School Ready
Is your child ready to start school?
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Page Contents
Happy & Ready to Start School
Is your child school ready? Starting ‘Big School’ is a significant milestone for you and your child. If (like me) you are busy juggling work, family and social commitments getting your child school ready can feel a bit overwhelming.
Need some help? Look no further, this blog is for you! Read through to find all of the information you need to help you get started. In order to support you with the ‘school ready’ process I will first of all be providing you with some much needed info. I will take you through a brief overview of the Early Years Framework (what your child will be learning). Additionally, I will outline The Characteristics for Effective Learning and give a brief explanation as to what sensory play is and why it is important. From there, I focus in on the four areas of learning which are essential for school readiness.
Four Areas for School Ready
- language & communication
- physical development
- personal, social & emotional development
- creative expression
The four areas above have been chosen as they are the ones vital for pre-school preparation. Sometimes there can be an exaggerated focus on preparing our children with literacy and mathematic skills. However, what pre-school children really need are the tools which enable them to be confident, independent, resilient and happy learners. Read on to find out how you can give your child the head start they deserve so they are ready to start school.
The obligatory “My First Day” photos!
The Early Years Framework
When your child starts school they will be entering their final year of the Early Years Framework. This framework starts from birth and progresses through to five. It covers 7 areas of learning and the nature of this curriculum is that they are interrelated. So, your child’s early years teachers will be able to access their physical development, social skills and writing progress all through the same observation.
The Characteristics of Effective Learning
The framework also outlines three characteristics of effective learning:
- PLAYING & EXPLORING – having a go, risk taking and investigating for themselves
- ACTIVE LEARNING – maintaining concentration, showing resilience and showing a sense of pride in their work
- CREATING & THINKING CRITICALLY – developing their own ideas, noticing things around them and making links as well as creating their own strategies for completing tasks
The characteristics of effective learning are essential skills that all people need in order to be successful and thrive.
It is essential that children are given as much opportunity as possible to develop these characteristics in the early years of their education.
Whilst at school, your child’s teacher will be encouraging them to develop these characteristics of effective learning. Your child will begin to develop the tools they need to become life-long learners. As a result, when you ask your child what they did at school they might reply;
I played!
If they say that, great!
What your child should be doing at school:
- playing
- exploring
- finding out
- taking risks
- solving problems
- developing resilience
- working through their emotions
- experimenting with friendships
- being creative
- thinking outside of the box
Why is Early Education so … Messy?
Sensory Play
I love entering early years settings, they’s always so much going on! Sand in one corner, water in another, a mud kitchen, painting easels, play dough… Everywhere you look there’s a multitude of fun, stimulating and often very messy activities.
For me, mess = excitement (and a lot of work!) But, I understand that for others it’s more hard work and stress than fun. This is why I wanted to take the time to explain why sensory (otherwise known as messy) play is so important for your child’s early education.
Any play that stimulates your child’s sense of touch, smell, taste, sight or hearing is sensory play. This can include listening to music, using play dough, cooking, dancing, painting, making slime, playing with food, water or sand.
Making Connections & Building Memory
Sensory play allows children to make connections with the world around them. It also provides opportunities for safe exploration of new smells, noises, textures etc. This can be beneficial for children who struggle with things that are new, for example new foods or sounds. Playing with things that are new allows children to see that they are ‘safe’.
In addition, it is well known that sensory play supports memory.
When we use our senses for learning we are more likely to remember what we have learnt.
Do you struggle with messy play at home?
If you struggle with sensory (messy) play, think about ways in which you can manage this. Children love sensory play and there are huge benefits to learning this way so it is worthwhile thinking about how you can support this type of play at home.
Stop & Think: Ask yourself these questions to help you manage your worries around sensory play:
1) Which areas in the house are totally out of bounds for sensory play?
2) Where is it okay for sensory play to take place? (Even if the only answer is outside that is absolutely fine!)
3) In the areas where sensory play is allowed, what are my boundaries?
4) What equipment is needed in order to help contain the play?
Once you have answered these questions take the time to plan out one activity that you would deem to be messy or sensory. This could be using play dough, making slime or painting. Have a go at the activity with your child, being mindful of what was successful and what needs improvement for next time. For example, do you need to buy a larger wipeable cloth for your dining room table?
