Nurseries give head start in three Rs

Sending children to nursery school gives them a major head start in the three Rs, research reveals today.

The government-backed study will be welcomed by working parents who spend up to £900 a month on nurseries and playgroups. It shows that in reading, writing and arithmetic, nurseryeducated children are four to six months ahead of others by the time they start primary school.

The findings come from research involving 2,800 pupils who started pre-school education in 2000 aged three, and 300 who did not. The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education project is the first major study involving three- to seven-yearolds carried out in Europe.

It was conducted by a team from the Institute of Education and Birkbeck College, University of London and Oxford University at the request of the Department for Education and Skills. The project shows the children who went to nursery school did "significantly" better in special English and maths tests devised by researchers.

Nursery education is particularly beneficial to children from poor homes, the study found.

Earlier research has shown middle-class children with books at home and parents who went to university move ahead of their peers by age two. To tackle this class gap, the Government has introduced free nursery education for three- and four-year-olds.

Tony Blair has vowed to make universal pre-schooling from two a key pledge in Labour's manifesto. Children's Minister Margaret Hodge today said the research answered critics who accuse the Government of pressing children into formal education at too young an age.

But the research also suggests that if children are away from their parents for long periods, their behaviour can deteriorate.