STARTING school is a huge rite of passage for young children and their parents.

While exciting, there is the possibility for it to be an unsettling time. Ensuring your child is ready to begin their school journey with confidence is key in laying firm foundations. It can, however, be difficult to understand what is meant by ‘school readiness’ as its definition can be wildly varied. So, what does it really mean?

In my opinion, and from my experience, the best advice I can offer for helping your child be ready to embrace all the exciting challenges that lie ahead of them is to remember that each child is unique and that there is no single, tried and tested formula which will mean guaranteed success: in other words, parents should embrace whatever the new, exciting challenges are themselves to lead by example.

Furthermore, it is central to success that the relationship between home and school is made a priority. Once mutual trust and support is established, honest communication can take place safe in the knowledge that everything is done in the interests of the child’s happiness and wellbeing.

Another aspect I often find gives parents sleepless nights is the expectation that their child should be able to read, write and be fluent in mathematics by the time they start school. This is simply not true. It is far more important, at this stage of development, that they have experienced being in a larger group where they have had to learn to share, negotiate ideas, make their needs known to less familiar children and adults along with experience of spending some longer periods of time away from their main carer.

The child who starts school already reading and writing will not necessarily be the most successful when managing their feelings, behaviour and needs in the classroom environment. It is these social skills which will support their academic development and create the grounds for future success.

Ultimately, we all want our children’s first experiences of school to be positive ones and although the journey for each child will be slightly different, most children settle quickly and happily and surprise us all with their resilience and ability to rapidly adapt to new routines, expectations and demands.