Action call over children's life skills

Children’s charities say the worrying number of toddlers nationally who are falling behind will have grown during the pandemic, and urgent investment in the early years sector is needed to get them “school-ready”.

Nursery nurses and health visitors examine children aged between two and two-and-a-half years old to check their mental and physical development, as part of the Healthy Child Programme.

The figures show that, 83.2% of children in Sunderland met the expected standards for communication, problem solving, social interaction, using fine motor skills such as holding a pencil, and gross motor skills including kicking a ball in 2019-20.

That was lower than the North East average of 87.4% - the highest proportion nationally where 83.3% of children met expectations in all five areas.

Imran Hussain, director of policy at Action for Children said: “Sadly what is not reflected in these latest statistics is that the situation has become much worse over the last 12 months.

“The first few years are critical to children as they develop, yet over the last year our frontline staff have seen children off all ages regress in speech, behaviour, education and social skills.”

He says the Government must urgently invest in children’s centres and family hubs.

A Department for Education spokeswoman said: “We want every child to have the best start in life.

"We have kept nurseries and childminders open during lockdown to ensure the continuation of the care and education of our youngest children, and we continue to fund settings as usual.”