Essential School Ready Preparation
School Ready: Focus Area 1 Language & Communication
Exposing your child to lots of new language is an integral part of pre-school preparation. As is encouraging them to speak for themselves to make their needs and opinions understood. Every year, early years teachers are experiencing larger numbers of children starting school with under developed language and communication skills which can be a real hinderance for those children.
The Vocabulary Gap
The evidence shows us, the richer a child’s language the greater their advantage both academically and socially. There’s something called “The Vocabulary Gap.” This highlights –
the number of words a child knows in their pre-school years is directly related to their outcomes later on in life.
In short, we want to ensure all children have a wealth of language experiences so that they can achieve their absolute best at school.
Confidence in the Classroom
The broader your child’s language the more likely they will understand what is being communicated in the classroom. For example, in maths, a lot of the concepts are reliant on the child understanding the words being used. A simple example of this is solving a problem such as finding 1 more. If a child doesn’t fully understand what ‘more’ means they will find it difficult to solve this problem even if they can count to 10 confidently.
In addition to knowing lots of words, speaking is an essential pre-writing skill. If a child is unable to speak clearly in a sentence they will find it challenging to write one down. Likewise, clarity of speech is vital when it comes to writing. A child who speaks clearly will be able to hear the sounds in the words they want to write. Modelling clear pronunciation and setting high expectations for speech and grammar at home is really helpful for preparing your child to learn to write.
Encourage your child to speak up and out!
Four Simple Ways to Support Language Development at Home
Number 1 -> Read
- read, read & read some more
- visit the library (even if it’s just for a browse)
- read to your child every evening before bed
- discuss new vocabulary together during story time
- ask your child questions about what they can see in the pictures
- when a book is familiar, ask your child to ‘read’ it to you or a younger sibling
Number 2 -> Developing a love of reading
- find fun places to read, make reading more than just about bedtime
- buy books as presents
- when shopping take a trip to the local book shop; spend time browsing and looking at what is there (you don’t need to buy any)
- give your child an early bedtime, leave them awake in bed with a selection of books
- find out what interests your child and buy them books around that topic
Number 3 -> Chit-Chat
- speak to your child and engage in chit-chat
- ask your child questions and leave space for them to answer you
- try not to speak for your child when someone else asks them a question
- model out loud your thought processes; “If I go to the shops now it will be a rush, however, I could pop by later in the car.”
- go on little or big adventures
- engage in new experiences as a family
- when out and about, ask questions (even if you don’t know the answers) – “I wonder what this flower is called?”
- learn new facts and words together – looks up your questions together on Google
- don’t be afraid to use sophisticated language
REMEMBER: Your child is learning a new language, it is up to you what words you want them to learn first. You could teach them the word ‘nice’ or you could teach them the word ‘wonderful.’ The learning process is the same for both words. So, why not teach the word wonderful first?
Your child’s ability to learn sophisticated words will astound you!
(In school, at the age of 4, children learn the words digraph and trigraph – their little brains are amazing!)
Number 4 ->Family Adventures
One of the best ways to encourage your child to develop language skills is to provide them with a wealth of experience, such as; exploring in the woods, going to the zoo, cooking at grandma’s house or visiting the allotment. When a child takes part in something new and hands on it’s really exciting and in most cases, excitement fuels talking!
Some snaps from our family trip to Birmingham’s Chinese New Year Festival. We went as my son was learning about the festival in his Foundation year at school. During our time there he learnt so much (in fact we all did!) Lots of new vocabulary was learnt as the children saw and engaged in actives which they had never seen or done before. Both children learnt that even though Chinese dragons look really cool in books they are quite scary up front. They experienced the thud of drums pounding through their bodies and the peace of a martial artist. You can not beat real life experiences!
Stop & Think: When you next have some family time, try to notice all of the new experiences your child is being exposed to. Think about the language they are developing, the risks they are taking, the problems they are solving and the connections they are making.
Use the adventures you go on as a family as an opportunity to develop your child’s language skills. Give them the language and understanding to out smart their new class teacher!
Side Note: a four year taught me about the life cycle of a ladybird. It’s because of him that I now teach it as part of my curriculum!
