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Government bid to reshape
childhood
Patrick Wintour
London
Guardian
Saturday December 8, 2007
Children as young as two are to be offered free
nursery care in a government drive to intervene in the lives of
disadvantaged children at the very earliest stages of their development.
The subsidised places, to be targeted at poorer
parents, are part of a major overhaul of early-years learning
that children's secretary Ed Balls will present to the Commons
next Tuesday.
Balls will also announce extra support for disabled children
and their families, because the extra expenses they incur often
tip households into poverty.
The 10-year Children's Plan will address the whole experience
of modern childhood, including concerns about the decline in play
outside of school hours and worries about children's self-confidence.
(Article continues below)
The plan, drawn up over the last three months by the department
run by Gordon Brown's right hand man, will ask schools to be in
regular email contact with parents to give up-to-date information
on their children's progress instead of giving just an end-of-term
report.
After experimenting with home-school contracts, ministers are
looking to strengthen the links between parents and schools, with
more detailed goals for children shared between them.
Balls is expected to set out a broad review of primary education
in England in the face of evidence that progress in reading and
writing has plateaued. It is certain to back the use of the synthetic
phonics to teach children to read, and will look at whether the
curriculum is too crowded.
Full
article here.
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