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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

School readiness survey - surprising?

425 replies

GirlfromtheNorthLondonCountry · 30/01/2025 11:59

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/jan/30/some-children-starting-school-unable-to-climb-staircase-finds-england-and-wales-teacher-survey

Is it really the case that 4 year olds (absent disabilities) are unable to climb stairs or sit on the rug because of too much screen time? It just seems so extraordinary to me.

Some children starting school ‘unable to climb staircase’, finds England and Wales teacher survey

‘Covid baby’ explanation starting to feel like an excuse, say some teachers, as quarter of children begin reception in nappies

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/jan/30/some-children-starting-school-unable-to-climb-staircase-finds-england-and-wales-teacher-survey

OP posts:
Luddite26 · 31/01/2025 20:04

One of my GCs went to the same school my DD had attended up to 2009 so a generation or 2 earlier - she was born in 97 after Blair was elected.
Same school same clientele but my God the difference. A boy in his reception class (his mum had been in the same class as DD) took a dislike from introduction day and made it his daily mission to hit GC one day he was battered and had foot marks on his back I emailed school about it including f.photos they said it wouldn't happen again and of course they ALL play rough. It happened the very next day. He refused to return after Xmas. Refused to speak until he knew he wasn't going back there. This wouldn't have happened in Reception class before in my experience.

WarriorN · 31/01/2025 20:41

It's horrific @AnaMond. The damage the tories did to education is staggering.

WarriorN · 31/01/2025 20:43

They did commission a few new LA send schools a couple of years ago but the one local to me, in Newcastle, is not set to open for a couple more yet. And I do not believe it's anywhere near enough to meet demand.

birdling · 31/01/2025 20:52

I struggled with stairs as a child and I'm over 40, but that's because I grew up in a bungalow and rarely encountered stairs.

billandtedsexcellentadventure · 31/01/2025 20:53

How long will we keep blaming Covid and not poor parenting and lack of support? From children's centres etc?!

ByMerryKoala · 31/01/2025 20:59

Perhaps it would concentrate the mind if phased entry into reception was based on school readiness skills?

Littoralzone · 31/01/2025 21:04

MistyF · 30/01/2025 19:41

unfortunately, children do not benefit from screen time. I feel like many parents are unaware screen time (even tv) are anti beneficial to their kids.

That isn’t true. They absolutely can benefit from some things on screen, indeed schools use screens extensively. It is what the watch/interact with in the screen and how they balance that with other activities that is the issue.

Cakeandusername · 31/01/2025 21:05

An acquaintance is a TA in reception (she’s a qualified teacher but doesn’t want to teach due to pressures/workload) she was telling me she’d been bitten. It then transpired she has 5 children in class developmentally under 12m. In a mainstream primary. It’s not fair on them, the teaching staff or other children.

Superhansrantowindsor · 31/01/2025 21:14

We aren’t critical enough of people who fail to meet basic levels of care for their children. Yes we need support and sure start centres back and some parents are very keen to involve themselves in education and guidance, but there a lot of parents who quite frankly are lazy and they are never held accountable for how they muck up their children’s upbringing.

ByMerryKoala · 31/01/2025 21:19

Superhansrantowindsor · 31/01/2025 21:14

We aren’t critical enough of people who fail to meet basic levels of care for their children. Yes we need support and sure start centres back and some parents are very keen to involve themselves in education and guidance, but there a lot of parents who quite frankly are lazy and they are never held accountable for how they muck up their children’s upbringing.

There does seem to be a total lack of shame for doing a piss poor job of caring for your child. Just an avalanche of excuses that places the blame beyond the home.

Sinuhe · 31/01/2025 21:34

It takes a village to raise a child... except that village does not exist anymore.

NewYearStillFat · 31/01/2025 21:53

ByMerryKoala · 31/01/2025 21:19

There does seem to be a total lack of shame for doing a piss poor job of caring for your child. Just an avalanche of excuses that places the blame beyond the home.

