BBC – Staff Writer
“Preschools help boost the academic careers of children who have fewer educational experiences at home, a study suggests. The effect lasts into secondary school with preschoolers from all backgrounds twice as likely to do AS-levels, say the Oxford University researchers. The advantage was more than just an early grasp of numbers and letters.”High quality early education makes the child a more effective learner,” said co-author Prof Kathy Sylva. Activities such as singing songs and nursery rhymes, teaching and playing with numbers and letters, reading with their children and taking them to the library “turn the child on to learning”, said Prof Sylva, professor of educational psychology at the university’s department of education.”(more)