Education and Skills Bill

Is not one of the great lessons from West Dunbartonshire and other experiences that doing such assessments on all children provides knowledge and understanding that will avoid a great deal of expense later and will lead to much more success in the education of children? I am glad to say that a lot of schools take this issue seriously, pick up early on the conditions that children start school with, and take appropriate action. That is a pretty good formula for being a good school. All the needs of all the children are looked after and they are filled with the enthusiasm for learning which they need, particularly when they start secondary school, which can be a bit of a leap for many. It is just good practice, but it has not spread as it should have done. Perhaps that is because the connection between spending money up front and saving it later has been allowed to loosen. Given best practice, it should save us a lot of money, although it involves spending money now rather than waiting until there is a crisis later.