What is school readiness and how is it measured?

‘School readiness’ is a term used to describe how ready children are socially, physically and intellectually to start formal schooling.  Whilst an end in itself, school readiness should also be seen as a ‘way marker’ for future life chances.  It is an indicator for having had a good start in life i.e. growing up in a nurturing safe environment that enables children to survive and be physically healthy, mentally alert, emotionally secure, socially competent and able to learn.

School readiness is measured through assessment at the end of the early years foundation stage (EYFS) and known as the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) profile. This assessment is based on practitioners’ observations of a child’s daily activities taking account of the perspectives of the child, parent and other adults.  It is undertaken in the last term of a child’s Reception year.

Children are defined as having reached a good level of development if they achieve at least the expected level in the early learning goals in the prime areas of learning (personal, social & emotional development; physical development; and communication & language) and the early learning goals in the specific areas of mathematics and literacy.

Caveats - Data includes results for those children who were in receipt of a government funded early education place at the end of the EYFS only. Children who are not in receipt of a funded place at the end of the EYFS are not in the scope of the Department's EYFS Profile data collection and therefore not included in the results.

Recent trends

The data for Bury shows a steady increase in the percentage of children assessed as school ready each year from 51.5% in 2013 to 68.9% in 2016.  Bury data was generally in line with Statistical neighbours and the national average, with the exception being 2013/2014 when there was a 4 percentage difference. This can be attributed to the introduction of the new EYFS Profile the year prior and as a result a lack of confidence in assessing children against the new profile points.  In 2017 we have seen a very slight decrease in Bury against the national figures, by 2%. The reason for this decrease is currently unknown due to a lack of data reported at earlier assessment stages.  In 2018 Bury have closed the gap with the England average, we also now have the second highest level of GLD in Greater Manchester behind Trafford and exceed the average of our statistical neighbours.

Between 2012 and 2017 there was an excellent rate of improvement in the proportion of children eligible for free school meals from 32% to 60% and whilst still below the whole population average, the gap had reduced. The percentage of Bury children eligible for free school meals achieving good level of development (GLD) was above the national average.  However, in 2017/18 there has been a decline in GLD for those children eligible for free school meals in Bury, Greater Manchester and also with our statistical neighbours.  England overall has seen a 0.6% increase.

We are unable to explain and determine the nature of this rate of decline, again this is due to a lack of data reported at earlier assessment stages.

Nationally girls generally achieve a higher level of GLD than boys, in Bury that is also the case.   In 2018, for the first time, Bury boys are achieving a higher level of GLD than in GM, our statistical neighbours and Nationally.  Bury girls despite achieving a higher level of GLD than the boys are worse than our statistical neighbours and Nationally.  Bury boys have 2nd  highest level of GLD in GM.  Bury girls have the 4th highest level of GLD in GM.

Children from the BME community in Bury are on average less likely to be school-ready by the age of 5 compared with children from a White ethnic background. BME children in Bury again do less well compared with BME children across the GM region, and England. Contributing factors are likely to be worse socioeconomic status and worse health outcomes of the BME community in Bury as compared to the general population. There are very few interventions targeted at improving school readiness in BME children, one intervention which is currently being introduced in GM is the ESOL Stepping Stones project.

The GLD rate for GM’s ethnic minority children is 65%.  This is 5 percentage points below the national rate of 70%.  Very wide gap within GM, Bury towards the lower end at 63%.

Gap of 8% in Bury of GLD between white and ethnic minority children, among the highest across GM.  The England average is 2%

Story behind the curve

There is no one intervention that will improve school readiness and the improvements we have seen are likely to be the result of a combination of factors.  The factors listed are considered in more detail below:

First 1001 days
• Healthy pregnancy/perinatal infant mental health
• Monitoring developmental stages and delivering appropriate interventions through the Early Years Delivery Model (EYDM)
• Supporting parents and families

Early Years education
• Supporting  providers to become ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’
• Ensure sufficient uptake of early years education places by promoting the 2 year early learning funding and 30 hours funding for 3-4 year olds

Wider determinants
• Low income
• Adverse Childhood Events

The journey to school readiness begins with a healthy pregnancy/perinatal infant mental health.  There is now overwhelming evidence that the first 1001 days (conception to age 2) are critical in determining future school readiness and that if a baby’s development falls behind in the first years of life, the child is likely to fall further behind rather than catch up with those who had a better start.

