West Sussex children's speaking and reading skills remain below pre-pandemic levels, new figures show. Across England, children have improved their phonics skills in the last year, but they remain worse than before successive lockdowns in 2020 and 2021. The Association of School and College Leaders said the recent improvement is a testament to the "superb work of school staff" despite inadequate government investment. Department for Education figures show 78% of children aged between five and seven in Key Stage One in West Sussex met the expected standard in a range of phonics tests, which assess their speaking, reading and pronunciation. This was up from 74% the year before, but remained below pre-pandemic levels of 81% in 2018-19. Nationally, 79% of Key Stage One children met the expected standard in phonics assessment – up from 75%, but below 82% in 2018-19. Tiffnie Harris, primary and data specialist at the ASCL, said the figures were "great", and heralded the hard work of schools throughout the pandemic. Ms Harris said: "Young children’s early learning was affected by that disruption and it is a testament to the superb work of school staff that results are improving despite the lack of adequate government investment in education recovery. "However, schools are facing severe challenges because of staff shortages, underfunding, and high rates of child poverty, and it is vital that the Government addresses these issues." The figures also show more children in West Sussex reached the expected standard in reading, with 66% and 67% displaying the requisite reading skills at Key Stage One in 2021-22 and last year respectively. Similarly, children's writing skills also improved in the last year, up from 52% to 56%. Across England, 68% of Key Stage One pupils met the expected standard in reading, up from 67% in 2022. Similarly, 60% met the expected standard in writing, up from 58% in 2022. However, attainment in both subjects remained below pre-pandemic levels of 75% and 69%. A Department for Education spokesperson said it is "pleased to see that pupils are continuing to catch up on learning following the pandemic". They added: "We have made £5 billion available since 2020 for education recovery initiatives, which have supported millions of pupils in need of extra support. "Our ongoing investment in English and maths curriculum hub programmes will support children to benefit from high-quality teaching in early reading and maths respectively, including through phonics and Teaching for Mastery interventions."
