The School-Ready Checklist

7 Things Your Child Needs Before Reception

Building confidence, independence and a love of learning — in 5 minutes a day.

Prefer it on paper? Print the checklist (PDF)

1 in 3 children

First, a quick reality check: there’s actually a big gap between parent expectations and teacher expectations.

9 in 10 parents think their child is ready for school, but only 1 in 3 teachers agree.

Parents said

9 in 10

thought their child was ready for school

Teachers said

1 in 3

actually were ready for school

Research by PACEY (Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years)

Every parent wants their children to thrive and have the best possible start to school life.

But how do you get them to ‘school-ready’, and what does that even mean?

If your child is yet to start Reception, read on.

7 Things Your Child Needs

We’ve pulled together the 7 things teachers actually look for on day one.

This guide contains a handful of small, practical skills. Most of them are dead simple. But that’s the point – simple, daily habits that are repeatable.

Most of the tips in this guide are the little things. Routines that seem so obvious most of us never think to do them.

It’s these daily habits that turn your little one into a happy little doer.

Thing 1

School readiness isn’t about reading and writing

This surprises a lot of parents. When Reception teachers talk about whether a child is “ready,” they’re not checking if they can read or write their name. They’re looking at something much more basic.

✓Getting dressed and undressed without much help
✓Using the toilet on their own
✓Following a simple two-step instruction
✓Being okay when mum or dad leaves the room

Try this at home

Turn getting dressed into a race. “Can you get your socks on before I count to 10?” It doesn’t feel like practice to them. That’s exactly why it works.

None of this needs a worksheet or a sticker chart. It’s the stuff of an ordinary morning — you’re probably halfway there already.

Thing 2

They don’t need to read. They need to recognise.

Nobody expects your child to walk into Reception reading chapter books. But if they can recognise a few letter sounds before they start, those first weeks feel a lot less scary.

One thing that trips people up: teach the sounds, not the letter names. So the letter S is “sss,” not “ess.” That’s how school teaches it, and it makes a real difference once they start blending words together.

Try this at home

Play “I spy” with sounds instead of letters. “I spy something beginning with mmm.” You can do it anywhere — the supermarket, the car, the park.

From Happy Little Doers

Our Phonics Activity Cards teach the sounds the way school does it. Each card pairs a sound with an animal doing something daft, so it sticks after a couple of goes.

See the Phonics cards

Thing 3

Count everything. Seriously, everything.

Counting to 20 is nice, but it’s not really what teachers are after. What matters more is whether your child understands what numbers actually mean. Do they know three grapes are more than two? Can they work out how many plates you need if Grandma’s coming for lunch?

The good news is you’re probably already doing this without thinking about it.

Try this at home

Count things you’re already touching. Stairs on the way up, socks into the machine, grapes on the plate. “You’ve got five strawberries — if you eat one, how many are left?”

From Happy Little Doers

Our Numbers Activity Cards turn “how many” into a five-minute game — more, fewer, one more, one less.

See the Numbers cards

Thing 4

The hands matter as much as the head

Before your child can write their name, their fingers need to be strong enough to hold a pencil properly. You can’t really teach this. It comes from using their hands, over and over, until those little muscles get stronger.

The magic grip is the “pinch grip” — thumb and forefinger together. Anything that gets them using it is basically handwriting prep.

Try this at home

Threading beads, squishing playdough, peeling stickers off the sheet, picking up raisins with tweezers (they find this hilarious). If their fingers are busy, it’s working.

Thing 5

Can they listen and follow a short instruction?

In a class of 30, the teacher can’t repeat everything five times. A child who can take in a short instruction and act on it settles in faster — and feels capable doing it. It’s a skill, and it grows with a bit of practice.

Try this at home

Play “Simon Says,” but make the instructions two steps: “Touch your nose AND jump.” Start simple, then add layers. It’s a game to them. To you, it’s working-memory training.

Thing 6

Can they take turns and wait?

If your child melts down when it’s not their turn, you’re not alone. Waiting is genuinely hard for small people. But it’s a skill rather than a personality trait, and it gets easier every time they practise.

Try this at home

Play a simple board game together — Snakes and Ladders, Pop-Up Pirate, anything with a “your go, my go” rhythm. The waiting between turns is the whole point, and losing the odd round is good practice too.

Thing 7

The most school-ready children are the ones who are curious

If we had to pick one thing from this whole list, it would be this. A child who walks in curious, willing to have a go, and not terrified of getting something wrong? They’re going to be fine.

And you don’t build that by drilling them. You build it by letting them play, letting them lead, and following wherever they take you — even if that’s a five minute conversation about why worms don’t have legs. And it’s just as true for the wrigglers and the ones who can’t sit still — curiosity doesn’t mind a bit of fidgeting.

September comes round fast. Start a few of these now — five minutes a day — and your child walks in on day one feeling like they’ve got this.

“She loves doing them. Even when she’s not in the mood for reading, she asked to do the flash cards.”

Samantha Frost ★★★★★