On 2 July 2019, UK Education secretary Damian Hinds announced that the government has approved sixty-six new projects for starting nursery classes in primary schools located in disadvantaged areas across the United Kingdom. The total funding for all projects amounts to twenty-two million pounds (GBP22m).
After the successful completion of these projects, around one thousand and eight hundred children between one and five years old, will be able to benefit from the new nursery classes. The main idea behind these classes is to set the foundation for improved literacy and communication in early childhood across the country.
Alongside this announcement, the UK Government has started a campaign called Hungry Little Minds, which aims to provide parents with tips and ideas on how to incorporate literacy training in everyday activities like doing the chores and shopping.
These actions on the government’s part are in reaction to statistics showing that about one in four kids leaves their Reception year without having the necessary level of listening understanding, speaking, reading, and writing skills.
Commenting on the successful funding of the projects, Mr.Hinds said:
Part of making sure our children have the opportunity to take advantage of all the joys of childhood and growing up is supporting them to develop the language and communication skills they need to express themselves.
This is the second early learning funding round, which the UK Government approves in the past ten months, which shows the extreme concern for literacy rates at a young age. According to official government statistics, there are currently around twenty thousand children in nursery daycare around the country.
