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Covid: Youngest pupils hardest hit by lockdown and slowest to recover

Literacy and numeracy Curriculum In the classroom Closing the gap Reception Key stage 1 Coronavirus Remote education
Emerging evidence suggests that pupils in year 1 could be among those whose learning and progress has been hardest hit by the pandemic.

Analysis shows that younger children also took longer to recover their lost learning when they returned to school in September last year.

The National Dataset Report (Nicholls, 2021) examines teacher assessment data from more than 6,000 primary schools representing 1.47 million pupils.

It looks at the percentage of pupils achieving or exceeding age-related expectations for years 1 to 6 in reading, writing and maths and compares these to pre-pandemic levels. It also examines the impact of the return to school during the autumn term on learning.

The report reveals that all year groups have struggled to reach age-related expectations. However, the youngest children saw the most significant drop.

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