Children's Laureate calls for action over ‘indefensible' reading inequality
A report from Cottrell-Boyce and children's reading charity BookTrust has called for all children and families to have access to high-quality books that are 'representative of the contemporary UK'.
The report – which will be launched on Wednesday at Edith Kerrison Nursery School and Children's Centre in London – added that training for early years practitioners should include skills for storytelling to ensure staff feel confident in sharing stories and showing parents how to read with their children.
Cottrell-Boyce, known for the novels Framed and Millions, said: 'Britain is not an equal society. 4.3 million children are growing up in poverty.
'When I was named Waterstones Children's Laureate, I knew I wanted to use my position to campaign for these children, the ones that are being left behind.
'I started the Reading Rights campaign to highlight this indefensible inequality, but also to say that we can do something about it.
'We have an astonishingly powerful tool in our hands – shared reading.'
The report comes after Cottrell-Boyce led a summit in Liverpool in January which brought together experts from the political, education, literacy, early years, arts and health sectors to recommend action.
In the report's foreword, Cottrell-Boyce said: 'Children who have not been given the vast invisible privilege of being read to will all too soon be parents themselves and, without support, will pass on that disadvantage to their children.
'The task is urgent and vital, but it is also achievable and full of joy.'
He added: 'I'm asking for Government support on a local and national level to make sure this simple, vital experience is available to all.
'To help us remember who we really are – the storytelling species.'
Diana Gerald, chief executive of BookTrust, said: 'It is our huge privilege to be working with Frank Cottrell-Boyce on the Reading Rights campaign, and with the extraordinary cross-sector coalition that has been involved in this work so far.
'BookTrust has been working to get children and families reading for many decades, but we know that too many children are missing out on the immediate and lifelong benefits of early shared reading.
'That's why, for BookTrust, this report is the next step on our journey to make early shared reading and storytelling an everyday part of all children's lives.
'We want this report and campaign to unite us, inspire us and give focus to our shared commitment to improving children's lives.'
A Department for Education (DfE) spokeswoman said: 'This Government is committed to breaking the unfair link between a child's background and what they can go on to achieve, and have set a clear milestone through the Plan for Change to ensure tens of thousands more children start school ready to learn.
'Supporting every child to become a confident reader is crucial for their development, wellbeing and life chances, which is why we are extending early language support, delivering thousands of new places in school-based nurseries, and providing support for parents with home learning through the Family Hubs and Start for Life programmes.
'The Education Secretary has made clear that reading and writing are the cornerstones of learning, and we will continue to engage with experts across the sector as we build an early years system that gives every child the best start in life.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
a day ago
- The Independent
The downside of having summer-born children
Families seeking to delay their summer-born children's primary school entry face an "unfair postcode lottery" due to inconsistent council decisions across England. An analysis of Freedom of Information requests revealed that some councils refuse over half of parents' requests for deferred entry, while others approve all. Campaigners and parents are advocating for greater consistency, arguing that the current system causes stress and can disadvantage children not emotionally or physically ready for school. The Department for Education 's guidance states it should be "rare" for a request to be refused, as it is "rarely in a child's best interests" to miss a year of education.
North Wales Chronicle
2 days ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Parents of summer-born children face ‘unfair' postcode lottery in admissions
Parents who ask for a delayed start in Reception for a child born between April and August have varying success depending on where they live, an analysis has found. Figures – obtained by the PA news agency using freedom of information (FoI) requests – show some councils have turned down the majority of parents' requests to defer their children starting school. Meanwhile, many councils approved 100% of requests for delayed entry over a three-year period. Campaigners and parents are calling for greater consistency across England for families who do not want their child to start primary school almost a year younger than some of their classmates – as some families worry their child is not ready emotionally or physically. It comes amid concerns about a decline in school readiness among children starting Reception, with some arguing Covid-19 lockdowns have exacerbated developmental delays. Children in England usually start primary school in the September after they turn four, but parents of children born between April 1 and August 31 can request to delay entry to Reception by a year. A child does not reach 'compulsory school age' until the term following their fifth birthday. Department for Education (DfE) guidance, which was updated in 2023, says admissions authorities are expected to decide whether a summer-born child can be admitted out of their normal age group – to Reception rather than Year 1 – based on 'the child's best interests'. It should be 'rare' for a council to refuse a parent's request, and the Government believes it is 'rarely in a child's best interests' to miss a year of education by starting in Year 1 instead of Reception, it adds. Nearly three in five councils in England – 91 out of 153 – provided full data to PA on the total number of requests from parents of summer-born children to delay Reception over three years: from September 2022 to September 2023, September 2023 to September 2024, and September 2024 to September 2025. Of these, 86 councils provided