East Riding’s Health and Wellbeing Board held a ‘deep dive’ to look at the national and local issue of school readiness.
Partners from East Riding of Yorkshire Council, education, health and the voluntary sector looked at different perspectives of school readiness, insights into what the issues are, and how families might be supported to ensure their child is school ready.
A national school readiness survey, published in January, stated that teachers reported over a third of children struggled to play / share with others, over a third didn’t know how to listen or respond to simple instruction and a quarter of children weren’t toilet trained. The impact is that every child misses out, with teacher time being lost each day to these issues.
Board partners considered the range of knowledge and skills that provide children with the right foundation for starting primary school. The physical, social and emotional skills included:
🍴 Using cutlery
🚽 Being fully toilet trained (except for the occasional accident)
🧸 Sharing toys and playing with others
🖌️ Drawing, painting and colouring
😀 Understanding feelings
🪥 Brushing teeth twice a day
🧥 Putting on their own coat
📚 Being familiar with books
🗣️ Saying their name
👂 Listening to simple instructions
Councillor Jonathan Owen, Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board, said: “The Board wanted to bring partners together to look at how we can help families to best prepare their children for starting school.
“There’s a range of support for families across the early years of a child’s life, from health visiting to nurseries to family help, and we want to do all we can to ensure families are supported to prepare their child for starting school – from understanding what being school ready means, to tips and advice on toilet training.”
Councillor Victoria Aitken, cabinet member for children, families and education said: “Our schools are reporting the same issues as those highlighted in the national survey and so we know we need to do more to support all of our families to prepare their children. It can be as simple as practising a few key skills at home, to give the child confidence and independence and ultimately the best start to their school life.”
Find out more about school readiness and how families can prepare their child: https://startingreception.co.uk/
Watch the Health and Wellbeing Strategy video, explaining the vision for East Riding residents: https://youtu.be/2wvKb6DxKrs
