Almost half of school pupils currently on free school meals will have started their formal education without the necessary skills to thrive, according to new research.
The new analysis by the Child of the North research group shows that 48.5% of children who receive free school meals will have started school without meeting ‘school ready’ criteria.
Meanwhile, 49.1% of children not school ready are later identified as having Special Educational Needs (SEN).
Children are deemed to be school ready if their performance is rated as age-appropriate in the domains of personal, social, and emotional development; communication and language; physical development; mathematics; and literacy.
The research lays bare the impact across a child’s young life of being ‘not ready’ to start school – which puts them at much higher risk of issues such as poor dental health and being out of work or education in years to come.
The analysis uses the latest data from the 2023/2024 academic year to look at the long-term impact of being deemed not school ready.
It shows that a child starting formal education when not ready is twice as likely to have dental decay whether or not they receive free school meals, 27 times more likely to have undiagnosed autism, eight times more likely to not reach Key Stage 1 expected levels,two and a half times more likely to become persistently absent and almost three times more likely to be out of employment, education or training at 16-17 years of age
Professor Shearer West, University of Leeds Vice-Chancellor and President, said:
“Tackling childhood inequalities benefits both young people and society as a whole. But we can only do this if we work together: the Child of the North campaign demonstrates the impact of research and innovation carried out with compassion, commitment and a collaborative spirit.
