We all know school readiness doesn’t start in reception. It happens during their time at nursery. Your team guides them through many of their ‘firsts’, like preparing them for their first day of school.
In this article, we explore the 5 S’s of school readiness: a guide for nursery managers to prepare children and their families for the next big step. We share where the term came from, the new definition and our easy-to-follow 5 S’s of school readiness framework.
In this article:
What is school readiness?
The term ‘school readiness’ gained popularity in 2011 following the Tickell Report review of EYFS. The review noticed that many children were not ready to transition into year 1 due to school ‘unreadiness’.
‘If they are not yet toilet trained, able to listen or get on with other children, then their experiences of school could present difficulties which will obstruct their own learning as well as other children’s.’
This was when the prime areas of learning were first introduced: communication and language, personal, social and emotional development and physical development.
In our recent interview with headteacher Richard Grogan, he described what a school-ready child looks like: a child who has the basic (operational) skills needed to get stuck into the exciting learning opportunities the early years offer.
For years, there has been no national definition of school readiness. Schools and nurseries rely on the two-year progress check and the EYFS profile to determine whether a child has reached a good level of development (GLD).
This is where our 5 S’s of school readiness comes in. We have created a framework to help your nursery team and families prepare for the school environment.
What is the definition of school readiness?
There is no government definition of school readiness. The Tickell Report, commissioned by the DfE, describes what school unreadiness looks like. The definition created by Schools Week and shared on Starting Reception was developed from the contributions of many early years experts.
Schools teach children academic knowledge and skills each year – their main concern when children join them in reception is how ready to learn they are, not what they already know.
Being ‘ready to learn’ relies on secure PSED, communication and language and physical development skills and confidence in applying them independently.
A child’s readiness for school is covered by the 5 S’s:
- Secure to be solo
- Set up for the day
- Skills to remove barriers
- Social skills
- Self-driven progress
Why is school readiness important?
A child’s first year in school is an emotional, social, physical, and mental workout. Every day, children learn new information, social rules (including inferred rules and societal norms), and the application of new skills. A lot is crushed into 10 months of the school year (assuming they start full-time in September).
‘I know that some people interpret the term ‘school readiness’ as implying that children could be pressured to learn to read and write at inappropriately young ages. Others have a wider concern about leaving children free to enjoy their early years without pressure, and argue that schools should be ready for children, not the other way around.
‘Balanced against this, some feel that we do children no favours if we fail to prepare them for the realities of the school environment.’
It’s important that every child is ready to start their school journey. Especially children who begin school with additional barriers to face – like social disadvantage, low-income backgrounds, ethnic minority children and those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
If a child begins their school career behind their peers, they are forever trying to catch-up, many never do.
Take a look at the GLD results 10 years apart…
What are Labour’s plans for school readiness?
When Labour’s manifesto for education was released, it had a heavy focus on improving the accessibility to quality early education. One target they are being measured against is for 90% of children to achieve a GLD in the EYFS profile by 2030 (the current GLD level is 67.7%).
There is yet to be a clear process and plan for how Labour intends to raise the standard of GLD. They have shared the plan for schools to receive additional funding for evidence-based language and communication interventions. The early years sector hopes this commitment to early intervention will filter to private, voluntary and independent nurseries.
There is yet to be a clear process and plan for how Labour intends to raise the standard of GLD. They have shared the plan for schools to receive additional funding for evidence-based language and communication interventions. The early years sector hopes this commitment to early intervention will filter to private, voluntary and independent nurseries.
The 5 S’s of school readiness
The definition created by Schools Week uses four main categories of ‘basic skills’: growing independence, building relationships and communicative skills, physical development and healthy routines.
To make it simple, we’ve broken down the concept of being school-ready into the 5 S’s of school readiness.
Of course, a child’s development is not linear. It is helpful for practitioners and parents to see the breakdown of skills a child must have to be school-ready.
- Solo: Secure attachment
- Set up: Ready to be there
- Skills: Reducing join-in barriers (operational skills)
- Social: Increasing enjoyment potential (social skills)
- Self-driven: Ensuring progress without assistance (internal skills)
1. Secure to be solo
Children who are secure to be solo will be willing to leave their parents and build relationships with other adults in school. This will never replace the primary caregiver role that parents have, yet it can be a hard pill to swallow when their child skips off without a backward glance.