a full breakdown of the requests which were refused over the three years. The figures show: – Lambeth Council in London refused more than two in three requests from parents to delay Reception entry from September 2024 to September this year. Seventeen requests were made for summer-born children and 12 were refused. A spokesman for the council said all decisions are 'carefully considered on a case-by-case basis, with the child's best interests at the centre of the process'. But he said evidence suggests remaining within their chronological age group 'generally supports better long-term outcomes'. – Lincolnshire County Council refused nearly two in three (64%) of requests from parents to delay the start of school in a year. They received 87 requests to delay Reception from 2023 to 2024, and 56 were refused. But in the following year, only 13 out of 89 requests for a delayed school start from 2024 to 2025 were declined. Matthew Clayton, head of education support at the council, said it had 'altered' the way it deals with requests for a delayed school start for summer-born children following a change in guidance from the DfE in 2023. He added: 'As a result, the likelihood of requests being granted for 2024/25 onwards have been more aligned to the national picture.' – Southampton City Council refused more than half of requests from parents to delay the start of school in a year. They received 23 requests to delay Reception from September 2022 to September 2023, and 13 were refused. Councillor Amanda Barnes-Andrews, cabinet member for children and learning at the council, said the DfE's process for education outside of the normal age group is followed which 'requires reviewing every request individually to consider the impact to the child'. – More than two in five (45%) of the councils which provided data on the number of refusals – 39 out of 86 – said they did not turn down any requests from parents of summer-born children to delay entry to Reception over the three years. This includes Leicestershire County Council, which neighbours Lincolnshire, where 139 applications were received during the period and none of them were refused. – Hertfordshire County Council – which automatically processes summer-born applications – received 766 requests over the three years, and West Sussex County Council recorded 293 requests over the same period and none of them were turned down. The figures are only based on requests to councils so the numbers could vary as they do not include all requests made directly to academies and voluntary-aided schools, which are their own admission authorities. Bianca Sumpter applied to Lambeth Council to request a delay in her son Rumo starting Reception in September 2024 as she did not feel he was ready for school as he had speech delay, separation anxiety and was still napping in the daytime, but the request was refused. Rumo was born on August 26 in 2020 – two weeks before his due date – with a kidney condition which led to two operations in the first year of his life, and Mrs Sumpter said Rumo did not have much 'socialisation' due to his illness and the Covid-19 pandemic. The 43-year-old from London told PA: 'You are making the decision because it's best for your child, and you just feel so helpless that they're just taking this decision out of your hands when they do not know your child. 'It has been really awful. It has been really stressful. 'I don't want Rumo to go through school thinking this is awful. I want him to enjoy education. I want him to come out of it feeling that he can achieve whatever he wants to achieve. 'But this thing is putting barriers in place to say 'well because you're born on this day, you are probably always going to be an underachiever'.' Mrs Sumpter said the family faced a year of uncertainty after their request was refused by the council and they decided to keep Rumo in nursery last September instead of enrolling him in Reception at a local authority school. In the summer term, Rumo was offered some settling in sessions in Reception at their preferred school and the teachers concluded he was not ready to enter Year 1 in September. The council has now finally agreed to let the school hold Rumo back so he starts in Reception next month. Mrs Sumpter added: 'There is this massive disparity between councils and boroughs. You're just in the lap of the gods in terms of what that specific council says.' Southwark Council, which neighbours Lambeth, told PA it approves all requests from parents who want their summer-born child to be admitted to Reception a year later in their community schools. The mother-of-three said: 'I could literally walk there [to Southwark] in seven minutes. It's ridiculous that we've had to fight. 'Surely we want the outcome to be that children are achieving better educationally, but also they're achieving better socially and emotionally. That's where we should be getting our children to. 'Not just saying 'well this is a cut-off day and there's no choice and your child has to be in school' because then we just have generations of children who are unhappy and uneducated because they feel emotionally out of control.' Pauline McDonagh Hull, spokeswoman for The Summer Born Campaign, told PA: 'Based on current legislation, what's happening with this postcode lottery is completely unfair. 'It's unfair because some parents have more knowledge about the law and their rights, and some parents have greater capacity to fight if a fight is needed. 'Some parents are lucky and they're in an area where it just happens naturally, or the school advises them about it so that they can have the choice. 'I just don't know how, year after year after year, the Government stands by and does nothing about it.' The campaign group has called on the DfE to update the School Admissions Code – which is statutory guidance which schools and local authorities in England must follow – to give parents of summer-born children a 'legal right' to enrol their children in Reception at the age of five. Ms McDonagh Hull added: 'The Government has not followed through on its promise to make sure that the School Admissions Code gives all summer-born children the automatic right to an uninterrupted full education, if or when their parents decide to enrol them in school at compulsory school age. 'Other parents might go the private route if they can afford it. Other parents will choose homeschooling. 