Start school early for poor children, says Wilshaw

In a speech in London, Wilshaw referred to research that suggested that poorer children tend to worse at school than their more advantaged peers. Currently, there are approximately 260,000 disadvantaged two year olds who are entitled to 15 hours of free early education a week, but is only used by 58 per cent of those eligible.

He said: "Let me be clear: What the poorest children need is to be taught and well taught from the age of two. Children who are at risk of falling behind need particular help. And it remains my view that schools are often best placed to deliver this."

Wilshaw has said that while a small number of primary schools offer this form of education, more need to be involved as they are best placed, as they will have wider access to the kind of specialists that young children may need, such as speech and language therapists, behaviour management and parenting support.

In 2013, ministers launched a scheme to offer free early education to the most disadvantaged two-year-olds in England as part of attempts to help them catch up. However, the scheme opened with a shortage of places and some 38,000 eligible children did not take up a placement. In 2014, the scheme was expanded to cover some 260,000 children, and local authorities struggled to ensure providers could offer enough places in the right areas.

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