Slough recognised for the smallest disadvantage gap for early years pupils

Slough, along with one other local authority, has the smallest disadvantage gap, in the country, for early years pupils.

The Education Policy Institute (EPI) Annual Report looks at the state of education in England, with a focus on the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers. It considers the attainment of vulnerable groups of students at the ages of 5, 11, 16 and by 18.

The report analyses attainment gaps based on economic disadvantage, gender, ethnicity, English as an additional language (EAL), Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and geography. Nationally the disadvantage gap at the end of reception was 4.7 months in 2024. The smallest gaps in the country are currently Newham and Slough, where disadvantaged pupils were just 1.9 months behind their peers.

This summer, Funding Futures worked with us and another six local authorities to conduct some field work, researching into why some local authorities had smaller gaps compared to others. Funding Futures 

Through this work it was identified that the council has:

• strong and diverse Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) provision with skilled staff who actively support/engage parents

• long-term, consistent, widely embedded speech communication and language approach

• active organised and organic community-led peer support for parents, reinforcing positive home learning norms.

In particular our local speech and language programme iTalk works with early years practitioners and families to understand early language development, including home languages. Slough has a solid early years and children’s centre/family hubs team with a coordinated offer, including stay and play, the health visitor programme and working in partnership with the NHS Speech & Language teams.

Cllr Puja Bedi, cabinet member for children and lifelong learning, said: “I am exceptionally proud of our early years and children’s centres/family hubs teams here in Slough. The borough is lucky to have such experienced hard-working staff teaching and taking care of our youngest residents ensuring that they achieve and learn to the best of their abilities.

“The dedication of these teams is reflected in the figures from the Education Policy Institute (EPI) Annual Report where we are joint lowest in the country for the disadvantage gap for 5-year-olds.

Thank you to everyone involved in achieving such a fantastic figure.”

You can read more on the Early years foundation stage profile results here