The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children's Socio-Emotional Wellbeing and Attainment during the Reception Year. Research Report

This study aimed to understand the relationship between reception children's experiences of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) and their academic achievement and socio-emotional development during their first year at school in September 2020 to July 2021. This was an exploratory study combining parent and school surveys with children's assessments. All children in the study were in reception (YR) and therefore four to five years old. This cohort of children were three to four years old during the first lockdown (March to June 2020) with the second and third lockdowns (November 2020 and January to March 2021) taking place during their reception year. The study involved a total of 94 schools, 1,105 families, and Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP) data for a total of 3,253 children. Recruitment took place in two phases, participation in surveys took place at three timepoints, and schools could opt to take part in all aspects of the project or provide only EYFSP data. Therefore, not all parents and schools contributed data at all points. Parent and school surveys were distributed in the autumn, spring, and summer terms 2020/2021. This included bespoke questions as well as items from the Home Learning Environment (HLE) index and Personal Wellbeing Scale. Data was coded in Excel and analysed using thematic analysis to draw out the main themes in the data. School and parent/carer surveys were used to contextualise and explain child assessment data collected at the end of YR. To measure children's language, numeracy, and socio-emotional development, the appropriate subscales from tablet-based assessment Early Years Toolbox (EYT) were used. Teacher-reported attainment data in the form of the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP) was also collected in the summer term 2021. For the EYFSP data, comparisons were made between the scores of pupils in the study sample and the EYFSP scores of the 2018/2019 national cohort of reception pupils to explore any differences in outcomes.