Absolutely.

Unpaidviewer · 31/01/2025 22:13

ByMerryKoala · 31/01/2025 21:19

There does seem to be a total lack of shame for doing a piss poor job of caring for your child. Just an avalanche of excuses that places the blame beyond the home.

This is very evident on SM. There are a significant number of people who upload on tiktok showing filthy homes, poor diets, neglectful parenting etc. And so many of the comments are the #bekind bollocks.

Labraradabrador · 31/01/2025 22:27

NewYearStillFat · 31/01/2025 18:44

There are also children with clear SENs being sent to fail at or be damaged by mainstream schools. That's a lose:lose all round as they don't get the support they need for optimum development and also compromises other children in need of a bit more nurture as well as everyone else, both in terms of resource avaliability and recognising the range of difficulty when it's been distorted by children beyond the range reasonably expected to be in that setting.

i think this is a bigger issue than people will dare admit for fear of being labelled discriminatory. I have a teenager family member with pretty significant developmental delays (they’re probably 18m developmentally) and mobility issues, so I feel I speak with some experience and awareness. They have always gone to a specialist setting, even nursery.

Since my DC started school I am shocked by the children who are attending mainstream. My own observations are that they are not only struggling in the environment and do not fulfilling their potential or even enjoying their time spent in education they’re also incredibly disruptive to the rest of the class and even with 1:1 pull resource away from the other children.

Frequently I try and get an adults attention to acknowledge my son has arrived - eye contact is fine - I just want to know
someone Is aware he has arrived in the classroom - and I can’t because they’re wrestling a particular child who is always trying to escape or otherwise restraining them because they’re trashing the classroom.

I asked my son which playground he goes on for break and he told me, but said only if child X isn’t being tricky, for if child X is being tricky the whole class has to go back inside.

i just don’t think that’s acceptable for anyone - the balance of the children whose outdoor play is determined by the mood of one child, nor for the child who is “tricky” and clearly massively unregulated at school.

I really do think it’s more of an issue than people admit. With classes of such mixed ability and need it’s impossible to cater to them all plus the children who are middle of the road don’t get the support to achieve their potential.

And Labour want more of those kids in mainstream! There are some parents that resist specialist provision, but most parents of send children are desperate to get them into a more appropriate setting. first they have to jump through the hoops to demonstrate that their children cannot cope/school cannot cope with their child - often struggling for years to build the evidence to support an application for specialist provision, and even then often find no space available in appropriate schools.

NewYearStillFat · 01/02/2025 06:55

@Labraradabrador oh I know. I have a friend whose girl has a genetic condition, the resulting developmental delays and MH issues the school would not recognise for years. Only when she had a succession of epileptic fits did she get an MRI and diagnosed - now nobody can argue. That was four years ago and she still hasn’t got a suitable school place. Mainstream said they have to show they can’t cope, despite outright saying they can’t meet her needs. She has now been told she can have a specialist placement but as you’ve said they’re not available in abundance so it’s a case of who has space, not where would suit her. She has missed so much education.

LivingLaVidaBabyShower · 01/02/2025 07:01

ViolinsPlayGentlyOn · 30/01/2025 16:01

This is what shocked me most in the article - surely this can’t be the case?

Fewer than half (44%) of the 1,000 parents of reception-aged children who took part in a parallel survey said they thought children starting school should know how to use books correctly, turning the pages rather than swiping or tapping as if using an electronic device

🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

This is so sad...

I feel like children in the uk are growing up in totally different worlds depending on their parents. My oldest reads about 4-10 books per day.

The comments from @arethereanyleftatall really shocked me too. My not yet 3 yr old can almost do monkey bars unassisted and spends swim lessons thrashing violently 🤣

2025NewUserName · 01/02/2025 08:06

Cakeandusername · 31/01/2025 21:05

An acquaintance is a TA in reception (she’s a qualified teacher but doesn’t want to teach due to pressures/workload) she was telling me she’d been bitten. It then transpired she has 5 children in class developmentally under 12m. In a mainstream primary. It’s not fair on them, the teaching staff or other children.

