黑料情报站

Opinion29th May 2025

Is this the way to close the early years attainment gap?

Sarah Charlton

Boys eligible for free school meals aren鈥檛 reaching a good level of development as often as their peers, writes Sarah Charlton 鈥� but there are practices that can help.

Early Years黑料情报站 Start

This article was written by Sarah Charlton, Head of Teaching and Learning at 黑料情报站 Start, and was originally published in  on Thursday 22 May 2025.

Boys eligible for free school meals are much more likely than their peers to fall behind at school by age 5.

That鈥檚 according to the latest data, which shows that only  (FSM) are achieving a good level of development (GLD) by the end of Reception, compared with 60.1 per cent of girls on FSM, and .

As an experienced early years practitioner, I see how early this disparity between boys (especially summer-born boys) and girls begins, particularly in less privileged areas.

And it鈥檚 a trend that we know continues when pupils reach secondary school. It鈥檚 well-documented that .

Tackling the early years attainment gap

So, what can schools do to help close this attainment gap at the point where it first begins? At 黑料情报站, all our nurseries follow a daily five-point plan to help.

1. Story and rhyme 鈥榝ive a day鈥�: At 黑料情报站 Start, we offer at least five different story and rhyme times every day of the week. This is our equivalent of 鈥渇ive a day鈥� fruit and vegetables.

We know that  and songs is one of the most important elements of young children鈥檚 learning and development. The number of words you hear and the number of books you read or listen to has a real impact.

For that reason, we always start our mornings with a story, which is often the stimulus for the activities we鈥檒l offer children during the day. For example, we might read a story like The Gingerbread Man, and then the children would have the option to make a model of a gingerbread man out of Play-Doh, paint a picture of a gingerbread man or use puppets to retell the story.

2. Outdoor play is always available: In our nurseries all the children have the choice to play indoors or outside. To model how to make that choice, our practitioners might say on a cold winter鈥檚 day, 鈥淚鈥檝e had a long walk to nursery and I鈥檓 feeling cold. I鈥檓 going to choose to stay inside in the cosy reading area because I want to stay warm.鈥�

Or, we might say, 鈥淚t鈥檚 a lovely sunny day today and I鈥檝e got my sun cream on to protect my skin, so I鈥檓 going to go and play outside.鈥�

Our children are offered time outside throughout the day, because we think it鈥檚 important that every child experiences outdoor learning in all weathers, as much as possible.

If we notice that any children keep choosing to stay indoors, then we might encourage them by taking a highly motivating resource outside for them to play with.

3. 鈥楥hoose it, use it, put it away鈥�: We use this catchphrase because it鈥檚 memorable, both children and adults can easily repeat it, and it quickly feels familiar.

When we first introduce this concept, particularly to children who are new to nursery, we explicitly teach them how to decide where to play, how to choose toys and use them appropriately, and how to tidy up afterwards.

This gives children key skills – you鈥檝e got to look after your belongings, so you put them away when you鈥檙e done with them and before you move on. We find that the children hold themselves and their peers to account on this.

If a child goes to a different area without putting their toy away, we might say, 鈥淚 can see that you were playing with the dolls and the dolls鈥� clothes, and I can see that they are still on the floor. Remember that we choose it, we use it, and…鈥� and then the children often jump in and say, 鈥淲e put it away.鈥�

With the very youngest children, we model the language as we show them how to do it. You might do 鈥渉and-over-hand鈥� modelling, so you鈥檇 take their hand and help them to pick the item up and put it away.

4. 鈥楶lan, do and review鈥�: We break  down into three parts – plan, do and review. We help children to understand and follow this routine by explicitly modelling it to them.

We start what we call our 鈥渆xploration time鈥� by modelling how to plan for play. For example, if you had a picture prompt of a sunflower in your art area, you might say, 鈥淚鈥檓 going to paint a sunflower. I need a paintbrush and I need yellow paint.鈥� You鈥檙e talking out loud about the steps you need to go through to do the activity you鈥檝e chosen.

You would then model alternative plans within the provision to the children, so you鈥檇 say, 鈥淵ou could go into the construction area or you could choose to go to the writing area, and you could do x, y, z there.鈥�

At an appropriate time, you would pause for reflection. You might say, 鈥淎t the beginning of the afternoon I set out to paint a sunflower, but when I got there, I saw a picture of a dinosaur. I changed my mind and decided to do a dinosaur, instead.鈥� You would then invite the children to share their reflections.

In this way children learn that they don鈥檛 have to adhere to the initial plan. It鈥檚 about sticking to the 鈥減lan, do, review鈥� model, which is the start of teaching children early metacognition skills. This means that when things go wrong, they have the resilience to amend their plans.

The modelling differs depending on the age of the children you鈥檙e working with. For younger children it鈥檚 less talking and more visual aids and practical modelling. And for very little children, you would physically show them how to play.

5. 鈥楾ime to find out鈥� sessions: We structure our children鈥檚 time in nursery with a fair balance between play-based learning, typically led by a child and perhaps facilitated by an adult, and time where adults lead a session with children to explicitly share a story or to teach them something new.

We call these our 鈥渢ime to find out鈥� sessions. We start each session with a welcome song, so the children know what鈥檚 going to happen, and we use a visual timetable, with a picture of children sitting on the carpet, so they know what鈥檚 happening now and what鈥檚 next.

The younger children would have more time learning independently through play and build up the adult-led time as their attention increases, but this element is, crucially, always there, even with our youngest children.

Consistency is key

None of these practices are particularly complicated or unusual; they are rooted in what we know about quality instruction in the early years. The key is to introduce them early, make them universal and follow them really consistently. Our results show that doing this has a real impact.

By the end of Reception, more than 72 per cent of boys on FSM at 黑料情报站 schools achieve a good level of development (GLD) – over 20 percentage points higher than the national average.

And across our network of 39 schools, regardless of eligibility for FSM, 78 per cent of children achieved GLD compared with .

This is so important because reaching GLD in Reception sets the foundations for better outcomes in Year 6 and beyond.