England's children are facing a national 'emergency' as a landmark report reveals 'Dickensian' inequalities affecting life chances.
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report → face → chances
The most comprehensive data analysis of its kind has found wide variation across council areas, with Middlesbrough in the North East faring the worst and Cheshire East in the North West faring best.
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East → find → West
The study, by Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children's Commissioner for England, analysed 162 measures of children's lives, across topics including health, education, criminality, housing and welfare.
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study → analyse → health
Meanwhile, the data showed those living in Surrey in the South East were among the most privileged, as well as those in the London boroughs of Merton and Richmond upon Thames.
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those → show → Thames
The study, published tomorrow, found that overall, a third of children are not 'school ready' by the time they reach Reception.
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they → publish → Reception
Meanwhile, more than half of pupils do not achieve a good standard in their English and maths GCSEs at the age of 16.
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half → achieve → 16
Some 12 per cent of young people feel unsafe in their local area, and at least one million children had active referrals to mental health services last year.
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children → feel → services
England's children are facing a national 'emergency' as a landmark report reveals 'Dickensian' inequalities affecting life chances.
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report → face → chances
Pictured: Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children's Commissioner for England
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Souza → picture → England
In a speech tomorrow, Dame Rachel will say she wants to 'shine a light on where children need the most rigorous attention'.
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children → say → attention
'Every single local area in England has work to do to make lives better for their children,' she will say.
'
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she → have → children
In some communities, these challenges amount to nothing less than a state of emergency.
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challenges → amount → emergency
But what we see here is a litany of failure.
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see → see → failure
In so many areas of the country, children are being radically failed.'
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children → fail → country
Dame Rachel's team found the toughest areas to be a child using 96 metrics to allocate scores to local authorities.
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areas → find → authorities
They found children in Blackpool, Lancashire, are 27 times more likely to be missing from education than pupils in Lambeth, south London.
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children → find → Lambeth
They were also 46 times more likely to be excluded than children from Wiltshire.
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The proportion of children who get a good pass (grade 5 or above) in their English and maths GCSEs ranges from 70 per cent in Richmond upon Thames to 31 per cent in Knowsley, near Liverpool.
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who → get → Liverpool
These two areas were also the best and the worst in the country for having fun activities for children – with 93 per cent of children in Richmond upon Thames saying they had this, compared with 72 per cent in Knowsley.
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they → have → Knowsley
When it came to access to libraries, Westmorland and Furness in Cumbria performed best, while Sunderland in Tyne and Wear performed worst.
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Sunderland → come → Tyne
Almost a quarter of children in Croydon, south London, said they felt unsafe, compared with less than 7 per cent of those in Bedford.
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they → say → Bedford
The number of children living in temporary accommodation varied from one per 10,000 in Hartlepool, County Durham, to 1,169 per 10,000 – over one in 100 – in Westminster, London.
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number → live → Westminster
Cheshire East scored best overall – 730 out of 960 possible points – partly due to low rates of children in temporary accommodation, little school absence and high vaccination and dental care uptake.
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East → score → accommodation
Middlesbrough scored lowest – 408 out of a total of 960 possible points – partly due to a large proportion of children feeling unsafe, high levels of school absence and exclusion, poor primary school attainment and few public playgrounds.
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Middlesbrough → score → absence
The data came from the Department for Education and ten other public bodies.
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data → come → Education
Dame Rachel called on the Prime Minister Andy Burnham to create a children's emergency fund to bring services above a minimum standard in every part of the country.
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Rachel → call → country
A deputy mayor should be appointed in each area as part of the devolution programme to tackle the issue, she said.
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she → appoint → issue
Education Secretary Lucy Powell said: 'We're investing and reforming at every stage of a child's journey, from more childcare support for their earliest years and higher standards in our schools, broader community support with the rollout of our National Youth strategy and Young Future hubs, to more training and job opportunities as they approach adulthood.
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they → say → adulthood
Alongside that, I'm bringing local leaders together to help shape the future of education in their areas.
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I → bring → areas
We're putting more power in their hands to deliver.'
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We → put → hands
The Aporia
