Children unready for school - what can we do?

If the question is just about the fact that a third of children are not school ready, I believe any parent, poor or overworked or not, should be giving their young offspring a basic grounding in certain matters.
That a child of school age cannot use the toilet puts the blame entirely on sloppy parenting.
If a child does not know what a book is for, that borders on neglect.

Interesting that this should be the case when there is so much funding available for parents to use at nursery/pre-school.......

Nurseries and pre-school playgroups have been woefully underfunded for the last few years. The excellent Surestart programme was set up to help deprived pre schoolers (and others) but funding has been cut back considerably since 2010.

I must say I was surprised by this figure as nanak54 points out there are now 11 hours a week free stretched funding for nursery places for the over 3's year round and 15 if term time only is opted for. My children and grandchildren all attended preschool provision and none of them failed to achieve these basics of using the lavatory and being able to hold a book. I agree that poverty and deprivation are huge issues and that with benefits being slashed and local services decimated the poverty is even worse? I do wonder if enough support is not being given to parents in deprived circumstances and agree that with the shrinking back of the state this becomes ever more needed. It breaks my heart to hear of children who may never have seen or held a book before school especially when I consider how much of my childhood and my children's was spent with noses buried in books!

It is a shame that many of the initiatives for deprived areas have been closed down in favour of the free 30 hours that can be claimed by couples earning up to £200,000 per year.

The inevitable result of closing libraries and cutting Surestart programmes I would think. What can be done? Bring those things back and invest more in providing sessions for pre-schoolers.

This is reported to be a relatively recent development and I too feel that the economic pressures put on young families which force both parents to work long hours, thus leading to exhaustion and lack of time to deal with parenting issues that would have been dealt with in the past has contributed. Also, as others have said, insecure, expensive and sub-standard housing has played a part, as has the closure of so many Sure Start centres which provided guidance and support to parents who were under pressure.

As for the free child care, I don't quite understand how this operates but I have seen it reported that not all parents can access this free care.

I doubt that many grans, however kind-hearted and eager to help, would want a regular commitment to helping out with children. It can be tiring. I agree that the Home Start programme was a brilliant idea and, by all accounts, very helpful to families that were struggling. I didn't realise that funding had been cut for this scheme - once again, a very short-sighted decision.

Four is too young to start school, especially for the summer-born children who are nearly a year younger than others in the class.
There is no advantage to starting school two or three years younger than they do in most other countries, our children are no further forward than those are after a couple of years at school.
Many children, especially boys, are nowhere near ready for school at four and they would all be better off staying in nursery for longer.

Yes watermeadow you're right. We can't expect all four year olds to be fully toilet trained in time for starting school. Twenty or thirty years ago children were in nursery classes at four, with more staff to help them.
Perhaps too much is expected of them.
There is a huge difference in a child from a deprived background and a middle class child who has had lots of time and attention lavished on him/her.
I taught in a working class area and the children there were shockingly different from the children in my granddaughters' school in a wealthy catchment area.

I agree with you too watermelon

I agree that four is too young to start school.

I also agree that while it's very sad if kids start school not knowing what books are for (though I'm not quite sure what that means exactly; I'm pretty sure they must all know what stories are; books aren't the only way to tell stories; think TV), why should a child know what a book is for before they start school? School is there to teach them what books are for, isn't it?

I'm not sure I believe that "up to a third" of four year olds don't know how to use a toilet. They may not be terribly competent at using a toilet and they may have accidents but surely they have not been kept in nappies all the time till they start school?

I think a little scepticism about the claims in the poll wouldn't go amiss.

I would also point to the lack of attention so many young mums pay to their kids. I get really cross when I go to the park, for example, and see kids desperate for some interaction while their parent is hunched over their phone. If they can't be bothered to pay a bit of attention at the swings there is no hope of getting them to read a book to their child!

I have mixed feelings about this. I would wish to see each child receiving the best that there is, but I sincerely believe that children start school far too early in the UK; and that far too much emphasis is put on formal learning.
Imagination, fun, free exploration of the world, gaining confidence and a sense of self-worth rate high in my reckoning.

I was looking at the record that one of my GC's childminders had been required to keep about progress in different areas. I see that as OTT - I want little children to just feel secure and well-cared for and not the subject of continuous assessment of their skills and abilities. Just joining in with the adults around them is the best education.

One of my GC has just started school and I think she is too young - I watch her go with very mixed feelings.

I'm trying to imagine GS2 (started school today!) being unable to talk in complete sentences. But then he and his brother have been talked to endlessly since the day they were born. Yet another thing that some parents obviously need help with. The preschool my GSs went to was very thorough when it came to language development, others may not be as good. If we continue to build a society where parents have neither the money nor the time to bring out the best in their children then money is going to have to be spent on better facilities for them.

My DGS started School today
He was 4 in July
I am pleased to report that he had a great first day.
I am sure this was because he had spent several days in the class room with his new teacher prior to the summer holidays.
His teacher and classroom assistant had also visited my daughter and DGS at home.
They introduced themselves and discussed my GS abilities and any concerns my DD had.
Both my daughter and myself were concerned that although he had no problems going to the toilet by himself or putting on shoes (sometimes on wrong feet) or putting on /taking off his coat, can count, knows the days of the week and the seasons etc, he was still too to young to start school.

It was explained that her son could wait and start school when he was 5yrs old,
but the nursery funding of the free 15 hours would no longer be available as he was old enough to be at school.

