EDUCATION: Half of children in England have not attained their expected level of development when they move from reception to their first year of school, new figures suggest.

Only 52 per cent of five-year-olds in England have reached a “good” level of development, the data published today shows.

And as few as 28 per cent of children have reached this level in some parts of the country, experts from University College London’s Institute of Health Equity said. Professor Sir Michael Marmot, director of the Institute, said the figures show that we “continue to fail our children.”