“Do you really want to spend your time wiping noses and bottoms?” This is what my former headteacher asked me, back when I first decided that I wanted to teach Reception.
That off-hand remark illustrates how some school leaders still view the early years: as a strange, “other” world that is somehow less important than what comes after it.
Yet by the end of Reception, disadvantaged children already trail their peers by 4.6 months - a figure that represents nearly half the 10.6-month gap we see at the end of key stage 2.
Leaders who treat the early years foundation stage as an add-on, who do little more than hop into lessons for a 15-minute phonics check from time to time, miss so much that is important about this stage of education: guided play, teaching that scaffolds children’s learning, child-led exploration and the everyday moments that build children’s language and confidence.
School leaders want to do their very best for children in EYFS. So, if there is a divide between EYFS and the rest of the school, how can they help to bridge it? Here are three pitfalls to avoid.
1. Underestimating the level of investment needed
When I was talking recently with the director of learning in a multi-academy trust, I was struck by her focus on early years, despite her lack of first-hand experience working with that age group. The MAT had started as a group of secondary schools and had more recently added a couple of primaries.
It was fascinating to hear her talk about the challenges of early years. For example, she was shocked by how much extra support and funding she had to put in place for children with additional needs, and was struck by the contrast with the MAT’s secondary schools, where nearly every student arrived with comprehensive assessment information.
She had not previously understood how different this was in early years, where staff often need to do lots of work with parents around understanding their child’s needs and agreeing to referrals for assessment. She saw how much support staff gave to parents and their exceptional dedication to the children. She concluded that additional investment in early years would pay off in the longer run.
2. Not spending enough time in EYFS classrooms
Where there is a lack of professional curiosity, leaders may only spend short slots of time in early years classrooms. Observing a 15-minute session in Reception doesn’t give you long enough to evaluate the quality of early years practice.
Understanding each child’s whole experience is a bigger and more important task than narrowly evaluating the quality of what the teacher does.
For example, looking at which children are clustered around the educators is often insightful.
Often, the children with the strongest language skills are engaged in lots of conversations, while those who most need “language nutrition” are playing and exploring in virtual silence.
3. Assuming school-wide policies can apply in EYFS
A lack of expertise in early years can result in leaders being too hands-off, leaving the phase to others. It can also result in inappropriately forceful approaches to drive school-wide consistency.
For example, I’ve met several school leaders who insist that Reception children write in books from early in the autumn term, and then watched the children struggle.
The children quickly lose heart if they don’t yet have the necessary physical skills, or the knowledge to pair sounds with specific written letters.
Effective primary school leadership is about learning alongside early years teams and also providing a sense of direction. We need strong leadership to ensure that every child gets a fair chance to succeed in school and beyond, starting in the early years.
So, what does this look like? The answer lies in professional curiosity, deliberate investment and deep engagement. Leaders might want to:
- Schedule longer blocks of time to visit early years, and follow visits up by listening to and talking with colleagues
- Invest in sustained, evidence-informed professional development for the early years team - and also take part in it themselves.
- Act on the data about disadvantage, and invest more broadly in the early years.
As the Education Endowment Foundation states in their guide to the early years pupil premium, “early intervention - before gaps grow - is crucial to ensuring every child gets a fair start”.
Leaders should take this as an urgent call to action. It’s vital for every primary school leader to feel positive and confident about spending time in early years, and to ensure that top-level ambitions are turned into high-quality practice that benefits every child, every day.
Julian Grenier CBE is the co-author of Putting the EYFS Curriculum into Practice
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