Exploring the world around you with your child will provide so many great learning opportunities.
School Ready: Focus Area 2 Physical Development
Providing lots of opportunities to develop gross and fine motor skills will really benefit your child. These skills are absolutely essential for completing a large number of everyday tasks at school (and home).
1 ->Gross Motor Skills
Gross motor skills allow us to make big, powerful but controlled movements. An essential part of pre-school preparation is providing lots of opportunities for the development of big muscles.
Strength for Reading & Writing
Gross motor strength is directly linked to the skills needed for reading and writing. A strong core enables us to sit upright and we need strong shoulders and arms to brace ourselves into a correct writing or reading posture. Have you ever seen a child or an adult slumped over their desk when they are working? This is because they have not developed strength in their back, shoulders, core or arms to enable them to sit correctly. Encouraging pre-school children to develop their gross motor strength not only benefits their start to school but also their posture and strength later on in life.
Sitting Cross-Legged
Stop & Think: As an exercise have a go at sitting cross-legged on the floor (if you can’t cross your legs lay them out in front of you). Try & maintain a straight back, staying seated in that position whilst you read a story to your child.
How did you get on? What muscles in your body did you begin to notice?
These are the muscles your child will need to make use of everyday at school. Providing opportunities for your child to develop a strong core and back will give them a great start to school.
From day one, this is the position that your child will have to sit in for periods of time throughout the day. Some children do struggle with this and end up uncrossing their legs or wriggling around on the carpet to make themselves more comfortable. It is for reasons like this, why starting school with good core and back strength is really helpful.
‘W’ Sitting
At times children sit in a ‘W’ position. This is where their bottom is on the floor but their legs are bend backwards either side of their trunk in a ‘W’ like shape. When a child does this, it can be an indicator of poor core strength. This position can put pressure on knee and hip joints and can lead to poor posture. If your child sits naturally in this position encourage them to sit in an alternative way, with their legs straight in front, to one side of their bodies or better still crossed in front.
If your child starts school with good gross motor strength they will be ready to learn.
Active children become strong children and strong children are ready to write!
2 ->Fine Motor Skills
Fine motor skills allow us to use the smaller muscles in our hands and wrists to make accurate and controlled movements. These movements enable us to complete tasks such as holding and controlling a pen or a pair of scissors correctly. If children don’t spend time developing their fine motor skills before they attempt sophisticated tasks such as writing words or sentences, then writing may end up being uncomfortable and unenjoyable.
The last thing we want is for children’s early writing experiences to be negative as this can fuel unhelpful mind sets around the task of writing, such as, “I don’t like writing” or “I can’t write.”
These thoughts can be difficult to combat and unfortunately can follow a child throughout their time at school. Early years teachers work hard to ensure writing experiences are enjoyable and rewarding for children, but ultimately if they are not ready to write, there can be challenges to this.
Independence
Fine motor skills are necessary for completing a number of everyday tasks which enable children to become increasingly independent. Brushing their teeth, managing zips and buttons, turning taps on and off, using a knife and fork, to name but a few, all require good fine motor control.
Fine and gross motor skills are interrelated. For instance, in order to write correctly at a table we need to develop our core strength (gross motor) so that we can support our bodies and sit in an upright position, in addition we also need to be able to hold our pencil securely in our chosen hand using our finger and wrist strength (fine motor).
3 ->Cross-Lateral Development
Most of us have a dominant side to our bodies, which means we find it easier to control our movements on that side. However, in order to be able to write, children need to be able to coordinate both sides of their bodies together at the same time. The process of writing includes being able to use one hand to hold the paper, while the other carefully controls the pen to make meaningful marks. This ability to coordinate the two sides of the body, while doing different things with each side, is known as ‘cross-lateral integration’. It allows us to perform a multitude of everyday tasks.
Activities which develop cross-lateral integration are ones that encourage hands and feet to cross the core of our bodies. Lots of Yoga exercises encourage cross-lateral development as does riding a bike or scooter.
School Ready: Focus Area 3 Personal, Social & Emotional Development
When you ask a parent the question, “What do you want for your children?” Most will answer,
I just want them to be happy.
We really do! We want our children to be happy and play their part in supporting the happiness of others.
