'Clear political agenda' behind Ofsted Reception report

This report seems, from its opening line, designed to rubbish reception teachers and the incredible job they do in ensuring that the emotional needs of our youngest children in schools are met, alongside helping them learn the basic academic skills of reading, writing and mathematics. 

I do not know of a reception teacher in the land, for example, who doesn’t directly teach children phonics, or focus on supporting children with developing their handwriting skills, yet three of the five key recommendations in the report are around this.

And no recommendations are made around the areas that have been highlighted as being the real building blocks of future learning – Physical Development, Communication and Language and Personal, Social and Emotional Development and around promoting the Characteristics of Effective Learning, all of which are shown by research to be key indicators of later achievement. We have a mental health crisis looming in our young people and this report is not only a missed opportunity to address this but in some ways risks contributing to it, by encouraging schools to put our youngest children under increasing pressure.