Infant mortality, low birth weight babies, smoking in pregnancy and under 18 conception rates are all indicators of healthy pregnancies and potential predictors of future life chances.  Trends in all these indicators have been improving over the long term and will be contributory factors in improving school readiness.

Local implementation of the Greater Manchester Early Years delivery model (EYDM) has also contributed.  The model was introduced in 2012 and is underpinned by the principles of public service reform and concepts of early assessment and identification of need, intervening assertively and using interventions that have a proven evidence base. It is specifically designed to improve outcomes for children aged 0-5 and improve school readiness.  Local implementation has been progressing steadily.

The model includes a holistic assessment of women’s health, emotional and social needs in pregnancy; often called her booking appointment; before the end of her 12th completed week of pregnancy. Evidence shows that early, holistic assessment of a woman’s health, social and emotional needs can improve outcomes for both her and the child; late presentation to maternity services is associated with increased rates of neonatal unit admissions, perinatal morbidity, perinatal mortality and even maternal death.
As such maternity service providers target 90% of women receiving their first ‘booking’ appointment before 12 weeks plus 6 days. There are some concerns regarding late booking at maternity services for Bury women attending both Bolton Foundation Trust and Pennine Acute Trust.  This appears to be a Bury specific problem as Bolton and Salford women attending at Bolton are doing so within the target.
Bolton Foundation Trust continue to strive to target 90% of their first booking appointments before 12 weeks and 6 days .The Midwifery teams are continuing to look at ways of increasing this target with 4 out of the 5 teams, ensuring that 92-96% of their women attended at the target time in the month of July, of which the Bury team is one of them. 
Bolton teams are all now based at Bolton One which has an Antenatal/ Community Hub to provide a more accessible service to the women, encouraging them in their first contact with the midwife.
Further work is progressing, such as fortnightly reviews of the booking process with the Teams to capture and prevent any breeches of the booking process.
Other work includes targeting and encouraging hard to reach client groups who present as late bookers, and with the initiation of the early bird appointments for all bookers, this will help in the forthcoming months.
Implementation of the EYDM has been enabled by:
• An increase in health visitor numbers as a result of the Department of Health, Health Visitor implementation Plan 2011-2015,
• Introduction of the Family Nurse Partnership which provides intensive long term support to teenage parents,
• Children’s Centre’s provision of early interventions and training to improve parenting,
• Increasing collaboration across organisations. 

The limitations to further implementation are common across all areas of Greater Manchester and are linked to information management and technology (IM&T) challenges, Workforce transformation and financial resourcing. 

Bury’s Locality Plan includes a focus on transformation of provision to an integrated neighbourhood model incorporating universal services with holistic provision for those identified with higher needs. This is anticipated to have further positive impact on improving outcomes for children and their families.

Good quality early years education

The provision of good quality early years education is also a key ingredient in helping children to become school ready.  The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the national framework by which early years education is provided and quality assured.

In 2013 the EYFS model was revised and as a result temporarily impacted on delivery whilst training was undertaken.  Following the revision, workforce development was focussed on improving knowledge and skills with more emphasis on English Language Teaching (ELT) Level 6 status in nurseries and High Level Teaching Assistants (HLTA).  Nationally, around a third of staff in early year’s nursery and education settings lacks Maths and English GCSE’s.  Between 2013 and 2015 there was an increase in the number / percentage of ‘Good’ and ‘Outstanding’ Early Years Provider’s in the Borough. 

