Brit kids are starting school unable to speak correctly, dress themselves or use toilets, head of Ofsted warns
Amanda Spielman will highlight the rising number of pre-school children who are not taught basic speech or hygiene in a speech today
KIDS are starting school unable to speak properly, dress or even use the toilet, the head of Ofsted will warn.
Amanda Spielman will highlight the rising number of pre-school children who are not taught basic speech or hygiene in a speech today.
She will issue a plea to day-care staff to step in and help such children by teaching them basic skills.
Mrs Spielman is due to say some young’uns are “unlucky in their family culture” because they don’t get told bedtime stories, nursery rhymes, or even the alphabet, reports.
She will reveal research which shows some four- and five-year-olds know only a third of the words they should.
Mrs Spielman wants all children arriving at the first year of school to be able to carry out simple tasks, like using a pencil, kicking a ball, and putting on their shoes.
The Ofsted chief also wants them to be able to understand the words “no” and “stop”.
She will tell members of the Pre-School Learning Alliance: “Some children are 'lucky'. And I'm talking here about family culture, not just money.
“They get lots of help outside school from parents and family. Nursery rhymes, ABCs and settling down for a bedtime story are part and parcel of their daily lives.
“But 'unlucky' children certainly need more of the structured learning to replace what they don't necessarily get at home.“
It is expected she will push for kids to be read “classics” by the likes of Hans Christian Andersen and Dr Seuss.
She will stress that she does not expect nursery staff to become 'substitute parents', but she believes nurseries and childminders must 'play their part' because many pre-schoolers spend much of their daytime in childcare.
She will also stress the importance of toilet training, citing recent stories of kids being sent to school in nappies.
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A survey of teachers published this week found that a fifth of them spend up to 30 minutes a week toilet-training children.
Mrs Spielman, is Cambridge graduate and mum of two, who spent much of her life as an accountant and investment adviser before becoming chairman of exams regulator Ofqual in 2011.
She became Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills in January 2017.
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