Disadvantage

Data shows that disadvantaged children in West Sussex have not been achieving as well as their peers at any stage in their education. This, coupled with the effects of up to six months outside of formal education due to Covid 19, means it will be more important than ever that we implement robust strategies to enable our disadvantaged children to flourish.

We must have high ambitions for all, remove barriers to learning and reduce the stigma associated with being classed as disadvantaged.

The Turning the Tide document sets out a range of support that is available from West Sussex to schools during 2020-21. The document includes a series of questions that can be used by school leaders and governors in order to self-evaluate and monitor the provision and outcomes for disadvantaged children.

It is also imperative that the catch-up funding provided by the Government and the tutoring programme are utilised as effectively as possible to address the disadvantaged children’s attainment gap across all years. This is even more pertinent in early years foundation stage when supporting children to achieving the ‘good level of development’ (GLD) at the end of reception year. Achieving this GLD performance measure means our disadvantaged children will have a far greater chance of keeping up with their peers at every stage of their education.

To support schools with considering disadvantaged children in the early years foundation stage, the school effectiveness team has collated guidance of effective interventions and produced some self-reflection questions to support effective planning and provision for children in early years.

For further information, please see:

Early Years Language Development by the Nuffield Institute (NELI)

Education Endowment Fund School Planning Guide

Last updated 11 August 2021