Give childminders their proper place in early years provision

Childhood should never be a challenge, especially in the fifth-wealthiest country in the world. Yet Rachel de Souza’s landmark report (“ Children’s commissioner declares ‘state of emergency’ on young people’s lives ”, 18 October”) reveals that, for far too many children across England, it is. Be born in the “wrong” place and your prospects and potential can look bleak. Your educational success is too often determined by your economic background.

This grimmest of all postcode lotteries is both true and far from new. Many years ago, when touring primary schools across the UK as part of my role as the CEO of Teach First, I saw children in reception who didn’t know how to play or even talk to other children, because they lacked a good early years foundation. Roll on two decades and things have gone backwards, not forwards. We pour £122bn into public education each year, and yet tens of thousands of children are falling through the cracks.

What’s most frustrating is that we know the answer. A child’s educational trajectory is hugely affected by whether they enter the school system with the right foundations for learning. Sure Start stood in recognition of that obvious but overlooked fact. When it was mercilessly scrapped – a victim of cuts despite its undeniable impact – we let down our most vulnerable. The same can be said of childminding, arguably the childcare provision best suited to many disadvantaged families.

Childminders can operate on any street, in any postcode. And the majority of children in their care come from the most deprived areas of England. Yet successive governments have stood by as childminder numbers have danced on the edge of oblivion. We cede all rights to despair at the “lottery” state of things when we’ve been making gambles with children’s futures for years. Yes, a devolution programme might work in some places. But it might not, and it could just further reinforce the postcode lottery.

And we know putting early years at the heart of a strategy, led by a government that is truly committed to driving better childhood outcomes, does work. It’s worked before and can work again. We need a government bold enough to focus on early years full in the knowledge that, by the time the positive impact comes to bear, they will be long gone. It won’t be something they can tout in election leaflets. But it is the right thing to do. Morally, practically, economically, we cannot keep condemning children to a childhood of “avoidable challenges” on the altar of political expediency.

Expanding funded hours entitlement has been an important start. Now we need the same ambition when it comes to growing and supporting the provision itself, particularly childminders, who are uniquely placed to support children in the communities that need it most and where the income goes to mircro-entrepreneurs in those communities, rather than private-equity-owned nurseries. Brett Wigdortz CEO and co-founder of Tiney.co, London N2 Related articles: Bill Gates: humanity will no longer be the highest form of intelligence Will a new Haredi party break up Israel’s ultra-Orthodox vote?

The Anglican paradox In your feature on Christian nationalism and protesting voices from other theological branches (“ The pastor who helped Tommy Robinson find God – and drag Christianity to the right ”, 18 October) there was one glaring omission. This country (England particularly) has long been run on the ideals of the secular European Enlightenment of the 18th century, not religion. Natural law, natural justice, a high degree of freedom of action and speech (within reason), an independent judiciary and freedom to worship – after the Enlightenment it gradually became easier to become a Catholic or dissenter.

A strange paradox is that our state-attached, broad-based Church of England has become a bastion against religious fundamentalism, learning as time passed to cloak itself in new ideas. Unlike in America, where the absence of an official church has led to what might be termed religious mania in the heartland. We’re getting on for two centuries since Darwin and plenty of political and economic reforms. St Francis may have given his cloak to a beggar but he didn’t, as far as I know, suggest that the beggar should not be in need of one.

I wonder if the Enlightenment gets taught in schools these days or whether teachers are a bit wary of upsetting those religious parents who believe that life on Earth started just a few thousand years ago? David Redshaw Saltdean, East Sussex Pump up the heat As air source heat pumps can cut carbon emissions by around 70% compared with a modern gas boiler, with ground source systems delivering higher cuts, Greg Jackson is right to urge the government not to cut support for them (“ If we pull the plug on heat pumps, dictators like Putin win ”, 18 October).

But the CEO of Octopus Energy, which has invested heavily in the technology, does not mention the fact that around 6m British homes would require significant insulation work to be suitable for a heat pump. Also, despite widespread claims that heat pumps also cut energy bills, the independent Censuswide survey of 1,000 heat-pump owners found 85% of respondents saying their pump did not reduce their bills; nearly 70% reported their heating costs going up.

Because electricity remains more expensive than gas, running an air source heat pump currently costs around 24% more than heating a home with a modern gas boiler. Ignoring subsidies, the average cost of replacing a gas boiler with an air source heat pump — including necessary changes to the heating system — is around four times higher than fitting a new gas boiler. All of which Jackson should have mentioned. David Murray Wallington, Greater London Haunted places Ben Coles’s extremely moving piece ( How rugby rallied and remembered its heroes after horrific Aberfan disaster , 18 October) took me back to the day of the disaster.

On Friday 21 October 1966, I was a teenager in Glasgow glued to the early evening BBC News on a small black and white TV. My family and I watched with mounting horror the grainy footage of the tragedy that had engulfed Pantglas junior school that morning, and marvelled at the heroic but increasingly desperate rescue efforts. My mother was not the only one in tears. I moved to south Wales in the 1980s and I vividly recall the haunting and sombre atmosphere the first time I drove through the village.

It put me immediately in mind of Glencoe; the sorrow and sadness in the air is almost tangible and never to be forgotten. Mike Pender Cardiff A healthy respect As a Catholic myself, I was shocked to hear of the Pope’s cancer diagnosis and, yes, it is unusual for the Vatican to be so upfront and detailed with this information ( The Observer view: Showing the Way , 18 October). But I don’t think King Charles should be criticised for keeping his cancer and treatment secret.

There is no need for the world to know, and if the media were privy to this information, there would be endless discussion about the nature of his illness. Pope Leo has chosen one way and the King another, and both deserve our respect and understanding. Judith A Daniels Great Yarmouth, Norfolk No budget for speculation Attention is “basically what we choose to have enter our conscious minds”, says Gloria Mark (“ The war for attention is also a war on reading ”, 18 October).

“There are so many things in the environment we can focus on, and we select some things to allow entry into our minds.” I am an octogenarian who will happily admit to paying less attention to news than I used to for one simple reason, of which the upcoming budget is a prime example. Far too many column inches devoted to speculation, all of which I choose to ignore. In a few days we will know for real what the government wants to do, and what it all means is what I want to read about!

Life is too short to waste time on “what ifs”. Robert Howard Beeston, Nottinghampshire Singing the blues Phil Collins not only booked my band, the Dark Blues, for the then Prince Charles’s 40th birthday party ( Phil Collins: ‘The nurse said, if you drink you will die. And I had a glass of wine’, 14 October), he later asked us to play at his own wedding to Oriane Cevey. We couldn’t, as we already had a booking that night. But he forgave us and asked us to play for Oriane in Geneva on millennium night.

So I forgive him for mis-remembering our name (as the Royal Blues). Charles remembered it OK – apparently when Phil told him that he had booked us, he said: “Are they still going? They played at my 21st.” Phil reassured him that we were indeed still playing, and we did the gig with him. Nigel Tully Markyate, Hertfordshire Papa! Nicole! – pah! The Renault adverts came for my name in the 90s (“ Why do advertisers keep turning our names into jokes? ”, 19 October).

For many years after, I batted away men who wanted me to call them Papa. Nicolle Anderson London SW20 Photograph by Oscar Wong/Getty Images Religion Education Children energy Childcare