Something is rotten in the state of British schools. According to primary school teachers, one in four Reception students are not toilet trained, more than a third cannot dress themselves, and half cannot sit still. Children are missing a range of developmental milestones, increasingly demonstrating poor language skills, delays in basic motor functions, and a lack of core strength (there are stories of perfectly able-bodied children not knowing how to use stairs or hold a pencil).
Now a government-backed website, Starting Reception, has been created by a collaboration of early-years and education organisations to help define ‘school-readiness’. The idea is to outline key skills to parents that children should practise before school, such as taking turns, brushing their teeth twice a day, or using cutlery, and give them suggestions for how they can build these into their routines.
The examples may sound obvious, but there is an alarming disconnect between parents and schools in terms of what is expected of four and five-year olds.
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