'Other parents will just cave – their child either enters Reception class at age four, or they enter Year 1 at age five if there's a space available.' Tammy Campbell, visiting senior fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said the FoI results show accessing deferred entry for summer-born children is 'far from equitable'. She told PA: 'The 'right to request' policy is playing out inequitably according to both local area and family background factors. 'This is not effective in ensuring that the children most likely to benefit from deferred entry are accessing the option.' Dr Campbell said her research has shown it is potentially more 'advantaged' families who are most likely to have their summer-born children start Reception a year later. 'Children not registered for free school meals and those from families with English as a first language are more likely to defer,' she added. Margaret Mulholland, Send and inclusion specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, said: 'The Government guidance is pretty clear that it should be rare for admissions authorities to refuse a parent's request but in practice the rules don't appear to be applied consistently. 'Our view is that decisions should always be in the best interests of children – and that may be a matter of ensuring there is the right support in place rather than delaying the child's entry to school. 'However, whatever approach is taken it does need a clear set of expectations that support those interests to be consistently applied so that families know exactly what to expect and it isn't a postcode lottery.' A DfE spokeswoman said: 'High and rising standards are at the heart of this Government's mission to break down barriers to opportunity so every child can achieve and thrive. 'The Government's guidance is clear that it's rarely in a child's best interests to miss a year of their education, and so it should be rare for a deferral request to be refused. 'We recognise parents' experiences can still vary and continue to support individual admissions authorities with their decision making.'
Rhyl Journal
2 days ago
- Rhyl Journal
Parents of summer-born children face ‘unfair' postcode lottery in admissions
Parents who ask for a delayed start in Reception for a child born between April and August have varying success depending on where they live, an analysis has found. Figures – obtained by the PA news agency using freedom of information (FoI) requests – show some councils have turned down the majority of parents' requests to defer their children starting school. Meanwhile, many councils approved 100% of requests for delayed entry over a three-year period. Campaigners and parents are calling for greater consistency across England for families who do not want their child to start primary school almost a year younger than some of their classmates – as some families worry their child is not ready emotionally or physically. It comes amid concerns about a decline in school readiness among children starting Reception, with some arguing Covid-19 lockdowns have exacerbated developmental delays. Children in England usually start primary school in the September after they turn four, but parents of children born between April 1 and August 31 can request to delay entry to Reception by a year. A child does not reach 'compulsory school age' until the term following their fifth birthday. Department for Education (DfE) guidance, which was updated in 2023, says admissions authorities are expected to decide whether a summer-born child can be admitted out of their normal age group – to Reception rather than Year 1 – based on 'the child's best interests'. It should be 'rare' for a council to refuse a parent's request, and the Government believes it is 'rarely in a child's best interests' to miss a year of education by starting in Year 1 instead of Reception, it adds. Nearly three in five councils in England – 91 out of 153 – provided full data to PA on the total number of requests from parents of summer-born children to delay Reception over three years: from September 2022 to September 2023, September 2023 to September 2024, and September 2024 to September 2025. Of these, 86 councils provided a full breakdown of the requests which were refused over the three years. The figures show: – Lambeth Council in London refused more than two in three requests from parents to delay Reception entry from September 2024 to September this year. Seventeen requests were made for summer-born children and 12 were refused. A spokesman for the council said all decisions are 'carefully considered on a case-by-case basis, with the child's best interests at the centre of the process'. But he said evidence suggests remaining within their chronological age group 'generally supports better long-term outcomes'. – Lincolnshire County Council refused nearly two in three (64%) of requests from parents to delay the start of school in a year. They received 87 requests to delay Reception from 2023 to 2024, and 56 were refused. But in the following year, only 13 out of 89 requests for a delayed school start from 2024 to 2025 were declined. Matthew Clayton, head of education support at the council, said it had 'altered' the way it deals with requests for a delayed school start for summer-born children following a change in guidance from the DfE in 2023. He added: 'As a result, the likelihood of requests being granted for 2024/25 onwards have been more aligned to the national picture.' – Southampton City Council refused more than half of requests from parents to delay the start of school in a year. They received 23 requests to delay Reception from September 2022 to September 2023, and 13 were refused. Councillor Amanda Barnes-Andrews, cabinet member for children and learning at the council, said the DfE's process for education outside of the normal age group is followed which 'requires reviewing every request individually to consider the impact to the child'. – More than two in five (45%) of the councils which provided data on the number of refusals – 39 out of 86 – said they did not turn down any requests from parents of summer-born children to delay entry to Reception over the three years. This includes Leicestershire County Council, which neighbours Lincolnshire, where 139 applications were received during the period and