Poorest children missing more school and further behind after Covid

Natalie Perera, from the EPI, said it is the first time "a very clear link" has been made between how much children from the lowest income families attend school, and how far behind other pupils they have fallen.

Her team looked specifically at children who have received free school meals in the past six years, which means the family income is less than £7,400 a year after tax and not including benefits.

Ms Perera said more research was needed to understand why these children struggled to be in school, with possible factors including poor housing and mental health.

It is five years since the UK went into lockdown, when schools closed to most children.

Playgroups and nurseries also shut, with parents of babies and toddlers isolated from their extended family. There were other changes too, as health visitors were re-deployed or in contact with parents only online.

Panorama has heard from families and teachers about the impact on these children, who are just starting or are still in primary school.

Schools say some have delayed speech and understanding of words, or have slower social or emotional development, or they lack basic skills normally picked up through play.

Professor Catherine Davies, from the University of Leeds, says some children missed out on "fundamental skills" they need to make sense of school and get on with wider groups.

At Queen's Drive Primary School, in Preston, teaching assistant Sarah Barraclough has been trained in a national programme to help four and five-year-olds in England with speech and language.

She says the impact of Covid has been "huge" and if they don't learn to say and understand more words, children then become isolated. "You're lonely and not getting involved in the games in the playground," she says.

Emaan, now aged four, was born during the first UK lockdown and is one of the children receiving help through Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI).

His parents, Ruby and Charles, really notice the difference between Emaan and his older brother. During the pandemic, Emaan barely went out and met other people.

Charles says there is a "stark difference" between their sons and that Emaan is a lot more clingy.

The NELI programme to train teaching assistants is funded until the end of this school year in England. But beyond then, funding has not yet been confirmed.