It is more common for children to be anxious to leave their parents when they start school. Regular communication and check-ins can allay parents’ anxieties and help the transition from nursery to school. The importance of secure home-school and home-nursery relationships cannot be underestimated.
2. Setup for the day
Nursery days are jam-packed with every type of learning you can imagine. They are a physical, social, emotional, and mental workout for your children (and their practitioners!).
Children first need to be set up for the (school) day. These fundamentals fall into the ‘healthy routine’ category described by Starting Reception.
A child will be more ‘set up’ for the day ahead of them if they have:
- A good night’s sleep
- A healthy and nutritious breakfast (and access to healthy, fuelling snacks throughout the day)
- Access to suitable clothing and footwear
- A calm morning (this isn’t always the start many of your children experience, it will impact their ability to self-regulate throughout the day significantly)
3. Skills to remove barriers
The third S in our 5 S’s framework is a biggie. This stage includes all of the skills to remove barriers that can prevent joining in with basic tasks and activities. Not necessarily to be skilful at the task, but to be able to join in in a meaningful way.
The operational skills we talk about encapsulate the prime areas of learning (plus others).
- Communication and language skills
- To ask questions, articulate needs and understand simple instructions
- Physical development
- Dexterity, core stability, sensory systems, coordination to play
- Self-care skills
- Independence with toileting, dressing and undressing themselves, eating food independently – with cutlery is even better – and accessing water when thirsty
- Social skills
- Turn-taking and sharing with others, interacting with and building relationships with children and adults, to understand their emotions and feelings of others
Let’s think of an analogy to describe the concept of school readiness further.
We have the starting line of a race track. The race track is reset in line with new expectations as they move up each school year. For a typically developing child, this may be age-related expectations; for a child with developmental delays, it will be in line with their own ambitious targets.
Think about the barriers to starting each of the children below face. Who is most prepared to have a good start?
- Unable to dress in the race clothing
- Must wait for an adult to help with toileting
- Unable to communicate their needs
- Is waiting for someone to show them what to do
- Has given up as no immediate support
- Is uncomfortable ‘racing’ without a parent
- Has listened to instructions, asked the questions they have and are ready to give it a bash.
Nursery practitioners and early years teachers are there to guide children through their learning journey. Part of this learning journey relies on independence and resilience.
Children with secure ‘operational’ skills can participate and eventually enjoy their learning experience. Communication skills, listening to instructions, using initiative, in-the-moment problem solving, copying others and having resilience are essential skills for learning many children don’t have.
4. Social development
As humans, we’re social creatures and innately expect connection and interaction with others. Children work on their social development during nursery and school at a rapid rate, learning many lessons of social interaction through situational consequences.
For example, if a child is too physical during a game, the other child will often stop playing, play with others instead or seek support from an adult. The child can learn the natural consequences of social etiquette in partner games.
The social skills that help children to be school-ready are:
- Turn-taking and sharing with others
- Listening to and responding to simple instructions (from adults and children)
- Self-regulation skills
- Confidence to make and maintain friendships
- The ability to play in pairs and groups, taking different roles during play (not always the leader of the game, for example)
5. Self-driven progress
Possibly our favourite of the 5 S’s is self-driven progress. These are the skills that set children up for a lifetime of successful learning experiences. You’ll have heard the terms curiosity and a love for learning: it’s threaded through most Ofsted guidance.
When children have self-driven progress skills, they have the grit, confidence, resilience, and determination to progress.
Progress is not to be confused with ‘getting it right’. It comes in many forms: increased independence, a deepening of skills, acquiring more knowledge, and learning about how they learn (meta-cognition).
Children don’t join reception to be left to fend for themselves, they are encouraged to build independent learning skills where they can problem-solve in the moment and self-regulate to stay on task to reach their goals with the support from their new teachers.
Nursery managers and their practitioners work hard every day to prepare children for their steps towards big school and beyond. Due to the secure foundation of skills, confidence and resilience, children join reception equipped and prepared to tackle their next learning adventure.
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