High quality child care whether provided in a nursery setting or with a private nanny at home have the biggest positive impact on children’s early language development, according to evidence gathered by charity Save the Children and the Read On. Get On coalition.

Research carried out by the charity on behalf of Read On. Get On. found that too many children are arriving at primary school unable to speak in whole sentences.

Save the Children polled more than 500 teachers from across the UK and found that children are joining primary school without the speech and language skills needed either to learn in the classroom or start to read. Teachers surveyed said that many children take years to catch up and that this early language gap is dragging down school results and making it harder for them to deliver the curriculum for all children.

Some 75% of those polled said children are arriving in reception class struggling to speak in full sentences. Meanwhile, 65% said youngsters are arriving at school struggling to follow simple instructions.

Mary Hartshorne, director of outcomes and information at the children’s communication charity, I CAN – a Read On. Get On coalition partner, said: “We know from our work in early-years settings that one of the main challenges of supporting early language development is identifying children who have delayed speech and language development as soon early as possible – so that support can be put in place to help these children catch up with their peers.

“It’s crucial to ensure that early-years setting like nurseries or nannies, children’s centres have access to affordable and practical training with easy to use, engaging and practical resources so that child care partitioners are skilled in identifying and supporting children with delayed development – and making sure the setting is ‘communication friendly’. I CAN’s early-years programmes support settings to do this – and we see an impact that this has on children’s communication and language.

“This puts the emphasis firmly on improving not just the quantity, but also the quality of….effective early-years provision, giving children the language skills they need for a successful start in primary school”.

Read On. Get On seeks to galvanise the nation to ensure that by 2025, every child is a confident reader by age 11.