We know that gaps in attainment between children from disadvantaged backgrounds and all other children begin to open up in the early years and get wider as children get older. Nationally children from disadvantaged backgrounds enter key stage 1 on average 4.6 months behind their peers.
The Wakefield Early Years Strategy is committed to closing the disadvantage gap over time.
There is an increasing body of research now to support practitioners when considering how best to support the development of learners from disadvantaged backgrounds. Many of the most effective approaches include a focus on the communication and language development of children and preparing for literacy.
Further guidance is available on the Education Endowment Website in the Early Years Toolkit:
Early Years Toolkit | EEF (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)
EYPP
The early years pupil premium (EYPP) gives providers of early years education extra funding to support disadvantaged children under 5 years.
The extra funding is there to support you to improve the quality of education for disadvantaged children and Ofsted inspections will report on whether providers spend their EYPP funding effectively.
EYPP can be up to as much as £387.60 per year for each qualifying child. Information on eligibility can be found at Get extra funding for your early years provider – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Providers should consider carefully how they use this funding and may wish to record their uses on an action plan so that the impact can be reviewed over time.
Extra training for staff can be one of the most effective ways to use this funding if it helps to:
- Develop communication strategies and the effective modelling of language within the setting
- Improve the quality of adult interactions with children to develop rich conversation and sustained shared thinking
- Improve enabling environments to support rich language development
- Train staff to deliver additional targeted support to identified children with proven language programmes