Thousands of young boys struggle to write name

New Government statistics show that while boys have made some progress, a gender gap remains, with girls performing better in many areas, including writing and counting.

The figures show that 15 per cent of five-year-old boys in England cannot write their own name, or short words like “cat” or “dog”, compared with eight per cent of girls. In 2011, 19 per cent of boys and 10 per cent of girls could not achieve this task.

The latest statistics also show that more than a third (38 per cent) of boys and almost a fifth (19 per cent) of girls cannot write a simple shopping list, or a letter to Santa.

Some eight per cent of boys cannot count up to 10, compared with five per cent of girls. This is also a slight improvement on last year, when nine per cent of boys and six per cent of girls could not do so.

The Department for Education figures for 2012 show how many five-year-olds are achieving specific early learning “goals” covering areas such as social skills, literacy and numeracy and emotional development.

Ministers have revamped early education, often dubbed the “nappy curriculum”, and cut the number of goals that a child is expected to reach by age five from 69 to 17.

The slimmed down curriculum, which focuses on communication and language, physical skills, and personal, social and emotional development, was introduced last month.

There is also a “progress check” for two-year-olds.

Education Minister Elizabeth Truss said: “We have improved the Early Years Foundation Stage to focus on outcomes. Parents now have a clearer sense of how their child is progressing.”