Mainly one for the primary school teachers, as someone who will be sending their first child to school in the next few years, what would you say is the number one thing you wished parents would have their kids prepared for when it comes to entering education?

9 comments

  2. How to use the toilet.

    Ok, they might not be perfect at it, but they totally could be by school age.
    Some kids are not taught at all at home though. It was a real shocker to realise this when our kids first went to school.

  5. I’m IT Tech at a high school. So many kids mumble and look down when speaking to adults. Teaching eye contact and clear speech would be a great start to their adolescence

  6. Give them a wide range of foods if you can afford to. Lots of children (not inc children with sensory issues) have only ever had oven food and are suspicious about anything non-beige colour.

  7. Not a teacher but when my child went from nursery to school the nursery sent out a list of things children should know to help us prepare. It included things like:
    -Able to listen and respond to instructions
    -Able to share things and wait for the child’s turn
    -Recognising and being able to write their own name
    -Able to take off and put on their own coat and shoes
    -Be able to feed themselves or open their own lunch box/packaging.
    -Able to use the toilet, wipe and wash hands. Wipe own nose etc
    -Be able to count to 10 at least, recognise basic shapes and colours, the alphabet is always a bonus.

  8. To be able to dress and undress themselves without too much difficulty for PE. PE in the infants can be a nightmare when you have so many kids who cannot get dressed without an adult needing to help them every few seconds. The number of parents who send their kids in with lace-up shoes but whose kid cannot do them is insane and wastes so much time. If your kid cannot do up laces, do not give them lace-up trainers for their PE kit.

  9. I’ve taught reception for years.
    – being able to dress themselves. And along with that responsibility for their clothes, so when they take their jumper off they don’t just dump it on the floor.
    – toileting. Making sure they can clean themselves up afterwards, and understand that unlike at home they might need to wait a little bit, so don’t leave it until the last minute.
    – using a knife and fork. I’ve seen so many children just eating with their fingers, even a roast dinner!
    – writing their name using a capital for the first letter and lower case for the rest.

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