Less than half of boys from deprived backgrounds ready for school aged five

13 comments

1. Let’s just hope the Women’s and Equalities Minister treats this as seriously as she should

2. I’d rather my taxes went to adding contraceptives to the drinking water than sustaining this vicious circle.

3. An old friend of mine moans about school but whenever her 6 year old asks not to go, she just says “sure“ because she genuinely believes it’s developmentally damaging to say “no” to a child.

4. It feels like nowadays, the type of people who should be having children are smart enough to realise they can’t afford to have children.

5. It turns out that the systematic destruction of the social safety net is going to do long lasting damage to our society. Who’d have thought?! 🤔

6. Starmer has said he wants at least 75% of children ready for education by this age. (https://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/news/pm-sets-target-of-75-per-cent-of-reception-children-school-ready-in-plan-for-change/)

   He mentions that figure is at 67% and needs to brought up. The thing on that is that 75% of girls are ready by that age. But only 60% of boys are.

   Source: https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CSJ-The_Lost_Boys.pdf

   Why are we not treating it like the serious issue and gendered issue it is?

7. I remember when i was 5yo thinking how pathetic it was being surrounded by illiterate children who needed their parents to read to them and for teachers to teach them how to write. Had some strong feelings for a 5yo

8. Why not just wait a year? There’s several countries that don’t really start until the kids are a little bit older.

   Just let kids develop when they are ready. Why have all the kids in the same class just because they were born in the same year?

9. Mandatory parenting lessons to go along with the scans, nct and doctors appointments?

   I have to say 100 years ago and 50 years ago we had problems of severe neglect and abuse. So, although this is terrible and easily avoidable with minimal effort, we are also moving forwards in terms of starvation, having enough clothes and warm safe houses.

10. Can confirm, I was never ready for school, never finished.

    Also why does she look photoshopped in? Lol

11. If this country wants things to start improving for the poorest in society, give the government an ultimatum.

    Stop having children. Once they realise people are en masse avoiding parenthood because of the cost, suddenly people will find themselves with access to a lot more financial support.

12. Proper nutrition, access to books (remember, library funding has been hit hard because of the Tories), access to other cultural opportunities, playing with other kids their age etc. There are so many factors that affect good childhood development that parents are being priced out of. For all the talk of feckless parents, who obviously exist, there are many poorer parents doing their but falling behind because of rising costs.

    We need to bring back Sure Start centres and all kids should be entitled to free school meals. The latter is often unpopular, amongst both sides, however it is a great equaliser and it might mean that parents from well-off families push for a higher standard of free school meals across the board too.

13. And shit parents breed more shit parents.

    We’re in trouble now but it’s going to be worse in twenty years

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