Failure to invest sufficiently in support services for young childrenmeans thousands of children are destined to leave school 'illiterate,pregnant, unqualified, unaspirational and underachieving', said thegroup in Getting in early: primary schools and early intervention.
The study by MPs, education experts and academics, published by theCentre for Social Justice and the Smith Institute, argues that spokenlanguage is the foundation for success in school.
Jean Gross, director of the Every Child a Chance Trust and editor of thestudy, said head teachers talk of 'increasing numbers of children whohear little language at home beyond the "daily grunt".'
She added, 'In a poor household, a child will hear 500 different words aday; in a rich household they will hear 1,500. As a result, it isestimated that one in ten children start school unable to talk insentences or understand simple instructions.'
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