Lola Okoloise cited the Sutton Trust mobility manifesto in a comment piece on early years provision on the Guardian website.

Education thinktank the Sutton Trust published its Mobility Manifesto on Thursday. Aiming to place social mobility at front and centre before the imminent party conference season, the 10-point plan began with a straightforward enough request, that government ensures that “all disadvantaged children can access the best early years education and care. In particular, all disadvantaged two-year-olds should have access to nursery places with well-qualified staff.” Their reasoning seems clear. Research published this week told us that children with a nursery education get “significantly better GCSE results than those who are kept at home before school age”.

The coalition may well want to congratulate itself here, believing it has already got this one covered. Spurred on by Liberal Democrats desperate to detoxify an alliance with the “effing Tories” and prove their commitment to “opening doors, breaking barriers”, it has made 15 hours of childcare free for the most deprived two-year-olds. By its own estimates this figure stands at 260,000.

Read her full article here

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