Helping your child be ready for school starts before they enter the classroom. As soon as children are born they are learning. Everything you do at home helps them to develop social and language skills that prepare them for learning.

Is your child ready for school? Ask your child can I...

• Stop what l am doing and listen to you
• Get myself dressed and undressed
• Read and can recognise my own name
• Eat my own lunch       
• Speak up
• Understand rules and boundaries
• I am happy to leave my parent / carer
• Go to the toilet on my own
• Take turns and share with other people
• Open and enjoy a book 

Hints and tips on what you can do with your child to help them become ready for school

Listen and Understand

• Help me to play listening games where I have to copy an action
• Help me to use my own toys to make up a story
• Play fun puzzles together like hide and seek or jigsaws

Activity- - If you would like to try an activity to help your child with listen and understand click the link to the  Pacey Listen & Learn Activity

 And Stories community crates fun activity

1. Information sheet
2. YouTube video

Get myself dressed and undressed

• Give me opportunities to dress up and pretend to be someone else
• Give me opportunities to practise playing dress up with clothes that fasten differently
• I have shoes that are easy to fasten and help me to learn how to fasten them

Activity- If you would like to try an activity to help your child with get myself dressed and undresses click the link to the How to encourage fine motor skills and problem solving - YouTube 

Activity- If you would like to try an activity to help your child with get myself dressed and undresses click the link to the  Pacey Ready Steady Dress Activity

Read and recognise my own name

• Help me to recognise my name from a selection of words
• Help me to make up silly sentences where each word begins with the same sound as at the start of my name

To help your child read and recognise their own name download Pacey’s guide to communication and language. Pacey Listen and Learn

Eat my own lunch

• Give me opportunities to practise how to drink from a cup with no lid and not spill my drink
• Praise me when I sit at a table and eat my own lunch
• Help me to practise using a knife, fork and spoon

To help your child with hand/eye coordination then click the link to How to make a hand/eye coordination tube How to make a hand/eye coordination tube - YouTube

And Threading, posting and sorting community creates fun activity 

1. Information sheet
2. YouTube video

Speaking

• I can tell you how I am feeling
• Praise me when I tell you that I am hungry or thirsty
• Praise me when I tell you that I need to go to the toilet
• Listen to me when I ask for help if I am struggling with something

Activity- If you would like to try an activity to help your child with Speaking click the link to the Cardboard TV activity. How to make a cardboard television - YouTube

and Let's Get Talking community crates fun activity

1. Information Sheet
2. YouTube Video

Understand rules and boundaries

• When tidying up give me simple instructions like “put your toys in the box”
• I understand that when I hear ‘no’ it means I must carefully listen to reasons why I can’t do or have something
• I know sometimes I cannot do things I want to do, explain to your child why they can not to run around in shops

Activity- If you would like to try an activity to help your child with Understand rules and boundaries click the link to the Kitchen Roll Colouring game activity.  How to make a kitchen roll colouring game - YouTube

I am happy to leave my parent /carer

• Visit the school beforehand with your child
• Reassure your child and share happy experiences of school
• Practice the school run and learn the route to school

To help your child’s transition and settling in download Pacey’s transition and settling in guide

Pacey Transition & Settling in Guide

Information leaflet for parents/ carer's around talking your child to an early years setting:

Taking your child to an early years setting leaflet

Go to the toilet on my own

• Encourage me to wash and dry my hands, praise me when I do this without help
• Most of the time I remember to go to the toilet and wipe myself
• Encourage me to pull up my own underwear and clothes, praise me when I do this without help

To help your child go to the toilet on their own download Pacey’s physical development guide. Pacey physical development guide

Take turns and share with other people

• Role model fairness and sharing, remind me not to snatch and praise me when I share toys with others
• Take me to different places where I can socialise with other children like going to the park or attending my Children’s Centre s

 Activity- If you would like to try an activity to help your child with take turns and share with other people click the link to the Number Cruncher activity. How to make a number cruncher game - YouTube

Open and enjoy a book

• Using the pictures make up a story without reading the words
• Show me how to open a book and turn the pages when sharing a story together
• Visit our local library and borrow books of my choice.

Activity- If you would like to try an activity to help your child with open and enjoy a book click the link to the Scrapbooks and Journals activity. How to create a scrap book or journal - YouTube

And Stories community crates fun activity

1. Information sheet
2. YouTube video