Free pre-school is a need – literacy charity
THERE is no doubt that Guernsey is in need of quality, universally free pre-school education, the founder of a children's literacy and numeracy charity has said.
Denise Fallaize, of Every Child Our Future, said the charity's volunteers witnessed first hand how a lack of pre-school education could affect a child and said investment in early years could eventually lead to savings in the intervention measures required at primary school.
'Often those children who have gone to pre-school find it far easier to adapt to primary
education and come with a greater sense of maturity.'
Children who struggled with literacy needed to receive help, she said, before the age of seven. If not, the chances of that child catching up dwindled.
Intervention before the age of seven also reduced the stigma for those who needed more help – once they had caught up and turned seven it was likely they would not remember that they needed extra help.
She added that the charity was researching the long-term costs of illiteracy.
