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Fewer than one in three children can perform basic tasks such as writing their own name by the age of five, the Government admitted yesterday.
They struggle to form simple sentences or write labels and captions, despite spending a year in reception classes.
The failure has led the Government to announce a controversial review of the standards expected of children's writing by the time they finish their first year of primary school.
Currently children are expected to know how to write their name or be able to use basic punctuation by the age of five.
But childcare workers and teachers have complained the goals are too tough and demanded a shake-up, which could see the goals being scrapped altogether.
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The first includes children writing 'their own names and other things such as labels and captions' and beginning to 'form simple sentences, sometimes using punctuation'.
The second milestone is using phonic knowledge to 'write simple regular words and make phonetically plausible attempts at more complex words'.
Figures released by the Department for Children, Schools and Families show that only 30 per cent of children achieve the first target and 46 per cent the second.
Sir Jim Rose, a former Ofsted inspector, has been tasked with considering whether the goals 'strike the right balance between giving children a good start in literacy skills and supporting a smooth transition from the early years into primary school'. The review has been announced ahead of the implementation of the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum in all early years settings this September.
This curriculum for all 25,000 private and state nurseries and 70,000 childminders in England sets out up to 500 developmental milestones between birth and primary school.
However, the EYFS has already provoked a storm of protest from teachers and childcare professionals.
They argue that the curriculum will become a box-ticking exercise, with nursery staff and childminders pressured to follow it 'to the letter'.
The Government has already revealed that childcare providers such as nurseries will be allowed to apply for exemptions to parts of the EYFS curriculum should parents demand it.
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- reprinted from Mail online