There were 5 non verbal children in a normal size mainstream class?

NewYearStillFat · 01/02/2025 09:03

2025NewUserName · 01/02/2025 08:06

There were 5 non verbal children in a normal size mainstream class?

I agree 5 is a lot - but my child had three in his classroom in reception.

WarriorN · 01/02/2025 09:19

Listening to relatives in mainstream teaching in a northern area at the moment, I can well believe there are that many non verbal children in a reception class.

The types of specialised training I've accessed within send for the last two decades I've passed on to them.

They were given very little advice by the LA.

They've now started those strategies and training programs and set up their own send unit without outside support, financial or professional. Obviously finances are an issue.

What is also an issue is that many people are setting up independent businesses to advise schools. Some are not actually that knowledgeable. Many people are making a lot of money from children with send.

WarriorN · 01/02/2025 09:22

And Labour want more of those kids in mainstream!

From what I can see it's not that they want it, it's that there's no other viable option right now. The only thing that can be done is direct mainstream schools to focus on how they will make changes within schools to facilitate these pupils.

Which requires training and space.

WarriorN · 01/02/2025 09:32

Another factor that may drive children to be accessing screens over other things is that more parents are working longer hours. It is unfortunately easier to rely on screens to keep on top of everything you need to do to feed, clothe and organise a family if you have very little time.

The kids have built a mountain of cushions and pillows and are using it like a crash pit and I'll admit my heart briefly sank at the mess....!

WarriorN · 01/02/2025 10:27

(And in tbe past they'd have been turfed out into the street.)

I think a pp has made a similar point

Labraradabrador · 01/02/2025 10:36

WarriorN · 01/02/2025 09:22

And Labour want more of those kids in mainstream!

From what I can see it's not that they want it, it's that there's no other viable option right now. The only thing that can be done is direct mainstream schools to focus on how they will make changes within schools to facilitate these pupils.

Which requires training and space.

Incorrect Bridget Phillipsen has stated she wants fewer children in specialist provision and more send children educated for in mainstream schools.

MsMarch · 01/02/2025 10:49

I have no issue with SEND children being educated in mainstream schools. The problem is that it can't be done without a significant increase in the amount of specialist support available including resources and training.

Someone said something about 5 children in a reception class being non verbal. In DD's class there was one boy who was not completely, but largely, non verbal. But mainstream has absolutely been right for him - he was diagnosed with ASD in year 1 or 2 but has come out of his shell, has a small but lovely group of friends and even had a line in the last year group performance! INtereestingly, in the same class was a girl who also has ASD and while on the surface her needs were fewer, that was harder and she has subdsequently moved to a different school where I believe she is doing very well. I noticed at school events right up to year 3 that she basically needed constant 1-2-1 attention which simply isn't practical usually.

But to manage this at a higher level, schools need a lot more resources.

DS has ADHD which has brought some challenges with academics etc. He is slowly but surely catching up, which is great. But at his very large secondary school, they are able to support 20-25 children like him per year group (about 10%) by offering an option for a small number of children to do fewer GCSEs and instead get extra support (with a teacher) during the 9th GCSE lesson time. I think that's quite a lot, but it means if they had more children with additional needs, or children with much more significant additional needs, they'd be very unlikely ot be able to offer a similar level of support.

Littoralzone · 01/02/2025 11:20

What is also an issue is that many people are setting up independent businesses to advise schools. Some are not actually that knowledgeable. Many people are making a lot of money from children with send.

This reminds me of someone I know who was diagnosed with autism in her forties and within a year was being paid by the LA to go into schools to teach them about autism with all the enthusiasm of a new convert. She had had no training herself in that time and wasn’t just telling them about how she personally experienced autism - she was claiming to be an expert in autism and neurodiversity however it presented. Her only knowledge other than her experience of her own autism was what she had gleaned from activist groups.