NEWS
Ofsted denies claims that school-based early years settings are more likely to achieve ‘exceptional’ grade
Ofsted’s chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver has refuted claims that it is near-impossible for private and voluntary early years settings to receive an ‘exceptional’ grade under the revised inspection framework, stating that “it is absolutely possible for any type of early years provider, including childminders, to receive an
exceptional grade”.
Addressing attendees of the Alliance’s ‘Building Belonging’ Connect Roadshow, which was held in London on 16 April, Oliver said: There’s not an automatic advantage to being a nursery based in a school. I can absolutely assure you of that.”
While he acknowledged that ‘exceptional’ is “definitely not a grade we [Ofsted] award regularly”, he asserted “we absolutely have awarded it to early years providers” and said that while reaching ‘exceptional’ is now a higher bar, it’s about ensuring those standards optimise safety for children and truly reflect the very best in the country.
He added: “Under the old system, 98 per cent of over 60,000 settings were graded as ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’. Ninety-eight per cent without any apparent need to improve – without anything to reach for.”
In November 2025, Ofsted replaced the inspection judgements of ‘outstanding’, ‘good’, ‘requires improvement’ and ‘inadequate’ with a five-point scale: ‘exceptional’, ‘strong standard’, ‘expected standard’, ‘needs attention’ and ‘urgent improvement’.
Guidance from Ofsted states that the inspectorate will only award an ‘exceptional’ grade when “we see practice that is among the very best nationally, which should be shared with other schools or providers to help them improve”.
Head to page 16 where we speak with Ofsted to debunk common myths surrounding the renewed inspection framework.
Children’s Laureate highlights urgency of reading crisis as half of children miss out on bedtime stories
The outgoing Children’s Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce has called for national action to address the decline of reading among children during a lecture to conclude his two-year tenure as Waterstones Children’s Laureate last month.
During the event hosted by BookTrust at the Royal Institution, the author delivered an impassioned lecture titled The Kids Are Not Alright, warning that currently “close to half of all children arrive at school without having experienced the nightly bedtime story”.
Cottrell-Boyce linked the decline of reading to the wider austerity crisis in the UK, citing a lack of local services, library closures and housing insecurity. “You’re not going to Narnia because you haven’t got a wardrobe,” he remarked, noting how “furniture poverty” and unstable living conditions create a barrier to literacy.
Alongside economic pressures, the author highlighted the impact of screens and social media. Describing highly addictive platforms as “stressful and time consuming,” he argued that children are effectively performing labour for tech companies. He pointed to recent government statistic that revealed 98% of two-year-olds watch screens for a substantial part of every day, stating: “they're working unpaid”.
"We do not know what future we are sending our children into, but we do know this: they will need to know how to be happy. And we have in our hands one of the most powerful tools for building the apparatus of happiness that humans have ever invented – books.”
New figures released by BookTrust show a growing divide between children’s interest in books and their opportunities to access them. The research showed that in 2025, 80% of children reported they like or love reading.
This rose significantly from 65% in 2021. Despite this, daily reading among families with children up to the age of eight fell from 60% to 49% during the same period. “The hungers there,” Cottrell-Boyce said. “But families need the support to keep that love of reading alive.”
To address this crisis, the author revealed his new role as reading rights ambassador for BookTrust. He urged people to join the Reading Rights (bit.ly/ U5_readingrights) movement, which aims to widen children’s access to books by embedding reading into policy, supporting families and equipping educators with the skills and confidence to share books.
Cottrell-Boyce said: “This is urgent. Childhood is fleeting. We do not know what future we are sending our children into, but we do know this: they will need to know how to be happy. And we have in our hands one of the most powerful tools for building the apparatus of happiness that humans have ever invented – books.”
The new Children’s Laureate will be announced in July.
Child mental health in the UK is worsening, new research warns
New research from the humanitarian aid organisation UNICEF has warned that while the UK’s child wellbeing ranking has risen from 27th to 24th out of 37 countries, children’s mental health in the country has deteriorated.
The 2026 Report Card, which explores the relationship between economic inequalities and children’s wellbeing
in 44 OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) and high-income countries, has found that while skills and children’s physical health have improved in the last six years, mental health has deteriorated.
According to the Report Card, the UK experiences higher-than-average income inequality. Life satisfaction and social skills gaps between the less and most disadvantaged children in the UK were also highlighted as being wider than average, with the UK ranking 25th out of 42 countries on child poverty.
The study evaluated country placements across three core dimensions of child wellbeing, which are measured using six key indicators:
- Physical health: assessed using child mortality and obesity rates.
- Mental wellbeing: evaluated through life satisfaction and adolescent suicide rates.
- Skills: measured via academic proficiency and development of social skills.
The Netherlands, Denmark and France rank in the top third on all three dimensions.
UNICEF has urged the UK government to take action on child poverty and invest in early childhood services, ensuring equitable access. The organisation has recommended that the government expand access to the Sure Start Maternity Grant, rebuild the health-visiting workforce, increase funding of community initiatives such as Family Hubs, and ensure all children have access to government funded entitlements, regardless of parental employment status.
UNICEF chief executive of the United Kingdom committee Dr Philip Goodwin said: “The latest Report Card provides more evidence that inequality is profoundly influencing children’s life chances. In the UK, our research shows that growing health and educational inequalities in the early years are shaping children’s futures before they even start school. For a country as wealthy as the UK, this is unacceptable and demands urgent action from the UK Government to make sure children get a fair start in life, to grow up healthy, happy and safe.”
One in ten babies regularly fall asleep with a screen, study finds
One in ten babies regularly fall asleep with a screen as families increasingly rely on digital devices to manage the pressures of daily life, according to new findings by research group iADDICT.
The study, commissioned by the 1001 Critical Days Foundation, reveals a disconnect between official guidance and the reality of modern home routines.
