School Readiness - a major milestone for children and families alike, but what does it really mean?
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- 6 days ago
- 8 min read
As school places are allocated and parents find out where their children will be heading in September it's a time filled with excitement and trepidation for children and adults alike. It's also important, that as parents and educators, we reflect on what school readiness really looks like for children.
At a time when school readiness seems to be a buzz word and the news reports that less children are school ready than ever before - what does this really mean?According to the 2025 school readiness survey by Kindred, 37% of children who started Reception last year were not considered to be "school ready," an increase from 33% in 2024. Teachers report growing issues with basic life skills, including 26% not being toilet trained and 25% struggling with basic language skills. In response to recent reports, the government have released a statement and a white paper focusing on early education. A statement in July 2025 promised landmark strategies to support families and early years settings and the government white paper, published in February 2026 “Every Child Achieving and Thriving”, emphasizes strengthening early years (EYFS) by focusing on high-quality care, bridging the gap between nurseries and schools, improving SEND support through better funding, and launching a new Best Start in Life strategy.
It prioritizes a "broad and rich" curriculum to foster curiosity and foundational skills.
The Best Start in Life Strategy focuses on enhancing the quality, affordability, and accessibility of early years education, alongside improving transitions by strengthening partnerships between early years settings and schools to ensure smoother experiences for young children. It emphasises a broad curriculum with a renewed focus on early literacy, including communication, language, numeracy, and social-emotional development. The strategy also addresses disadvantage by proposing a new funding model to better support children from lower-income backgrounds, while prioritising the early identification of SEND through initiatives such as, the Inclusive Mainstream Fund and a £1.8 billion “Experts at Hand” service. Additionally, there is a strong emphasis on staff development, promoting high-quality care where practitioners are responsive and actively support children’s independence.
Research shows that speech and language issues are at an all-time high and it doesn’t look like this will abate this year. The charity Speech and Language UK report that children are not starting school ready to communicate. Their research indicates that “They don’t have the vocabulary to express what they are feeling. They’re about two years behind when they arrive.”
However, if so many children are ‘not ready’ it's time to reconsider what ‘ready’ looks like in schools and in children's most formative years. It's not a secret that Scandinavia has arguably one of the best education systems in the world – with later school starting ages but high quality pre-school education for all. With outdoor learning and nature at the heart of learning and less screen time and testing as a focus they are doing something right. We know that to maximise a child’s development they must have the opportunities for social interaction and for a range of environmental and cultural experiences. At Tick Hub, we see this as a starting point for modern school readiness.
So, What does “school readiness” actually mean?
What is School Readiness?
There are often two differing views on school readiness – the holistic, child centred view and the academic view. Really, there can only be one view – that the whole child is at the centre of school readiness. Because, like building a wall, if some bricks are not in place at the bottom securely, eventually the wall will tumble under the weight of all it holds and at the moment, communication is that key element - the cement that needs to develop to hold the wall in place. School readiness isn’t about academic ability alone. It doesn’t mean that a child needs to be able to read, write words or their name, or count to 50 before they start school. Instead, it refers to a combination of skills, attitudes, and developmental milestones that help children adapt to the school environment. Children are only children once – they grow a little older every day and all children are born to be able to learn. All children are unique, they are innately different and grown and develop at different speeds, they learn in different ways, and achieve different things, this is the bio-cognitive development process – the world would be boring if we were all the same.
Broadly speaking, school readiness can be broken down into three key areas aside from the academic expectations of being at school. If children can be successful in their prime areas of learning, then they can use these as a springboard to academic success.
1. Emotional and Social Development
Children should be able to separate from their main caregiver with relative ease, interact with other children, and begin to understand sharing, turn-taking, and cooperation. Confidence and curiosity also play a big role here.
2. Communication and Language Skills
Being able to express needs, understand simple instructions, and engage in basic conversation is essential. This helps children build relationships and participate in classroom activities.
3. Physical Development and Independence
Simple self-care skills—such as using the toilet independently, washing hands, putting on a coat, or opening a lunchbox—are incredibly important. Fine motor skills, like holding a pencil or using scissors, are also helpful but develop over time.
Common Misconceptions
Many parents worry their child is “behind” if they can’t read or write before starting school. The compulsory government baseline is completed by all children in the first 6 week of starting school. This controversial on-entry assessment looks at pupils’ basic skill in maths, literacy and communication and language skills as they arrive at school. The results of this are compared with pupils’ attainment at the end of key stage 2 to measure the progress that children make throughout their time in primary school. The first results of this progress measure will be published in 2028 so there is no current data to show the impact on baseline attainment on future attainment and progress through primary school.
