Nursery children 'lack communication skills'

Children are arriving for full-time primary school lessons weak in language, literacy and communication because teachers are spending too little time on the three Rs in the early years of their education, according to a report by inspectors published today.

The survey, by Ofsted, the education standards watchdog, is the most comprehensive ever of the new foundation stage for three to five-year-olds.

It says that in one out of every three nursery and reception class settings standards in communication, language and literacy are lower than expected.

The pupils - boys in particular - lack the confidence to speak or the ability to listen. "Children's low achievement in early reading, writing and calculation in some settings must be tackled so they are able to achieve the best possible outcomes to set them on the right path for their future education," said Miriam Rosen, Ofsted's director of education.

Girls achieved better than boys in all the learning activities assessed by teachers, the report said.

"In language for communication, boys are performing less well than girls," it added. "Boys do not speak with as much confidence or show an awareness of the listener. Boys are beginning to talk in imaginative situations but are not as able as girls to take this very far.

"On the whole, girls' progress was more rapid than that of boys. Boys often needed to be encouraged to persist with tasks - especially those they found difficult."

The report also said that standards varied between nursery and reception classes - with children often repeating work when they were transferred to reception.

"Some children arrived at their next setting without records and a few settings took insufficient account of the records they received," it added.

"Some nurseries reported to inspectors that the schools to which their children moved said they liked to 'start from scratch'."

It did, however, say that standards were higher than expected for personal, social and emotional development. It added that in terms of their understanding the world it was what had been expected of them.

Today's report coincides with a warning delivered by the Conservative Party leader David Cameron that evidence was emerging of a widening gap in performance between the poorest and average pupils.

He said that educational failure "helps breed the terrible stories we're becoming so familiar with - the teenage gangs, mixed up with drugs and guns, the murders and the muggings. Too often the dysfunction and the crime are brought into school, not left at the gates."

He said there was an urgent need to improve the teaching of reading and writing in primary schools - and an encouragement to use more streaming, where pupils are put in different ability classes.

Meanwhile, The Ridings School, dubbed the "school from hell" almost a decade ago when it had to close because some of its pupils were out of control, is now facing closure - for good.

The school in Halifax, Calderdale, has failed its Ofsted inspection again after a period in which standards had been seen to improve.

The Schools minister, Andrew Adonis, urged Calderdale Council to consider its "complete closure", adding: "The situation at the Ridings School is serious and unacceptable."

The Ofsted report said: "It is failing to give pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school."

Poor behaviour and high rates of absence and exclusion were all criticised.