Supporting school readiness

A collaborative group of leading early years organisations have created a new list of skills that can be used by parents, carers, childminders and primary school teaching staff to prepare their children for starting school

The ‘Starting Reception’ definition of school readiness is an agreed list of suggested skills and activities which parents should be practising with their children in preparation for starting school in Reception year.

It has been created to plug the information gap highlighted by teachers in the latest Kindred Squared annual report on School Readiness. This year’s survey found that teachers and parents have very different views on what school readiness means; with 9 out of 10 parents saying they thought their child was ready for school, but according to teachers, only 1 in 3 children were actually ready. 1 in 5 parents hadn’t heard about school readiness at all.

The new Starting Reception website has all the information and recommendations for parents, carers and families.

Partnership for Children supports the work of this collective of early years organisations by sharing our free play-based personal, social and emotional development (PSED) activities.

The activities are designed for families to use at home with 3–5-year-olds to support with the transition to Reception and can be downloaded here.

Further information