Will they be ready?

Parents or others often worry whether a child will be ready for school. It can seem a big jump – will they be OK, will they keep up, will they be happy and learn?

It is not helped by the fact that nobody is really sure what it means to be ready for school. Some countries have a definite idea of “school readiness” – things children are expected to be able to do, while other places don’t

And some people think it should be more about making sure school is ready for the children!

What everyone can agree on, though, is that there are some skills that help. The more children have these, the easier the start at school might be. You can find some info about these below, and how to help children develop them.

But also we need to remember that schools know children develop naturally at different rates, so they are used to dealing with a wide range. We all get there in the end

No worksheets needed!

So – what matters? And what can we do? What none of this is about is gluing children to tables and working through endless sheets of numbers and letters!

It can all be done through fun, play and talk.

You’ll find some posters below with ideas for each of four main areas – wellbeing, reading, writing and mathematics.