The five-year-olds who can't write their name after a year in school

Official figures revealed 15 per cent of five year olds are unable to scribble 'mum', 'dad' or their first name from memory.

Fourteen per cent reached the end of their reception year unable to say the alphabet.

Overall, more than half of children fall short of Government targets for development at the age of five despite state spending of £21billion on nursery education and childcare since Labour won power in 1997.

Just 46 per cent were judged by their teachers to have reached a 'good level of development'.

Children who achieve this milestone can show they take turns in conversation, guess at the meaning of simple sentences, can write a letter to Father Christmas, blend sounds to say simple words, are attentive in class, know the importance of school rules and respect others.

Despite an improvement on

last year, 289,000 children - 54 per cent of five year olds - failed to meet the standard.

Pupils' standards of behaviour, respect for others and readiness to learn had actually declined.

Meanwhile, fewer five year olds than previously thought were judged to be high-achieving.

Statisticians blamed tougher assessment arrangements.

Boys have already fallen far behind girls, trailing them on every single measure of achievement.

The figures from the Department for Children, Schools and Families also showed:

35 per cent fail to recognise simple words such as 'dog' or 'pen';

12 per cent can't count to ten;

11 per cent don't understand what addition involves;

8 per cent don't know that in English print is read from left to right and top to bottom;

58 per cent would not know, for example, that it was wrong to take crisps from another pupil's drawer.

Under the Government assessment-system, teachers observe five year olds as they play and record their progress.

Pupils are judged against 13 ninepoint scales by the end of their reception year at primary school.

They must score six points out of nine in seven of the scales to achieve a 'good' level of development.

This year's results, for 535,000 infants, will pile pressure on ministers following research from Durham University which found massive state investment in nurseries and childcare had failed to improve toddlers' ability to learn.

Tory families spokesman Maria Miller said yesterday's figures were further evidence that the flagship Sure Start scheme aimed at helping the poorest families was 'not doing enough to help the children that are most in need'.

But Children's Minister Beverley Hughes said attempts to raise communication skills were beginning to yield benefits. Children's ability to link sounds and letters was four percentage points up on last year.

• The number of top degrees awarded is soaring at leading universities, figures showed yesterday.

Elite institutions are increasing their share of firsts and 2.1s faster than less prestigious rivals, sparking accusations of widespread degree inflation.

An eight-year analysis by Professor Mantz Yorke, a visiting professor of education at Lancaster University, reveals a widening gap in degree achievement between the Russell Group of 20 elite universities, which includes Oxford and Cambridge, and the 'new universities'.

In a book, he shows that ten out of 16 Russell Group universities saw an increase in the number of good degrees awarded in at least half their subject areas between 1995 and 2002.

This compares with only two out of 37 new universities - former polytechnics that became universities in the 1990s - and one in 34 more traditional institutions that are not members of the Russell Group.

In the humanities, the proportion of firsts and 2.1s awarded at Russell Group universities rose from 72.5 per cent to 82 per cent.