Children's Plan
The Children's Plan, announced on 11 December, is a ten-year strategy to make England the best place in the world for children and young people to grow up. Developed through consultation with the public and experts, it places families at the heart of everything we do.
The plan is built on the fact that young people spend only one fifth of their childhood at school, and that they learn best when their families support and encourage them and when they are experiencing positive activities outside the school day. It sets out a series of ambitions for all areas of children's lives:
- At age 5, 90% of children will be developing well across all areas of the
early years foundation stages
- At age 11, 95% of children will have reached expected levels in literacy
and numeracy
- At age 19, 90% will have achieved the equivalent of five good GCSEs
- At age 19, the majority of children will be ready for higher education with
at least 6 out of 10 children achieving the equivalent of A-levels
- Child poverty will be halved by 2010 and eradicated by 2020
- There will be clear improvements in child health, with the proportion of
overweight children reduced to 2000 levels
- The number of first time young offenders will be reduced so that by 2020 the number receiving a conviction, reprimand or final warning for a recordable offence has fallen by a quarter
These ambitions will be achieved with the help of a wide range of specific policies, drawing upon £850 million of investment (some new and some already announced), many of which will have an impact on Every Child Matters.
The DCSF website contains a press notice summarising the new policies, as well as more detailed information on all aspects of the plan and a version of the Children's Plan aimed at practitioners, with versions for parents and young people to follow shortly. It also contains information on Implementing the Children's Plan.
This page was last updated on 10 April 2008
