What can your child who is going to school in September do?

[Lockdownseperation]

My daughter is hopefully starting school in September. She has a place but DH is shielding so everything is up in the air. I’ve just read info from nursery about what she should be able to achieve by September and she is lacking in fine motor skills to form numbers accurately or use a knife and fork well, definite regression with the later since lockdown. DD knows her first set of read, write, inc phonics and can read cvc but has lost interested. She can count to 15 and do simple addition up to 6. Speak to nursery friends’ parents they are forming all their letters and reading.

Is she behind, should I be worried?

Ignore other parents! My DD can count to 20, but no reading and can just about copy her name badly. If your DD can go to the toilet and wipe herself, put her coat on, change for PE etc that is the most important thing. More about self care and confidence than being able to do academic things.

Those are high expectations. The most important thing when starting school is her social skills. As long as she is able to make friends she will be okay. The academic bit should come later

Jesus, I’ve read the list for ours and she’s not really anywhere near achieving half of it. She’s 4 in late July, she can’t read but recognises her name. She has only just started to get the concept that letters have sounds.
She’s only literally in the last week agreed to wear knickers and use the toilet for wees successfully, luckily she’s been doing number twos for a couple of months already.
She can get semi dressed but requires help with tops still, she can’t do zips.
She can’t use a knife but can use a fork.
She can count to 40 and write about 5 letters and a few numbers badly.

However, she wants to go. She loves to learn and socialise and I can see school as being somewhere that will help her thrive with these things and build confidence. If it doesn’t then what’s the point.

I agree it is life skills that matter. I’d add taking turns...we got this from nursery if it helps.

She can do more than mine could before he started.

Mine can do her pre writing stuff, lines, zig zags etc. Can understand concepts around numbers up to five, sing ABC, and has concept of her phonics. She also enjoys colouring. This is all more than both my DS1 & DS2 could do when they started & they are flying,

Concentrate on the social and communication skills. My DD is starting in September and she can dress herself, although she is no good a buckles on shoes so we need to practice that. She can use a knife and fork quite well. She can go to the toilet independently but needs help wiping so we are going to work on that. She can sit quietly on the carpet and listen (we have been practicing) and she is good at sharing. We have also started making sure she's helping to tidy up properly. Academically we read together every day but I have deliberately not taught her any letters or to read words. She can count to 10 and she can recognise her name. That's really all. Don't worry about the rest that is what she's going to learn at school.

Ds won’t be 4 till august but can do about half of what you mentioned. He can count to 10 competently and can count to 20 but sometimes gets the order wrong for numbers 11-20 he can recognise some letters/numbers but not all. He can’t write his name or write numbers/letters. He’s only really shown interest in picking up a crayon in the past few months. Same goes for numbers and letters. He can use a fork but doesn’t really have a clue what to do with a knife. He definitely can’t read.
He can dress himself, but can’t turn things inside out, and he doesn’t always get things on the right way round. He can just about do his zip up on his coat, and can put shoes on, but needs help getting them the right way round. I don’t think he owns anything with buttons, So might have to buy him some polo tops to get used to using buttons.
He can use the toilet himself and wipe, he can wash his hands himself.
He’s good with colours and shapes. He loves playing with others and he’s happy to share toys. He’s empathetic and will happily chat to anyone who will listen to him. He will be more than happy trotting into school, and is used to not being with me all day.

We got some stuff from the school and they basically said being able to dress themselves, toilet and listen to instructions was the most important thing. What he doesn’t know he will learn with other kids. I don’t think the school are expecting him to read/count/write properly.

Thanks everyone. I will try and focus on social skills but it’s tricky when she is just at home all day at the moment. I think it will be tricky transition for her as she wont have been inside a building other than home or being apart from us for 6 months.

@Flynn999 I’ve put circle stickers cut in half inside DD shoes so she just needs to match up the semi circles and make a circle to make sure her shoes are on the correct feet.

My sister is a teacher and the best things she should be able to do are the practical ones.
Go to toilet by herself.
Able to drink from bottle/open lunchbox unaided.
Able to dress herself, put shoes and coat on.

Don't forget though that for most of this years reception cohort they'll all be the same. My DD is going to her childminder 3 days a week and we can't send her to her pre school because they can't allow mixed settings. So there's going to be a lot of children in the same boat who haven't been in a formal pre school type setting for 6 months.

Hi, I am a Paeds OT and work a lot with children who are starting school. The things I tell parents to work on are the pre-writing strokes - 9 main ones which will be the foundation for forming letters. Basic scissor skills such as snipping. Concepts such as colors & shapes. Self care skills such as opening & closing their lunchbox, putting on / taking off their shoes, putting on / taking off their coat, opening their drinks bottle, independent toileting and opening and closing their schoolbag.

As others have said, self care skills such as getting dressed, opening lunchboxes and being able to spot their waterbottle.
My other tip sounds silly, but does she know her whole name? I'm the first aider and a lot of the eyfs children arrive thinking of themselves as 'bunny-boo' , with a bit of help they remember they are 'jane' but a lot really are unsure/unaware of having a last name.