School Ready?

Recent data indicates that more children are joining reception not ready for school.

A survey by early years charity Kindred Squared found 37 per cent of children were not ready for school, an increase from 33 per cent in 2024, according to staff. In this case  “school ready” means children being “ready to access the learning and development opportunities available to them in Reception, where this is not due to a previously identified special educational need or disability (SEND)”.

The survey of 1,000 primary school staff, including teachers, senior leaders and teaching assistants, and another 1,000 parents found the gap widened regionally, with 45% of children not being school ready in the north east compared to 34% in the east Midlands, eastern England and London. In the South West the figure was 36% up from 33% the previous year. The survey also found that 26% of children starting reception were not toilet trained, up 2% from the previous two years.

For the first time the survey asked how much time was being taken up with nappy changing or going to the toilet. Staff reported helping these pupils is taking up an average of 1.4 hours of each school day.

Staff estimated that children are missing out on 2.4 hours of daily class teaching time due to the catch-up needs. This is up from 2.1 hours in 2024.

Interestingly, 88% of parents said their child was ready for school. The charity believes this highlighted a persistent gap between parental confidence and classroom experience.