Government announce drive to create 1,800 nursery places in disadvantaged areas

Up to 1,800 nursery places will be created as part of a Government drive to improve childhood literacy and communication in early years.

The school-based places will be created in disadvantaged areas, backed by a £22 million investment.

Families will also receive tips on how to use everyday opportunities, such as shopping and playtime, in an effort to improve the literacy and language skills of children before they start school.

Education Secretary Damian Hinds launches the Hungry Little Minds campaign on Wednesday, aimed at giving parents video tips, advice and suggested games to help with early learning.

The percentage of children reaching a good level of development by the end of Reception has increased from 51.7% to 71.5% since 2013.

However, more than one in four children still leave the class without the key communication skills they need to thrive.

The Hungry Little Minds campaign is aimed at encouraging parents to kickstart their children’s learning at home.

Mr Hinds said: “Every parent wants to give their child the best start in life but not everyone has family support at hand and there is no manual telling us how to do everything right.

“Part of making sure our children have the opportunity to take advantage of all the joys of childhood and growing up is supporting them to develop the language and communication skills they need to express themselves.

“Sadly, too many children are starting school without these – and all too often, if there’s a gap at the very start of school, it tends to persist, and grow.

“The only way we are going to solve this is through a relentless focus on improving early communication.”

Other projects will be supported through the Government’s coalition of businesses and organisations.

This includes Arriva, in partnership with Penguin Random House, running a series of book giveaways at stations.

HarperCollins is working with 12 bookshops across the UK through individual grants of up to £2,000 that will support events for parents and children under five.

Pearson will be providing free early years vocabulary intervention kits to 500 nurseries in areas of high deprivation, developed with speech therapy experts using LEGO Education Storytales resources and designed to close the speech and language gap among children aged three and four.

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