Have you ever heard of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? Very simply put, it is a theory that outlines the needs of a person and the order in which they must be met. These needs are vital as they motive our behaviours. For example, one of the primary needs of a person is the need to sleep. If a child is tired at school, their primary motivation will be to sleep (not to learn). As part of a child getting ready to start school it is important that their basic needs are met.
Maslow’s 5 Hierarchies:
- physical
- safety
- loved, sense of belonging & feeling special
- self-esteem, confidence & respected by peers
- self-actualisation (realisation of your talents/potential, development of ‘drive’)
My Needs – My Start to School
We can use Maslow’s Hierarchy as a tool to do all we can to send our children to school feeling happy and secure.
Stop; Breath; & Now you can Think
Use the checklist below to help with preparing your child for starting school. Sit down with a cuppa and a notebook. Take your time to ask yourself each question and write down 1 or 2 action points.
REMEMBER: Be kind to yourself! Don’t blame yourself if your child is struggling with a couple of the areas. The blame game doesn’t work! Problem solving does! Ain’t no one pointing a finger around here.
You are loved.
Hierarchy of Needs School Ready Checklist
- Does my child eat & sleep well? If no, what can you do to support this? What books/blogs can you read? Do you need to speak to a GP for some advice?
- Does my child feel safe at home? If no, what changes need to be made?
- Does my child feel safe when out and about? If no, how can you support your child to feel safe in new scenarios? Are there any books you can read to your child to help?
- In what ways do I ensure my child feels loved by me? (This is your opportunity to blow your own trumpet! Write down all the great things you do that reinforce your love for your child like whispering, “I love you,” and wiping their snotty noses when they fall over.)
- Does my child have a positive group of friends? If no, think about some local groups you can join to support with friendship making.
- Is my child confident in who they are? What boosts your confidence, try out some of these ideas on your child and see if they make an impact.
- Is my child respected (not feared) by their friends? Think about ways in which you can support your child with social engagement with peers if you suspect their friends don’t respect them.
School Ready: Focus Area 4 Expressive Arts & Design
In preparation for being school ready, I place a heavy weighting on developing a child’s creative expression. Why is this? Well, for one, most children LOVE it! It’s fun and freeing! Creative expression encompasses so much including;
- imaginative role play
- experimenting with sounds
- movement & dance
- poetry
- story telling
- drama
- sculpture
- portraiture
- fashion
- photography
- digital art
- architecture
- (and so much more!)
Not Just School Ready, Life-Long Ready!
Allowing your child to experiment with a range of art forms will provide them with plenty of opportunities to;
- try out new ideas
- make mistakes
- get frustrated
- develop their problem solving strategies
- express themselves freely
- feel ‘good’ when doing something
- enjoy a sense of pride from their accomplishments
- take part in lots of safe experimentation
Experimentation provides great opportunities for the development of vital life long skills. When your child learns to write, it will most likely be difficult and frustrating. However, if your child has worked out how to manage their frustration, they will more likely have a sense of resilience towards writing. Equally, creative opportunities support the development of imagination which is essential for story writing.
It’s All About the Steps
The skill of early education is identifying the steps that come before the end result. The end result might be, ‘to be able to write a story.’
Let’s identify what needs to be learnt before a story can be written;
- gross motor strength
- fine motor strength
- able to hold a pencil correctly to form letters
- clear speech
- speaking in full sentences
- application of phonics
- being able to write words which aren’t decodable
- having an understanding of story structure
- experience of the world around them to imagine what could happen
- being able to think of new, creative ideas
- ability to sit and concentrate for a prolonged period of time
- having a ‘can do’, resilient attitude towards writing
Stop & Think: Have a look through the list above (which outlines some of the skills needed to write a story). How many areas of learning can you spot that need to be taught before story writing can take place?
Answer: I can spot 6 out of the 7 areas of learning listed above.
Keep Reading for School Ready Practical Tips & Ideas
Do you feel more equipped to begin your child’s journey towards becoming school ready? I am hopeful that you have picked up a few gems from this article. This was a long article with lots of introductory headlines. Keep reading through my posts for more in depth information on how you can support your child in each of the areas discussed above. Let’s get our kids ready for school and raring to go!
