The “early learning” gap between disadvantaged four- and five-year-olds and their peers has widened in 76 out of 152 local authorities in England, a new analysis from Save the Children has revealed.

At the end of Reception year, teachers assess whether children are at a “good level of development”, meaning they have mastered skills such as speaking in full sentences, following simple instructions and expressing themselves.

And the charity has found that in those 76 areas poorer children were further behind their wealthier classmates in 2018 than in 2017.

The analysis comes after recent statistics from the DfE shoed that nationally the gap between poorer pupils and others widened in 2018 for the first time in four years.

Nationally, 43 per cent of pupils eligible for free school meals did not reach a good level of development at the end of reception year in 2018, compared to 26 per cent of all other pupils.

The charity is calling on the government to do more to improve the skills of early years staff.

"Children who start school without the tools to learn find it incredibly difficult to catch up, which risks further locking children into poverty in the future," Steven McIntosh, Save the Children’s director of UK policy, advocacy and campaigns, said.

“Our analysis shows that a lack of support for childcare quality in England is still letting poverty dictate children’s chances. Not only that, but the gulf between children in poverty and their peers is widening in many places.

“The government has made welcome commitments to close the early learning gap.

"But they are ignoring an early years staffing crisis that will continue to undermine children’s potential – especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

"There is a national shortage of graduate early years teachers who are specifically trained to help children who are falling behind.”

The analysis reveals that progress in closing the early learning gap has stalled in 22 local authorities, and the gap is shrinking in 52.

The two smallest authorities which have just one school for primary-aged children each are not included.

Overall, the biggest early learning gap is found in West Berkshire, the authority around Newbury, where disadvantaged five-year-olds are 33 percentage points more likely than their classmates to have fallen behind.

By contrast, Hackney is the only local authority in the country where there is no early learning gap at all. The gap there has narrowed by 4 percentage points and children from poorer families now do just as well as their better-off peers.

Regionally, the biggest gap is found in the South West, at 22 percentage points. The smallest gap is in London, where it is 11 percentage points.

The gap has widened in three regions – the North East, East and South West. It is closing in just two – Yorkshire and the Humber, and East Midlands.

The charity has already warned about a crisis in early years teacher training after the number of people wanting to become early years teachers dropped by a third this year.

And earlier this year it criticised the decision to axe a key commitment by the government to carry out a study into how to increase the number of graduates working in early years in disadvantaged areas.

Damian Hinds, education secretary, has recently pledged to halve the number of pupils starting school behind in talking and reading skills by 2028.

Nadhim Zahawi, children and families minister, said: "Children from different backgrounds have a range of different needs but we know that too often ‎those from disadvantaged backgrounds arrive at school without the skills they need to thrive. That's why the Secretary of State wants to halve the proportion of children starting year 1 without the expected level of communication and literacy skills.

“We already have help in place, such as 15 free hours of early learning and childcare per week for the most disadvantaged 2-year-olds, and we’re supporting disadvantaged children when they arrive at school through the Pupil Premium grant – worth £2.4 billion this year.

“But the truth is that the majority of a child’s time is spent at home so we have launched projects backed by nearly £18 million, to provide better support for parents with children’s early language and literacy development.”

Lynne Doherty, West Berkshire’s executive member for Education, Children and Young People said: “We are obviously disappointed to have been highlighted in this way.

“Raising the achievement of our most vulnerable pupils remains a high priority across all of our schools, but it is not a simple problem to overcome."

Ms Doherty added that some improvements had been seen recently. "For example at KS1 over the last three years we have seen a 12 per cent increase in those reaching the expected standard in the combined measure of reading, writing and maths," she said.

“Of course, our aim is for these pupils to catch up with their non-disadvantaged peers as soon as possible, and we will continue to work towards this. But ultimately, our aim is that at 16 they have real choices about their next steps and at this vital point, their performance, and therefore their options, are similar to other disadvantaged pupils nationally.”