16 Monday April 4 2022 | the times
News
Children have little stamina for hand-
writing and struggle to use devices that
are not touchscreen while some babies
cannot interpret facial expressions,
Ofsted reports today.
The education watchdog has looked
at how children are recovering from the
pandemic and found schools, nurseries
and colleges are still coping with the
aftermath of lockdown. A separate
report looked at prison education.
While inspectors noted improve-
ments, they said that the pandemic
continued to hinder children’s learning
and personal development, including
attendance, wellbeing and behaviour.
The youngest children did not know
how to take turns or listen while some
schools said that older children were
less likely to choose challenging sub-
Children who were suffering with men-
tal health and self-harming have been
turned away by NHS mental health
services, a survey of 1,000 GPs said.
The results showed children with
anxiety and depression were being de-
nied help from NHS child and adoles-
Masks leave babies baffled
about facial expressions
jects at GCSE or A-level, such as triple
science or languages. Amanda Spiel-
man, the Ofsted chief, said the pan-
demic had left “lingering challenges”.
She said: “I’m particularly worried
about younger children’s development,
which, if left unaddressed, could
potentially cause problems for primary
schools down the line.”
She added, however, that schools,
colleges and nurseries had done a lot of
good work to close gaps.
Ofsted will publish the four briefings,
the second in a set of reports exploring
how students have recovered from the
loss of learning over the pandemic.
Inspections of 70 early-years provid-
ers in January and February found
some institutions said that children had
“limited vocabulary” while “some
babies struggled to respond to facial ex-
pressions”. Children have also missedout on having conversations or hearing
stories. One provider said young child-
ren seemed to have spent more time on
screens and used accents and voices
from programmes they had watched.
A few providers said that wearing
face coverings had a negative impact on
children’s communication skills.
“Some providers have reported that
delays to children’s speech and lan-
guage development have led to them
not socialising with other children as
readily as they would have expected
previously,” the briefing said.
James Bowen, director of policy for
the National Association of Head
Teachers, said: “Repeated lockdowns
have meant that most younger children
have had reduced social interaction.
Schools work incredibly hard to give
pupils the extra support they need but
they cannot do it alone.”Nicola Woolcock Education Editor
Anxious children denied NHS help
cent mental health services. Under-18s
with an eating disorder or psychosis
were often refused care by the services,
which said those seeking help were not
sick enough for treatment, the findings
published in the Guardian showed.
The survey, for the youth mental
health charity Stem4, spoke to GPs
across the UK. It was reported that theservices had become especially over-
loaded since the pandemic, but had
been already struggling. It took child-
ren in some areas two years after being
referred by their GP to get help.
Dr Nihara Krause, the founder of
stem4, said: “As a clinician it is particu-
larly worrying that children are con-
demned to such long waits.”Charlie Moloney N
orth
Devon’s
waves may
be cooler
than those
lapping Malibu in
California but the
region has joined a list
of hot surfing beaches
(Mario Ledwith
writes). A 19-mile
stretch of coastline,including the sands of
Croyde, Saunton and
Woolacombe, is the
first cold water area to
be awarded the
designation.
The World Surfing
Reserves programme
was created in 2009 by
Save the Waves
Coalition, a charity
based in Santa Cruz,California, to protect
surfing destinations.
It aims to recognise
areas where local
groups have worked to
protect against coastal
development, poor
water quality andDevon joins global
list of surf reserves
D