As at March 2018:

• 100% of Bury Childminders are either Good or Outstanding.
• 91% of Childcare on non-domestic premises (Nurseries, pre-school, afterschool provision etc.) are either Good or Outstanding
• Across all inspected Early Years providers, Bury are 6th in the North West, with 96% of providers achieving Good or Outstanding.  This is 2% above the National and the North West averages.

In 2014, phonics decoding, reading and mathematics were identified as key areas for improvement in Early Years education and Key Stage 1 in recognition of the poorer performance in Bury compared other areas across the county.  An action plan was developed and implemented.  20 schools participated in the Early Years Maths Project in 2016/17 and 33 schools participated in the Phonics Maths Project for at least 1 year between 2014 – 2017.  This has driven up performance in these areas with further improvements expected to bring Bury up to the national average in the next year.

At September 2017, 84.4% of eligible 2 year old children in Bury had taken up the Early Learning funding offer.  As at Spring Term 2018, 72.8% of eligible 2 year old children in Bury had taken up the Early Learning funding offer.  During Summer Term 2018, this reduced to 70.9%. Whilst there are general fluctuations from one term to the next, Summer Term is usually reported as having the highest take up for the year.  The drop in take up during Summer Term 2018 of 2.9% could be part due to the roll out of 30 hours free childcare for working parents, as this could have had an effect on the number of 2 year old funded places offered.  Some Bury families were piloted in Spring 2018 on universal credit which we know has also affected National take up.

In a recent article in C&YPN states that ‘low take-up of funded childcare for disadvantaged two-year-olds is due to a lack of places, with providers claiming it is “less financially lucrative” than looking after three and four-year-olds.  The NatCen Social Research report on funded early education entitlements found that in 2018 just 72% of eligible disadvantaged two-year-olds are taking up their 15 hours funded childcare entitlement’

In September 2016 the Government trialled increasing free childcare for 3-4 years old from 15-30 hours a week for working parents.  In September 2017 the funding was rolled out nationally and as of the end of the Autumn 2017/18 term, 75% of Bury families who applied for the funding had accessed a place. There are some concerns that the 30 hour offer may widen inequalities between children from working and non-working households.  As at Spring Term 2018, 75% of Bury families who applied for the 30 hours free childcare funding had accessed a place. During Summer Term 2018, this increased to 100%.

In a recent survey of childcare providers in Bury, 13% of providers said that the introduction of the 30 hours free childcare had a negative effect on the availability of 2 year old places. When we combine this qualitative data with the quantitative data above we can see that, with the take up of 30 hours increasing each term whilst 2 year old take up declines, there is a strong case to suggest there is a direct correlation between the two.

Wider determinants

Low household income and deprivation are key determinants of school readiness often manifested through poor language development. It has been demonstrated that children in more affluent families hear on average 30 million more words than lower income peers by age 3.  Poor early language skills are an early predictor of later problems as children develop.

The proportion of children in low income households in Bury doubled from 10.5% in 2004 to 20.7% in 2012 in the aftermath of the great recession.  Due to a surge in Bury’s economic growth (in line with the UKs) which commenced in 2013, the proportion of children under 16 years living in low income households then decreased to 11% by 2016.  Nationally there are signs that the proportion of families living in poverty are on the rise again.  It is believed that Universal Credit will have an impact on this due to capping of budgets and that there will be a period of transition where this will continue to rise.

Outcomes for Children Looked After (CLA) by the end of EYFS are understandably poorer than for their non-CLA peers; as they have had a difficult start to life and this often impacts developmentally and emotionally.

Provisional 2017 EYFS Profile outcomes for Bury CLA:

• On track in reading 53% 
• On track in writing 46% 
• On track in number 53% 
• On track in shape and space 53%

Bury don't specifically run any projects focusing on EYFS pupils in care but Reception aged pupils fall into the general support that the Children and Young People in Care (CYPiC) Education Team offer to all pupils. In addition, Bury Council plan enhanced transition support in the summer term as pupils on roll with the Virtual School (VS) move into Year 1.

