the year until January, but My First Friends is hoping to continue the scheme beyond that.
Financial hardship can impact mental health as well as children’s learning. The nursery takes in a high proportion of vulnerable children and funded two-year-olds. ‘We have seen a higher percentage of parents with increasing mental health issues, including stress, sleeplessness, financial and anxiety, especially about their children, as well as higher tensions between couples. We are working closely with health visitors and are updating them with any concerns,’ says Miss Harman. ‘Children pick up on these issues.’
The nursery has been communicating with parents through Zoom, emails, online learning journal Blossom and through chats at the nursery gate. Parents will come and talk about concerns even when their child is not attending that day, says Miss Harman.
My First Friends is supported by the local authority early years team, BHISS (Brighton Hove Inclusion Support Service), Seaside View Children’s Disability Service and Front Door for Families, which was formed from the merger of Brighton’s Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub, Early Help Hub and Family Information Service. If a child discloses something to a practitioner, such as witnessing domestic abuse, the nursery can contact the service, which is made up of referral officers who provide advice and guidance, social workers and police officers who assess concerns raised, specialist safeguarding children nurses who assess the risk and impact on the children’s development and well-being, education safeguarding officers, and family coaches who can offer parenting support.
CASE STUDY
Rosy Cheeks Nursery, Stoke-on-Trent
Practitioners cannot help improve children’s well-being if they themselves are struggling. In Stoke-on-Trent, PVI settings have been accessing training in mental health first-aid, funded by the local Opportunity Area, enabling practitioners to identify mental health issues, recognise warning signs of mental ill-health and provide key strategies to help parents to access support services in order to help with recovery or to manage debilitating symptoms.
Rose Dingle, owner and manager of Rosy Cheeks Nursery, says the training has proved invaluable in supporting both parents and practitioners through Covid, with a knock-on effect of supporting the well-being of children at the setting.
‘Staff have been furloughed, some are on reduced hours, some have had to cancel weddings – it takes its toll on their mental health,’ she says. The setting has introduced a scaling element to its supervision forms to try to identify how much of an impact mental health issues may be having on the staff member and their work, in order to put support in place.
‘An example of this would be looking into staff rotas during the Covid period to enable a staff member to care for their children outside of school times as their usual childcare method was unavailable due to shielding,’ says Ms Dingle. ‘From the outside, someone may be dealing with things well, but once you ask the scaling question you can begin to understand how important the issue may have become.’
The setting is also considering introducing a phone support line for staff, run by Bright Wellbeing and Counselling. ‘This would give staff access to a 24/7 phone contact who would be able to give advice on many subjects from financial to counselling,’ says Ms Dingle.
The mental health first-aid training increases practitioners’ confidence about having tricky conversations with parents. ‘Knowing that I am more prepared for any conversation and knowing that I can help – even if I don’t have an answer to give them straight away - [means] I have the experience to point them in a better direction. I think this has positively impacted our parent relationships and I can see this has also given the other staff the confidence to follow my lead,’ adds Ms Dingle.
‘We have signposted parents to financial support offered at a local Children’s Centre, and advised parents to pursue a doctor’s appointment even when they felt it was not necessary, to be told after their appointment that their GP has prescribed medication that has had a positive effect.
‘I have also been able to use the conversations to support families in social care meetings, when I feel that following our conversations, families have followed advice in a way that has had a positive impact – for example, joining a parent group.’
Families struggling with poor mental health may have a negative impact on children’s well-being and their speech and language development – such parents are less likely to be talking to children, and less likely to be going outside the home.
Rosy Cheeks has found that the number of children needing speech and language interventions has increased by 50 per cent. ‘I think it is Covid-related,’ says Ms Dingle. ‘A lot of families have not had that socialisation over the Covid period and it has had a massive impact on speech and language. Last year, we had eight on a support plan – this year it is 13.’
FURTHER INFORMATION
The Buttle Trust recently launched the COVID-19 Direct Emergency Response for Children and Young People Fund, which is open to practitioners, providing up to £2,000 for items and activities to help children to overcome crisis, improve well-being and increase their capacity to engage in education.
https://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/features/article/eyfs-best-practice-in-schools-on-the-bright-side
