Nursery World - Right from the start

It is what happens at home that really affects the life chances of under-fives, but policy-makers have tended to consider this a private matter. Should it remain so? Anne Wiltsher looks at another way When the children come into the early years unit at Barton Village First School they don't know the noises of a cow or sheep, or even some of them a car or a train. At three and a half they have the literacy levels of a child with English as a second language, according to early years manager Elma Cameron. 'They don't know nursery rhymes. Their listening skills are poor and they've no idea how to hold a conversation,' she says.

When the children come into the early years unit at Barton Village First School they don't know the noises of a cow or sheep, or even some of them a car or a train. At three and a half they have the literacy levels of a child with English as a second language, according to early years manager Elma Cameron. 'They don't know nursery rhymes. Their listening skills are poor and they've no idea how to hold a conversation,' she says.

The school, based in a poor part of Oxford, has a speech therapist working with small groups of children. 'One child had delayed speech development because of his home background. He couldn't make some sounds because he couldn't blow. This was because he'd been on a bottle until he came to school and had had no solid food.'

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