Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Education Endowment Fund’s report Impact of Key Stage 1 school closures on later attainment and social skills, a longitudinal study, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of that report's findings.

The Education Endowment Foundation published its report on the impact of Key Stage 1 school closures in November 2022. It continues an ongoing longitudinal study looking at current attainment in reading and mathematics, as well as the development of social skills, for pupils who were in reception and Year 1 during the 2019/20 academic year. The Department welcomes the contribution this work has made to its understanding of several of the key issues around pupil wellbeing and attainment following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Extended school closures during the pandemic meant that many children and young people missed out on face to face education. After two years of disruption due to the pandemic, the Department returned to a full programme of primary assessments in 2022. At Key Stage 1, attainment fell in all subjects compared to 2019.

Helping children recover from the effects of the pandemic is one of the Department’s main priorities. The Department has made available almost £5 billion for a comprehensive recovery package to support children and young people to make up for education lost during the pandemic.

For children in their Reception year, the Department has funded the Nuffield Early Language Intervention, improving the language skills of Reception age children who need it most following the pandemic. The programme targets children needing extra support with their speech and language development and is proven to help them make around three months of additional progress.

In addition, many of the Department’s recovery programmes have and can be used to tackle attendance and behaviour, deliver social and emotional support, and provide enrichment elements that support physical and mental health and wellbeing, as well as academic support.