Keir Starmer "sick and tired" of hearing about children who aren't school-ready

This 100%

Did he mention Sure Start and their closures having a direct effect on this, because he should have done.

There were 3 SS venues within walking distance of my house when DD was a baby (only one had offices etc). 2 of those have been absorbed into the schools they were based at so can’t be reused.

By the time DD went to school in 2013 their services were cut to the bone and staff were covering multiple jobs ineffectively before being closed. I can’t see how they can rebuild that without the spaces they had and employ all the staff they need again.

The push to have neurotypical children parented properly so that they can start school without being significantly behind where they should be is not related to children with genuine disabilities or SEN.

Too many children are being failed and their development is being delayed by parents who are being lazy and holding their children back, and to continue to ignore this problem would be doing them a disservice.

Generally it means you teach them basic skills.

using the toilet and wiping
getting dressed/undressed including buttons and zips wtc
using cutlery
hanging up coat and bag
sitting at a table without a screen!
holding a pencil or at least mark marking experience
patience
accepting no!

Basically the things you should be teaching a young child but that don’t always happen as it’s assumed school will.

Have you seen the charges for food when attending the 'free' childcare? It would have cost my DD £35 a day, the nursery wouldn't split the days. It was only when my DD came under different provision and could send in a packed lunch, could my GC attend. I was her childcare up to that point.
Unfortunately my youngest GC had her diagnoses held up during Covid, we went through a terrible time in the school. Even now they don't seem to have any understanding of moderate hearing loss and hypermobility.

But why should parents need such intensive and expensive support to get the basics done? Why are we treating adults like they’re children themselves?

He seems to think widened access to childcare will improve things. Presumably because other services will pick up on children who aren’t meeting milestones before starting school.

I thought pre-school/nusury actaully made training my summer born harder not easier as it was easier for them to have them in nappies rather than deal with accidents.

DD1 and DS were young in year - DD1 very young few days before cut off - that had many accidents in reception and even Y1 and school wasn't great about them. Took DD1 getting to uni to get near a diagnosis - ADHD, Dsyslexia and dsypraxia. All the way through school been told she was find and early years were all balme on parenting - well mainly me the mother.

This fucking enrages me. So much that I’m swearing.

Where is the support? My kids were all school ready but I had the skills and knowledge to make it happen. Part of that included the knowledge and ability to defer my summer born child. But where is the support for those who need the additonal support? What happened to every child matter and Sure start centres.

Where us the financial investment in HV, SaLT, CAHMS and SEN support? Our local authority rejects a signifigant number of applications for a ECH needs assessments. 98% of those parents take to judicial review are then accepted. It shouldn’t take having to take the LA to court for assessments to be undertaken. Most parents are exhausted with life with a SEN child or don’t have the literacy or cultural capital to feel confident to do it. The goverment are gate keeping the little support that is out there.

If children at the age appropriate level are in the minority, maybe the expectations of young children need to change.
There is research showing that children, boys in particular, are not ready for school until they are 7. Some countries don't start school until this age and do no worse that countries where children start school aged 4.

Oh and DS attended childcare full time from 10 months until he started school (Covid-permitting). It didn’t magically stop his speech delay or fix any of his other needs and it didn’t get us any help or support.

I work in infants and we have all noticed a marked increase in the number of children who come to school without basic school ready skills. The biggest difference I see is at lunch. So many children don’t seem able to sit at a table and eat. Some try to wander around the lunch hall, many can’t use forks and knives properly and some insist on eating with their fingers. It’s bloody hard work dealing with trying to erase those bad habits on top of the normal lunchtime supervision.
Another trend is the number of dcs who clearly never read at home. Some dcs don’t even know how to hold a book. When you talk to them, you find they are obsessed with their tablets, YouTube etc. What hope has the school got in making these children enthusiastic readers when this is the attitude at home about books?

Yes and its funny how pps can say with such authority that these kids are not ND when waiting lists are so long that even a kid like mine whose delays were so bad that every professional kept referring us because “early help makes such a difference” STILL hasn’t got a diagnosis age 6 when we left the country and ipso facto received none of the early help he needed. But noooo. Clearly bad parenting was why my preemie august child with very likely ND wasn’t school ready the minute he turned 4, despite the fact my other child was school ready by age three. 😂

I think it's more about his agenda to prove school nurseries are better than PVI settings, than an attack on parents. He wants all babies in schools (cheaper to pay funding, and gets parents back in work).

There's no sense in saying you want all children to be in the same place when they start school.

Yes there is. Otherwise if there are no standards, educating large numbers at once doesn't work.

They do need to be ready to take part and parents need to make sure they are.

Mine can do most of those, we're working on the dressing independently. She can put her coat on and pull trousers up and down etc but that's about it.

Able to use the toilet, sit quietly for a brief time, able to dress independently, follow basic instructions, able to function in a group environment, able to appropriately interact with adults and other children, able to follow simple instructions, sleep hygiene

He’s got a point … this was part of what the Sure Start service used to do. My hope is they bring it back. Investment in Early Years was cut under the last goverment, but it’s essential in identifying those that need more support.

Children have started school at the same age since forever.

Well, sort of. When I started school there were different intakes across the year, so most kids started either the term after they turned 5 or the term just before they turned 5, rather than some children being only just 4.

There are advantages and disadvantages of course, and the single intake does mean that younger children don’t miss out on 2 terms of Reception, but that extra 6 months at home can make a difference to school readiness at that age.

What’s his solution?

Mine is still in nappies and speaks only single words. I don't think he will be ready but what can I do about? He is likely autistic. Going to take a long time to get things sorted.

Some have, some haven't.

My DS is October born, he has no additional needs but his speech wasnt great when he started school and it was picked up at nursery. He didnt have loads of screen time, and I guess i had just got used to trying to interpret what he was saying. He was awful at eye contact and it was much harder in the car for example, when I couldn't see him, or the sound he was trying to make. He had speech therapy for maybe 9 months, and that resolved it.
Neither of my kids could read when they started school, but they recognised letters and numbers, and picked it up pretty quickly. Both were able to use the toilet independently though - I dont recall any of their peers not being ready in that respect. (They are teens now)

What does school ready look like?

Mine is a year away from school and I don't really know what that phrase means.

I have sympathies for you op, but I do believe he has a point. Both parents (if around/involved) should make every effort to ensure their child knows the basics like using a toilet, using cutlery, washing hands and putting a coat on.

There are also an increasing number of speech and language problems, unfortunately a number of which (by no means all) are as a result of children and parents being in front of screens from a very young age and not being talked to. Some responsibility has to be taken.

I think he was making the point that we need to invest in early years and early intervention services to support children and their families