All early years providers are required to have arrangements in place to identify and support children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) or disabilities and to promote equality of opportunity for children in their care. These requirements are set out in the EYFS framework. (Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice June 2014)

Where a child appears to be behind expected levels or where a child’s progress gives cause for concern practitioners should consider all the information in partnership with parents and seek advice from outside agencies such as Health Visitors, Speech and Language Therapists or from the Parenting Children and Families Team. Early action to address identified needs is critical to future progress and improved outcomes.

The Code of Practice outlines a graduated response with a focus on detailed assessment with particular emphasis on a child’s progress in communication and language, physical development and personal, social and emotional development. Identifying and assessing young children with English as an additional language (EAL) requires particular care. Where additional support is required interventions should be planned in consultation with parents and clear outcomes should be set. These outcomes should be regularly reviewed and further advice sought from external specialists such as Educational Psychologists if appropriate.

Adverse Childhood Events (ACE) also impact negatively on childhood development and school readiness.  The greater the exposure, the greater the impact.  Negative impacts continue into adulthood and lead to intergenerational cycles of poor outcomes.  There is currently no available data for Bury on the prevalence of ACE’s. 

There are a range of services in place to support children and families with higher needs and to ensure children are safeguarded, for example much work is being done to develop early intervention and Early Help Family Support Plans are in place to support children & their families where there are problems and a Domestic Violence and Abuse Practitioner has been employed since July 2016.

It is acknowledged that in Bury we need to improve the way in which we identify and provide effective support for families with higher needs and this will be taken forward through the locality plan transformation proposal.

Caveats - Data includes results for those children who were in receipt of a government funded early education place at the end of the EYFS only. Children who are not in receipt of a funded place at the end of the EYFS are not in the scope of the Department's EYFS Profile data collection and therefore not included in the results.  

• Public Health
• Maternity Services
• Health Visiting
• School Nurses
• Children’s Centre’s
• Early Years Provider’s
• Voluntary Sector e.g. Home Start
• Primary Schools
• Parent/families
• Children Social Care
• Primary Care
• Allied Health Professionals
• Paediatricians & Paediatric nurses

There is no one intervention that will improve school readiness and the improvements we have seen are likely to be the result of a combination of factors.  The factors listed are considered in more detail below:     

First 1001 days

•Healthy pregnancy

•Monitoring developmental stages and delivering appropriate interventions through the Early Years Delivery Model (EYDM)

•Supporting parents and families

Early years education

•Supporting  providers to become ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’

•Ensure sufficient uptake of early years education places by promoting the 2 year early learning funding and 30 hours funding for 3-4 year olds

Wider determinants

•Low income

•Adverse Childhood Events

Data gaps
•Antenatal notifications
•Ability to collate and analyse ASQ3 data
•Ability to track development  progress at individual and population level
•Referral data and outcomes at child and populaiton level
•Assess data against available confidence intervals to assess if statistically significant
•Collate & analyse all available Early Years EYFS data
•Data from all Early Years providers – need a robust and consistent data collection from all Early Years Provider’s prior to school entry.

Intelligence gaps
•Impact of peer and community cultural and social norms
•Prevalence and identification of people who have suffered ACE’s
•What is going on in Education over and above requirements

•Parenting Programmes (including attachment and parent-child communication)
•Provision of good quality person centred universal and blended targeted services (EYDM) including ACE awareness
•Developing strong communities
•Reducing income inequality

Actions
•Implement whole population approach to parenting
•Work to address IM&T issues with EYDM
•Workforce transformation in context of neighbourhood working
•Asset Based Community Development in context of neighbourhood working
•Consider how to support early years education providers with roll out of 30 hour offer & continual quality improvement
•Understand and address issues of late presentation to maternity services
•Adopt an ‘ACE’ aware approach to prevent and mitigate impact of ACE’s
•Support families moving onto universal credit
•Promote the living wage