Blackburn with Darwen children’s speaking and reading skills remain below pre-pandemic levels, new figures show.

Department for Education figures show 80 per cent of children aged between five and seven in Key Stage One in the borough met the expected standard in a range of phonics tests, which assess their speaking, reading, and pronunciation.

This was up from 78 per cent the year before, but remained below the pre-pandemic levels of 82 per cent in 2018-19.

The council’s education boss is happy that progress is being made to get the numbers back up.

Cllr Julie Gunn, executive member for children, young people, and education, said: “Our hardworking schools and early years staff prioritised phonics during the pandemic despite the challenges of teaching online.

"This has meant that whilst we have seen a fall from pre-pandemic levels, our children have achieved above both regional and national levels and the fall has not been as significant as the national picture shows.

“We are also seeing year on year progress since the pandemic.

“Speech and language development in early years is a priority for Blackburn with Darwen because we want all of our children to have a rewarding and enjoyable school career and the very best start in life.”

Across England, children have improved their phonics skills in the last year, but they remain worse than before successive lockdowns in 2020 and 2021.

The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said the recent improvement is a testament to the “superb work of school staff” despite inadequate government investment.

Nationally, 79 per cent of Key Stage One children met the expected standard in phonics assessment – up from 75 per cent, but below 82 per cent in 2018-19.

Tiffnie Harris, primary and data specialist at the ASCL said the figures were “great” and heralded the hard work of schools throughout the pandemic.

She said: “Young children’s early learning was affected by that disruption and it is a testament to the superb work of school staff that results are improving despite the lack of adequate government investment in education recovery.

“However, schools are facing severe challenges because of staff shortages, underfunding, and high rates of child poverty, and it is vital that the government addresses these issues.”

The figures also show 67 per cent of children in Blackburn with Darwen reached the expected standard in reading in 2022-23 – in line with the year before.

However, there was an improvement in children’s writing skills, with 57 per cent meeting the expected standard last year.