Schools turn down pupils 'unprepared' for reception because of coronavirus lockdown

Schools are refusing to admit new reception pupils as they say that the coronavirus lockdown means they are not ready to join.

Head teachers are advising parents to keep their children in nursery for an extra year to ensure that they are sufficiently prepared to start school in September 2021.

Neil Leitch, the chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, which represents 14,000 nurseries and childminders, said he was aware of some schools that have taken this position.

"Children will have had a significant chunk of their development curtailed because of coronavirus," he said.

"They have missed out on their final period in early years settings during lockdown.

"Some schools will argue that they are not adequately prepared to take children at an earlier stage of development.

"They say they would rather the children stay on longer at nursery, catch up, and then take them into reception next September."

Nurseries were ordered to close on March 20 on the same day as schools, and have been allowed to reopen since June 1.

Mr Leitch said that a child's development during their early years was not linear and the final year of nursery was crucial for their "school readiness".

He added: "It is a bit ridiculous because the £1 billion catch-up money went to schools and not a penny went to nurseries."

Documents released by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) earlier this year predicted that children would suffer lifelong damage because of lockdown.

The documents detailed the evidence seen by Sage on whether it was safe to allow pupils to return to the classroom.

"A cohort of children have experienced a shock to their education which will persist and affect their educational and work outcomes for the rest of their lives," their report said.

Mr Leitch said that another reason schools may be refusing to accept new pupils in reception was because they wanted to keep their numbers low in order to better implement social distancing measures.

"It is much easier to stop new admissions than to tell parents that your child will not be able to be accommodated next year," he said.

Parents are given some flexibility about when they enrol their child in reception. Children are allowed to stay in nursery for one term after their fifth birthday.

Mr Leitch said that while many schools had committed to admitting students in reception, some had not.

He urged the Government to publish clear guidance on whether or not they were encouraging the practice of keeping children in nursery for an extra year.

Last month, the Prime Minister announced that the Government would pay for private tutors for children who have fallen behind during lockdown as part of a £1 billion "catch-up" plan.

Schools will be given money to hire in-house tutors, who can run extra classes for small groups of pupils throughout the academic year.

The £350 million tutoring programme will be targeted at the most disadvantaged children in the country, who have fared the worst while schools have been closed.

Head teachers will also be given £650 million to spend on catch-up activities for youngsters, which could include summer camps.

Early years leaders have previously warned that a nursery crisis is looming, with one in six childcare providers saying they expect to permanently close as a result of the pandemic.

The poll, of more than 2,000 early years providers, which was conducted earlier this year by the UK's biggest online childcare platform, childcare.co.uk, found that only half planned to stay open, with the remaining third saying they had not yet decided either way.