none of them were refused. – Hertfordshire County Council – which automatically processes summer-born applications – received 766 requests over the three years, and West Sussex County Council recorded 293 requests over the same period and none of them were turned down. The figures are only based on requests to councils so the numbers could vary as they do not include all requests made directly to academies and voluntary-aided schools, which are their own admission authorities. Bianca Sumpter applied to Lambeth Council to request a delay in her son Rumo starting Reception in September 2024 as she did not feel he was ready for school as he had speech delay, separation anxiety and was still napping in the daytime, but the request was refused. Rumo was born on August 26 in 2020 – two weeks before his due date – with a kidney condition which led to two operations in the first year of his life, and Mrs Sumpter said Rumo did not have much 'socialisation' due to his illness and the Covid-19 pandemic. The 43-year-old from London told PA: 'You are making the decision because it's best for your child, and you just feel so helpless that they're just taking this decision out of your hands when they do not know your child. 'It has been really awful. It has been really stressful. 'I don't want Rumo to go through school thinking this is awful. I want him to enjoy education. I want him to come out of it feeling that he can achieve whatever he wants to achieve. 'But this thing is putting barriers in place to say 'well because you're born on this day, you are probably always going to be an underachiever'.' Mrs Sumpter said the family faced a year of uncertainty after their request was refused by the council and they decided to keep Rumo in nursery last September instead of enrolling him in Reception at a local authority school. In the summer term, Rumo was offered some settling in sessions in Reception at their preferred school and the teachers concluded he was not ready to enter Year 1 in September. The council has now finally agreed to let the school hold Rumo back so he starts in Reception next month. Mrs Sumpter added: 'There is this massive disparity between councils and boroughs. You're just in the lap of the gods in terms of what that specific council says.' Southwark Council, which neighbours Lambeth, told PA it approves all requests from parents who want their summer-born child to be admitted to Reception a year later in their community schools. The mother-of-three said: 'I could literally walk there [to Southwark] in seven minutes. It's ridiculous that we've had to fight. 'Surely we want the outcome to be that children are achieving better educationally, but also they're achieving better socially and emotionally. That's where we should be getting our children to. 'Not just saying 'well this is a cut-off day and there's no choice and your child has to be in school' because then we just have generations of children who are unhappy and uneducated because they feel emotionally out of control.' Pauline McDonagh Hull, spokeswoman for The Summer Born Campaign, told PA: 'Based on current legislation, what's happening with this postcode lottery is completely unfair. 'It's unfair because some parents have more knowledge about the law and their rights, and some parents have greater capacity to fight if a fight is needed. 'Some parents are lucky and they're in an area where it just happens naturally, or the school advises them about it so that they can have the choice. 'I just don't know how, year after year after year, the Government stands by and does nothing about it.' The campaign group has called on the DfE to update the School Admissions Code – which is statutory guidance which schools and local authorities in England must follow – to give parents of summer-born children a 'legal right' to enrol their children in Reception at the age of five. Ms McDonagh Hull added: 'The Government has not followed through on its promise to make sure that the School Admissions Code gives all summer-born children the automatic right to an uninterrupted full education, if or when their parents decide to enrol them in school at compulsory school age. 'Other parents might go the private route if they can afford it. Other parents will choose homeschooling. 'Other parents will just cave – their child either enters Reception class at age four, or they enter Year 1 at age five if there's a space available.' Tammy Campbell, visiting senior fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said the FoI results show accessing deferred entry for summer-born children is 'far from equitable'. She told PA: 'The 'right to request' policy is playing out inequitably according to both local area and family background factors. 'This is not effective in ensuring that the children most likely to benefit from deferred entry are accessing the option.' Dr Campbell said her research has shown it is potentially more 'advantaged' families who are most likely to have their summer-born children start Reception a year later. 'Children not registered for free school meals and those from families with English as a first language are more likely to defer,' she added. Margaret Mulholland, Send and inclusion specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, said: 'The Government guidance is pretty clear that it should be rare for admissions authorities to refuse a parent's request but in practice the rules don't appear to be applied consistently. 'Our view is that decisions should always be in the best interests of children – and that may be a matter of ensuring there is the right support in place rather than delaying the child's entry to school. 'However, whatever approach is taken it does need a clear set of expectations that support those interests to be consistently applied so that families know exactly what to expect and it isn't a postcode lottery.' A DfE spokeswoman said: 'High and rising standards are at the heart of this Government's mission to break down barriers to opportunity so every child can achieve and thrive. 'The Government's guidance is clear that it's rarely in a child's best interests to miss a year of their education, and so it should be rare for a deferral request to be refused. 'We recognise parents' experiences can still vary and continue to support individual admissions authorities with their decision making.'
