Bridging the Gap: Early Years to Reception Made Smoother
Starting school is a big milestone for every child and family. That’s why we’ve created a supportive programme and practical resources for families to help children build the skills, confidence, and independence they need to thrive.
Why School Skills Matter
A recent report by Kindred Squared revealed a clear gap between what parents believe their children are ready for and what school staff are actually seeing when children start school:
- 75% of parents believe their child has basic language skills, but only 25% of school staff agree.
- 73% of parents think their child can eat and drink independently, but just 27% of school staff agree.
This tells us that increasing your child’s confidence in these everyday skills is crucial in the lead-up to starting school.
Introducing our Ready For Reception Passport
Our Ready for Reception Passport, created by Early Years experts, is a fun and engaging way for your child to experience key activities that support their transition to Reception. From learning how to carry a lunch tray to building confidence in sharing their needs, we’ll celebrate each step towards becoming Reception-ready, because we believe in recognising the journey, not just the outcome.
🎥 Watch the video below to see how the new passport works and how it supports your child through fun, practical experiences every day.
We’ll support your child with:
- Building nurturing relationships
- Becoming more independent
- Having a sense of belonging
- Building confidence and communicating with others
- Listening, speaking, and following simple instructions
- Building resilience and problem-solving
- Developing early literacy and numeracy through play
What Are School Skills?
School Skills are the foundation of a successful transition to primary school. They encompass far more than academic readiness. Of course, early literacy and numeracy play a role, but equally important are:
- Encourage growing independence with things like toileting, getting dressed, and expressing needs and feelings
- Building the energy and resilience to enjoy a full day of learning, play, and new experiences
- Getting used to new routines and learning to talk about how they feel
- Gently encouraging your child to try new things and feel proud of what they can do
- Building relationships, following routines, and using words to share ideas and needs
We understand that every child develops these skills in their own unique way. We celebrate each child’s progress and partner with their future schools to ensure a smooth and supportive transition.
How Our Curriculum Supports being Reception Ready
Our Reception Ready programme is rooted by our bespoke early years curriculum. We celebrate individuality and ensure each child is supported to thrive in their own way.
At Little Garden, we believe that school skills is more than academic, it’s about emotional, physical, and social development too and this is reflected in each of our commitments.
Learn more about Our Commitments.
Why Increasing Nursery Hours Helps
Tiredness is one of the biggest challenges children face when starting school. The shift to five full days filled with new people, routines, and environments can be physically and emotionally exhausting. Increasing your child’s nursery attendance in the weeks leading up to September helps them build stamina, adjust to longer days, and get used to a structured, busier routine, making that transition to school far smoother.
Top Tips to Prepare Your Child for School
We know starting school can bring mixed emotions. Excitement, nerves, questions, so we’ve put together some top tips for families:
- Foster independence: Let your child make small choices and practice self-care, like dressing and using the bathroom.
- Build familiarity: Visit the school, talk about their teacher, look at their uniform, and prepare for separation.
- Support confidence: Encourage your child to talk to new people and express their needs and interests.
- Name and validate emotions: Help them understand and talk about their feelings.
- Role Modelling. Being a good role model for our children is essential. When we consider the independence skills that would support a smooth transition for our children, it’s important that we role model those skills ourselves. It can be so easy to do things for our children, for speed, to assist, but in the long run, they are not learning to do things for themselves.
Looking for a nursery near or preschool near you? We’d love to welcome your family to experience the difference at Little Garden where early years education is tailored, caring, and gets your child truly ready for school.