Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson’s welcome announcement of the first 300 new school-based nurseries responds to a manifesto commitment and a pressing need – ensuring children get the best start in life. This deeply resonates with local leaders.
We continue to see persistent and substantial disparities in school readiness, with many children facing multiple disadvantages arising from various interlinked factors, including where they live.
This gap has long-term implications, both for our children and the places where they grow up. The fact that 80 per cent of children in Richmond upon Thames are considered ‘school ready’ versus 64 per cent in Middlesbrough (and only 54 per cent of boys) is intimately connected with differing economic prospects and levels of deprivation.
“Local government is innovating and stepping in where we see children being let down”
Tackling such stark inequalities will clearly take considerable investment, guided by place-led interventions to increase the support and opportunities available to children.
We have led the way on this agenda, with Labour councils spending 54 per cent more per head than Conservative councils on Sure Start children’s centres, and 19 per cent more on youth services.
Local government is innovating and stepping in where we see children being let down – for example, with my council’s supplementary speech and language therapy to get children school ready, Torfaen’s MASSH Hub, which has reduced the local population of looked-after children by 30 per cent, and South Tyneside’s Mockingbird model, which creates ‘constellations’ of foster homes supported by a hub.
Equally importantly, we have a duty to enrich the lives of our young people.
Telford & Wrekin’s ‘10 by 10’ or Islington’s ‘11 by 11’ programmes are examples of such life-enhancing programmes, and the musical opportunities offered by Milton Keynes’ MK Music Faculty are recognition of the value often-overlooked cultural education provides.
Early evidence shows that the new government wants to harness this dynamism and is ‘walking the walk’ with serious investment. It’s up to us to continue making the case with progressive action.