72.3% is the best reception result yet. The free school meals gap got wider
What happened
On 22 October 2026 the Department for Education published the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile results for 2025 to 2026. This is the assessment teachers make of children at the end of reception, across 17 early learning goals. A child reaching the expected level in the goals for communication and language, personal, social and emotional development, physical development, literacy and mathematics is said to have reached a "good level of development". 72.3% of children reached a good level of development this year. That is up 4.0 percentage points on last year's 68.3%, and up 7.1 percentage points on 65.2% in 2021 to 2022. 70.9% were at the expected level in all 17 early learning goals, also up 4.0 percentage points. The average number of goals reached per child rose by 0.3, to 14.4. Writing rose the most of any individual goal, up 3.9 percentage points. Gross motor skills rose the least, up 0.9 points. The gap between the highest-scoring and lowest-scoring goals narrowed, from 19.8 to 16.8 percentage points. Across areas of learning, expressive arts and design scored highest and literacy lowest. Alongside the results, the department published local authority good level of development targets for 2028.
Why this matters
Reception is where gaps either open or close. Children arrive at school with very different amounts of talk, reading and play behind them, and the first year is the best chance to even that out. So a four-point rise in one year is genuinely good news, and the biggest single contributor is writing — the goal that has historically lagged furthest behind. But the figure to sit with is a different one. Among children not eligible for free school meals, 76.4% reached a good level of development. Among children who were eligible, 54.8% did. That is a gap of 21.6 percentage points, and it is wider than last year's 21.3 points. Read that together with the headline. Overall results improved by four points, and the gap between poorer children and everyone else still grew. Both groups improved; the better-off group improved slightly faster. Two other gaps are in the data. Girls reached 78.6% and boys 66.3%, a gap of 12.3 points — which has at least narrowed, from 13.7 points. And the largest gap of all is around special educational needs. Children with no SEN provision reached 80.5%. Children receiving SEN support reached 30.7%, and children with an education, health and care plan reached 5.0%.
What the evidence actually says
A few things about this dataset need care. These are teacher assessments, not tests. Reception teachers judge children against the early learning goals using their professional knowledge of the child. That is the right way to assess four and five year olds, but it means results can be influenced by how moderation and training change over time, not only by how children have changed. The 5.0% figure for children with an education, health and care plan should not be read as a measure of those children's progress. The early learning goals are a single national yardstick, and a child with significant additional needs may be making excellent progress against their own plan while not meeting goals designed for the typical range. The number tells you about the yardstick as much as about the children. On the individual goals, the published release gives changes in percentage points rather than the full figures for every goal, so the ranking of goals is clearer than their absolute levels. The disadvantage measure here is free school meal eligibility. That is a useful proxy for low income, but it is not the same as disadvantage in the round, and eligibility rules affect who is counted. Finally, one year is one year. A four-point rise is encouraging, and the three-year trend from 65.2% is more meaningful than any single jump. The local authority targets for 2028, published alongside, are what the improvement will eventually be judged against.
Practical advice
If you have a child in reception or starting school soon, here is what actually helps, and none of it requires buying anything. Talk to them, a lot, about ordinary things. Communication and language underpins almost everything else in the early learning goals. Narrating what you are doing while cooking or walking is genuinely useful. Read together every day, even for five minutes. Let them turn the pages and ask questions. Libraries are free and will issue a card to a child. Writing was the fastest-improving goal this year, and the groundwork is physical. Drawing, playdough, threading beads, using scissors and doing up buttons all build the hand strength that writing needs. Let them do things for themselves — coats, shoes, cutlery, tidying up. Personal, social and emotional development is one of the areas assessed, and independence is most of it. Talk to your child's teacher rather than waiting for a report. Reception teachers will tell you exactly which of the early learning goals your child finds hard, and what to practise. If your child may be eligible for free school meals, apply even if your school already provides universal infant free school meals. Registering brings extra funding to the school for your child specifically, and the gap in these results is part of what that funding is meant to close. If you have concerns about your child's speech, hearing, movement or behaviour, raise them early. Your health visitor, GP or the school's SEN co-ordinator are the routes in, and early is far better than later.
What to know
On 22 October 2026 the DfE published Early Years Foundation Stage Profile results for 2025 to 2026. 72.3% of children reached a good level of development at the end of reception, up 4.0 percentage points from 68.3% and up 7.1 points from 65.2% in 2021 to 2022. 70.9% met all 17 early learning goals, and the average per child was 14.4. Writing improved most, by 3.9 points. The free school meals gap widened slightly, to 21.6 percentage points: 76.4% for children not eligible against 54.8% for those eligible. The gap between girls (78.6%) and boys (66.3%) narrowed to 12.3 points. Children with no SEN provision reached 80.5%, those on SEN support 30.7%, and those with an education, health and care plan 5.0%. These are teacher assessments against a single national yardstick, not tests. Local authority targets for 2028 were published alongside. Sources: Department for Education, "Early years foundation stage profile results: 2025 to 2026", 22 October 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/early-years-foundation-stage-profile-results-2025-to-2026; Department for Education, "Early years foundation stage profile results" (Explore education statistics), https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/early-years-foundation-stage-profile-results; Department for Education, "Local authority good level of development (GLD) targets: 2028", 22 October 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-good-level-of-development-gld-targets-2028 This article is for general information and does not replace advice from a doctor, health visitor, speech and language therapist or other qualified professional. If you are worried about your child's development, speak to your GP, health visitor or your child's school.
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