Children from the poorest backgrounds shouldn't have their potential cut short before their lives have even really begun. Yet, on average, they will start school 19 months behind their peers.
COVID-19 is set to have a disastrous impact on the literacy of the 4.6 million children living in poverty in the UK . School closures will only widen the attainment gap suffered by disadvantaged students, who are already twice as likely to leave school without good GCSEs in English and maths than their better off classmates.
These children will be held back at every stage of their lives. They are:
- five times more likely to fail to meet the expected standards in English at age 11
- four times more likely to struggle to read as adults
- twice as likely to be unemployed aged 34
- three times more likely to have mental health problems as adults
Since schools have been closed, we have harnessed our national partnerships and mobilised our local networks in deprived communities across the UK to deliver books and vital literacy resources direct to the homes of the children who are most in need, through foodbanks, schools, community partners and volunteers. We have developed fun and interactive digital resources to engage children and support more formal lesson plans and launched research into the impact of lockdown on children and families literacy skills, behaviours and attitudes.
But were more in need of financial support than ever. We urgently require funding at a local, national and strategic level to continue developing and delivering solutions to the immediate challenges facing children, families and schools, and to ensure we are here in September when schools will need tremendous levels of support to close the poverty attainment gap that will have widened after six months of lost learning.
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