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This thematic review focuses on early years children who are adversely affected by poverty and disadvantage and the impact this has on their early educational attainment. It considers the effectiveness of the support and provision provided by early years education providers, the effectiveness of the transition arrangements for early years children from home to setting and between funded education settings and school. 

The review considers the most effective practice and where practice is not effective enough. It also evaluates how well local authorities, and school improvement services are supporting and challenging funded non-maintained providers and schools to improve outcomes for children living in poverty.

Estyn’s main findings are:

• There is a variation in how early education is accessed across Wales, depending on how local authorities provide nursery education. This variation results in an inequitable provision across Wales. In practice, this means that parents often have little to no choice of where they can access nursery provision for their child. 
• There was a variation in the accessibility of early years professional learning for the sector, with non-maintained leaders more likely to have accessed high quality early years professional learning from their local authorities and umbrella organisations than practitioners in schools. However, many school leaders reported that there was limited professional learning to support effective early years pedagogy offered by local authorities and school improvement services.
• Leaders from non-maintained settings and schools reported on how many families were experiencing the negative impact of poverty and disadvantage at a level far worse than previously seen. As a result, a large proportion of their time and resources were spent trying to address these needs. In nearly all cases, settings and schools took time to get to know the children and their families well. They spent time forging supportive and trusting relationships. Although leaders had not received specific training or information from local authorities on how to best meet the social, emotional and developmental needs of early years children adversely impacted by poverty and disadvantage, they knew and understood the importance of supporting families and the difference this was making to their lives. This often took the form of practical support such as collaborating with the third sector to provide food items, toys, uniform and practical support with issues such as housing.
• The Early Years Pupil Development Grant (EYPDG) provides funding to schools and settings to support children aged 3 to 4 years with their communication, well-being and physical development needs. The review found that due to the complexities of funding formulas and difficulty of gathering data on this age group, there was an inequity of funding across the non-maintained sectors in Wales. This resulted in local authorities who do not fund early education in the non-maintained sector receiving funding and local authorities with high levels of deprivation receiving limited funding.
• Most non-maintained settings receiving delegated EYPDG funding made good use of this money to purchase resources that helped to develop children’s communication and well-being needs, such as outdoor equipment and speech and language resources. They attended beneficial training that supported them in their roles, particularly in supporting children’s communication skills. In addition, they enriched children’s experiences through a range of visits as well as inviting visitors to the setting. However, in those local authorities where the grant money was held centrally, they did not always target training well enough on tackling disadvantage or target the most disadvantaged settings well enough.
• In most schools, leaders often used this funding to sustain existing provision. For example, they employed additional adults to provide a suitable adult to pupil ratio in early years classes. In a few examples, these practitioners delivered speech and language and emotional health and well-being interventions. In a minority of schools, leaders were unable to disaggregate their EYPDG funding from their wider PDG funding and therefore, could not allocate their funding in a targeted way well enough.
• Many leaders provide children and their families with beneficial opportunities to get to know practitioners and the setting or school prior to starting. This includes when children transition from home to a setting or school or between a setting and school.

A total of 7 recommendations are presented in the report. These are separate recommendations for the Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ Government, local authorities, school improvement services, and leaders in schools and settings.

Officials will write to local authorities to highlight the report and the responsibility we share to work towards achieving the recommendations.

The Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖwill maintain ongoing dialogue with relevant stakeholders, seeking regular updates on their progress against the recommendations.

Recommendations for the Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ Government

Recommendation 1

Ensure that EYPDG funding is allocated equitably to local authorities that fund non-maintained settings.

Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖresponse: partially accept

Officials are considering alternative means to allocate EYPDG for non-maintained settings so that the full grant can be most effectively targeted to ensure equity for learners.

However, PLASC does not include data for 3 and 4 year olds in funded non-maintained settings and we do not have robust or verified data for these pupils. Therefore currently the EYPDG non-maintained allocation is estimated based on a combination of available data from population estimates and PLASC. The non-maintained EYPDG in 2024 to 2025 accounts for 0.8% of the total PDG budget.

Officials are currently exploring whether local authorities may hold data that can help improve this methodology, so that the EYPDG allocation for non-maintained settings can be made more accurately.

Recommendation 2

Provide improved guidance on how the funding is distributed and used within settings and schools.

Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖresponse: accept

Officials review on an annual basis the terms and conditions of the EYPDG alongside the other grant strands. Further guidance around how EYPDG is distributed is under consideration. In terms of guidance for schools and settings, we are working closely with the Education Endowment Foundation and key stakeholders to produce updated guidance for schools and settings on effective use of EYPDG, due for publication Spring 2025.

Recommendations for local authorities and school improvement services

Recommendation 3

Provide specific professional learning and information to schools and settings on how to best meet the social, emotional and personal developmental needs of early years children adversely affected by poverty and deprivation.

Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖresponse

This recommendation is a matter for individual local authorities. 

We work closely with local authorities in Wales to deliver high quality services. Enabling practitioners to access high quality professional learning and information is essential to meet the social, emotional and personal developmental needs of early years children adversely affected by poverty and deprivation. 

Recommendation 4

Ensure that leaders in schools and settings have a secure understanding of EYPDG funding so that they may target it effectively on addressing the impact of poverty and disadvantage for their early years pupils.

Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖresponse

This recommendation is a matter for local authorities in Wales.

PDG allocations, including EYPDG breakdowns by school and setting, are published on an annual basis and available at: Pupil Development Grant and Early Years Pupil Development Grant: allocations (2024 to 2025 allocations published in April 2024).

Recommendation 5

Ensure parity in the early years provision between schools and settings based on a robust understanding of the role of effective environments, enabling adults and engaging experiences.

Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖresponse

This recommendation is a matter for local authorities in Wales. 

Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖwill continue to raise awareness and understanding of the Enabling learning guidance with practitioners, senior leaders and the middle tier. The ‘Enabling learning’ section of Curriculum for Wales guidance has been developed to support senior leaders and practitioners in schools and settings in the planning, designing and implementing of a pedagogically appropriate curriculum for all learners.

Recommendations for school and setting leaders

Recommendation 6

Evaluate the impact that the EYPDG funding has on the progress of children’s skills and development.

Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖresponse

This recommendation is a matter for schools and settings.

The Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖis working closely with the Education Endowment Foundation and key stakeholders to produce updated guidance for schools and settings on effective use of EYPDG, due for publication Spring 2025. Where relevant this will include advice around effective evaluation of the grant.

Recommendation 7

Ensure that the provision provided for early years children is developmentally appropriate.

Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖresponse

This recommendation is a matter for schools and settings. 

The Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖrecognises the importance of a developmentally and pedagogically appropriate curriculum. We will continue to raise awareness and understanding of the Enabling Learning guidance with practitioners, senior leaders and middle tier. The ‘Enabling learning’ section of Curriculum for Wales guidance has been developed to support senior leaders and practitioners in schools and settings in the planning, designing and implementing of a pedagogically appropriate curriculum for all learners.

The report was published on 20 November 2024 and may be accessed on the .