Nearly half of children are not developmentally ready for Reception, teachers have reported.
This means that some children are starting school unable to eat independently, use the toilet or communicate clearly – but nearly nine in 10 parents believe their children are ready to start school, a study suggests.
On average, primary school teachers report that only 54% of children in their Reception classes were developmentally ready for school when they began.
Teachers believe the problem of school readiness is “growing”, a report from early years charity Kindred2 suggests, but most parents of Reception pupils say that their child is “school ready”.
A survey of more than 1,000 primary school teachers in the UK during October and November 2022 found that on average teachers believe 46% of children were not developmentally ready for Reception.