"Large numbers of adults and babies are using screens more than is considered healthy"
Researchers from four UK universities, including the University of Leeds, identified a body of evidence linking high screen usage in babies to developmental risks such as increased short-sightedness, language delay, sleep difficulties and obesity.
With over 70% of babies and under-twos using screens and “a meaningful minority exposed to up to eight hours per day”, the research reveals screen usage that “far exceeds current health guidance”.
Many parents described using digital devices to cope with the pressures of daily life, alleviate exhaustion and manage a lack of support. To address this, the report calls for increased access to the early years services that provide the practical support families need, as well as more guidance on screen time and a review of how digital content is labelled.
Lead researcher Rafe Clayton said: “Babies’ screen time is linked to the digital behaviours of parents and caregivers. Large numbers of adults and babies are using screens more than is considered healthy and we are witnessing a cultural change moving towards more harmful digital lifestyles on a global scale. As the last generation to experience childhood without smartphones and social media now approach their middle age, the future of dyadic caring relationships look likely to become increasingly digitally informed.
“As organic memories of a time before ubiquitous digitality diminish, it is essential that more research is undertaken to understand how social interaction is affected by screen time and how potential harms may be mitigated moving forwards.”
New campaign launched to keep young children safe around water
The Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK) has launched a biannual campaign that aims to emphasise the importance of supervising children while they are in the water.
The Splash Safety at Home campaign follows the release of alarming data from the National Child Mortality Database (NCMD), which showed that 88% of child drownings in England between 2019 and 2025 happened when no adult was supervising, and over a third occurred in a bath, hot tub or swimming pool.
The campaign aims to debunk dangerous misconceptions identified in a RLSS UK survey of around 1,000 parents. The research found that nearly a quarter (24%) falsely believe it is safe to leave a child alone if they are wearing flotation aids, such as armbands or a swim vest. It also highlighted that most parents wrongly assume they will be able to hear their child if they begin to struggle in the water.
The RLSS UK recommends the following steps to keep children safe in the home and garden:
- Supervise children at all times. Keep young children within arm’s reach when in or around water at home, even if they are wearing swimming aids such as armbands.
- Don’t allow older siblings to supervise in the water.
- Avoid distractions such as using a mobile phone. Drowning can happen silently and in a matter of minutes.
- Replace hot tub and swimming pool covers immediately after use.
- Keep ponds and pools out of bounds by locking back doors, garden gates and fencing off water areas with sturdy fencing at least 4ft high. Fit a strong mesh or grill that can support a child’s weight or fill in ponds until your child is older.
- Always empty paddling pools immediately after use.
- Empty and turn over containers holding rainwater and turn off hosepipes at the tap.
Director of the NCMD Professor Karen Luyt said: “Drowning represents a preventable threat to child health, and these new statistics highlight some of the common factors that could be addressed to improve and save children’s lives. We hope the findings will be read and used by policymakers, professionals and families alike, as we all have a role to play to reduce deaths by drowning.”
8%
of child drownings in England between 2019 and 2025 happened when no adult was supervising
Parents value advice from professionals amid confusion over child development, Royal Foundation report finds
Parents can often find the volume of information and advice on early development overwhelming and so value advice from trusted professionals across early years, health and family support, new research from The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood has found.
The First Five Years: A Parent Perspective aimed to better understand how parents access information and support, their experiences of early parenthood, and how early years practitioners can most effectively engage with them. It found that parents consistently say they want authoritative, clearly communicated information that helps them understand their child’s behaviour and development.
The study found that while parents are “deeply motivated to support their child’s development, many struggle to access clear, consistent and personalised guidance”. As a result, parents value opportunities to speak with knowledgeable practitioners, particularly when “guidance is personalised and grounded in an understanding of their individual child and the wider context of family life, including cultural background, financial pressures, and concerns about neurodivergence.”
In response to the study, The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood has released a new guidance document: Foundations for Life: A Guide to Social and Emotional Development. The guide, which was developed with the help of early childhood experts, professionals and practitioners, is designed to strengthen understanding of social and emotional development across the early years sector, highlighting the importance of loving, responsive relationships in children’s lifelong health and wellbeing.
Drawing upon science and practical insight, it aims to support educators by “setting out a shared, accessible foundation of knowledge about social and emotional development”.
Data sharing for children could help identify those at risk of becoming economically inactive later in life, according to new report
The proposed introduction of single unique identifiers (SUIs) for children could ensure those at risk of becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training) get the support they need, according to a new report by the Centre for Young Lives.
The government’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which aims to change the law to better protect children and raise standards in education, plans to link data across education, health and social care via the use of SUIs, a move that the Centre for Young Lives says could “be utilised to identify young people at risk of being NEET from the early years”.
The report, which was put together in partnership with McDonalds, adds that: “Earlier identification of young people at risk of becoming NEET should result in pathways throughout education to ensure young people are getting the support they need to thrive in school and beyond.”
Research by the Centre for Young Lives has found that “11 per cent of children who were not ‘school-ready’ became NEET, compared to 4 per cent of those who were ‘school-ready’”.
The think tank recommends including the Best Start Family Hubs in a unified strategy to help young children at risk of being NEET.
11%
of children who were not ‘school-ready’ became NEET, compared to 4 per cent of those who were ‘school-ready’”.
IN BRIEF
Short news updates from the early years sector and beyond.
The Princess of Wales visited Loris Malaguzzi International Centre and a pre-school in Italy last month as part of her work with the Royal Foundation for Early Childhood.
BBC investigation into unregulated sleep ‘experts’ has found that parents are being exposed to high fees for advice that directly contradicts the safe-sleep guidelines designed to prevent sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
Under 5 magazine
The magazine of the Early Years Alliance