In reality, pushing formal academics too early can sometimes be counterproductive. Play, exploration, and conversation are far more valuable at this stage. It is essential that school, pre schools settings and families are working collaboratively to ensure that children are ready and misconception are dispelled.
How Parents Can Support School Readiness
We must also look at the research that backs up our understanding of children’s development. We know, on average, children are toilet trained 2 years later than they were 25 years ago – this undoubtably has an impact on children’s independence and we know more and more children are not fully toilet trained on entry to school.
With this in mind we must consider what we can do as settings and families to help children to be ready for their transition to school and this isn’t academics, you don’t need expensive resources or strict routines to prepare a child for school. Everyday activities can make a big difference: Children must be given the opportunities to develop their building blocks of life before starting school, during school and then as adults they continue to add blocks. To do this they need opportunities to:
Socialise – allow children to be other others, to play, to make mess and explore, to take turns and to learn to share and negotiate. Socialisation allows children to develop respect, empathy, kindness and cooperation skills.
Build resilience – to explore and take risks, to learn from mistakes and keep trying, whether this is climbing a tree, building a model or playing a game.
Ensure their physical and mental health – we all know that being in nature is good for our mental health and wellbeing – it’s good for children’s too – so get outside in nature, explore, walk, climb, scurry, run and roll – it’s good for you!
Time to communicate, to speak and to listen – talk, read stories, tell stories, spent time with friends and family. Talk is key in a child’s development. Research shows that children who listen to stories every day hear up to 30 million more words that those who do not hear stories. The disadvantage gap in language at 5 is a strong predictor of how well a person will do at the age of 34. (Institute of Education).
Independence and self-care – children should be able to manage their own basic self-care. Secure attachments and modelling will help children develop skills such as toileting independently, putting on shoes and socks, dress and undressing, asking for help and talking about their needs and feelings, using cutlery effectively to eat, holding a pencil to make marks.
Motor skills and strength - as children are spending more time taking part in sedentary activities in their formative years its important that we recognise the impact this has - if a child has not had the opportunities to develop their gross motor skills by rolling, running, climbing, sweeping and exploring they will not have the strength to then develop their fine motor skills to be able to paint, draw, thread, cut and eventually write. So, if the big movements aren't there, the small ones won't be ready to develop. Programmes such as dough disco and Squiggle while you wiggle help with this but a lot of this come back to play - What children are actually doing when playing is bountiful: they are problem-solvers, collaborators, detectives, investigators, artists and delegators all which developing skills without even thinking about it!
Secure attachments – children who have a secure attachment to their care givers are more likely to thrive, to take risks and to learn. These relationships help children to develop functional relationships in later life.
School readiness is not about being ahead in phonics, writing or maths it is about being ready to learn these things in school. School readiness is about ensuring that a child has secure physical, emotional and neurological wellbeing – this is school readiness and everything else will come in time.
Signs a Child is Ready for school
Every child is unique and develops at a different rate; we must also remember that there is a year’s age difference between the oldest and youngest children when they start school – that equated to 20% (1/5) more life experience and growth. But age does not indicate readiness, when children have enriching language rich experiences they will thrive. There are a range of indicators that children are ready for the next step in their journey. These include, but are not limited to;
Willingness to explore new environments
Ability to follow simple instructions
Basic independence in self-care
Interest in other children and play
If a child isn’t showing all of these yet, that’s okay. Development is not a race, it’s about the small steps and should not be about comparison to others.
Final Thoughts
School readiness is not about ticking boxes or meeting rigid standards. It’s about helping children feel confident, capable, and excited to learn. With patience, encouragement, rich language and a focus on everyday experiences, most children will naturally develop the skills they need to thrive. Starting school is the beginning of a long, and exciting, journey—one that should be approached with reassurance rather than pressure. For parents, the goal isn’t perfection, but preparation rooted in understanding and support. So, as children travel the path of school readiness and transition to school they will grow and change in many ways. However, throughout this journey its important that we, as parents and educators, embrace play and interaction because communication unlocks a world of opportunity, joy and learning.
Below is a short guide about preparing for school and a book list of stories to share together with children as part of preparing for transition to school.
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