DD would be put under financial pressure as she is at present paying nursery fees for her younger son.

At the moment the class is split in to 2 groups .
My DGS group is for the summer born babies.

Three Septembers ago, in a school that I worked in, 9 out of 18 children were not 'school ready' Seven had toileting problems, two were still regularly soiling themselves. This in itself absorbed one of the two skilled members of staff for many, many hours so other children missed out on the extra support in the classroom that they should have received because teachers and TAs were often caught doing toilet duty. Several could not put on / take off their own coat or shoes. Two sat at the lunch table and just opened their mouths like little birds, waiting to be fed. Not all of these children came from notably socially disadvantaged families. Many of these children also had very poor listening skills. This obviously impacted on the 'ready to go' children too and they often just had to 'get on with it' while the others were given more attention. T

The problem is worsening nationally year on year.

I think parents of pre-school children are now given a list of 'school ready' skills.

There are many reasons for the 'decline' in what comes back to core parenting skills. Families isolated from support networks, single -parents overwhelmed with needing to work long hours, ignorance about how children acquire language (one parent brought in to discuss their child's poor language skills said 'Well 'e don't talk to me so I don't talk to 'i'm.' The rise of screen time for infants, parents on their phones / ipods / gaming instead of interacting with their children. I could go on.

Many moons ago now, I was part of a church initiative that wanted to offer parenting support in our community. We devised a programme of support, a series of talks, accessible timing for parents, an 'army' of mums and grans who would have been willing to get alongside and offer practical, tangible support. We publicised widely. At that time, ONLY the 'middle-England' managing-fine-anyway parents came.

I think there is great scope in communities for older people with time on their hands to be DBS checked and placed as key workers on a voluntary basis to support families in need. It is recognising families that need support - and getting them to realise they do that is a huge part of the problem.

By the time children arrive at school, they can already be disadvantaged beyond repair. The 'hard wiring ' of their brains that enables them to be well co-ordinated, concentrate over sustained periods of time, know how to speak and listen, a so that they can acquire information all takes place before they enter the school gate . We need to get support in from early infancy, but often family needs do not become apparent until the child starts at school.

I volunteered as a helper for an adult literacy programme many years ago. The young man I was tutoring had very poor reading skills and a deprived childhood by any standards and was employed in a hostel for teenagers . He once told me that although his background was grim he at least knew what toilet paper was and could use a knife and fork. Many of those teenagers he said had to have it all explained.

Here is one tick list of school ready skills - they do vary and I have seen some that make reference to simple 'dressing' i.e. managing coat and shoes:

School readiness:
✔ Between the ages of four and five, children should be prepared to be separated from their parent or main carer.

✔ Children should be able to clearly demonstrate their ability to listen and follow age appropriate instructions.

✔ Children should show an interest in a variety of subjects, paying attention to the subject or activity they are taking part in.

✔ Children should have enough of a range of vocabulary and language to express their needs, feelings, thoughts or ideas.

✔ Children should be able to identify themselves by name, age, state factors in their life, name family members etc…

✔ To be able to interact in an age appropriate way with another child or adult.

✔ Children should be able to interact, share and play, taking responsibility for their actions, understanding repercussions for their actions.

✔ Focus on and also show interest in the work they are undertaking.

✔ To be able to observe, notice, discuss and ask questions about their environment and experiences.

✔ To be able to engage with books, have some understanding of words and language.

✔ Respond to boundary setting.

✔ Vocalise their needs such as toileting, thirst, hunger illness etc…

Imperfect that is an excellent list. I wonder how many parents would be unable to understand all of it, therefore be unable to ensure that their child meets the criteria.

This problem is as old as the hills. My MiL taught the reception class in a small country town in Buckinghamshire from about 1940 to 1975 and the stories she told about children coming to school unprepared were legion. Her biggest problem, she described, as children coming to school who had been talked at, over and through, but never talked to. These children had no vocabulary had never seen a book or held a pencil, or even sat down for very long.

In their first year she was meant to start them reading, but she said their first two terms had to be spent teaching them to recognise shapes, How can you learn letters if you cannot recognise that a triangle and circle are different, if you do not know what 'under', 'over' and 'between' mean and have never seen a book to understand what print is or held a pencil and drawn. Not to mention those who had never used cutlery or a few who came to school in nappies and not toilet trained.

Yes, M0nica this is an 'old problem'. What is 'new' is the alarming rise in the number of children who are now 'unready.'

pensionpat I agree. I think school soften now put out their own lists that are more parent-friendly, but in line with these government recommendations. However, they are typically given a the pre-school visit in the summer before the child starts. I am sure these targets are also reflected in good practice for nurseries, but I wonder how / when they are first communicated to parents. I also think that many parents are happy to 'hand over' responsibility to nursery, rather than recognising their own role/s.

A lot of parents seem to spend vast amounts of time with their faces glued to their phones. If they invested a little more in their children then we may see them having basic skills at an appropriate age.

Here is another important factor in early development:

childdevelopment.com.au/areas-of-concern/fine-motor-skills/crossing-the-bodys-midline/

If a child spends a lot of time transported in a baby chair which can double for sleeping at home / in the car etc., or strapped into a pushchair, OR kept relatively static sitting in front of screens, this crossing the midline stage, which is so fundamental to other parts of development can be compromised.