School

Table of contents

Approximate read time: 4 minutes

1. What is school readiness?

‘School readiness’ is a term used to describe the extent to which a child is prepared to succeed in school cognitively, socially and emotionally.[1] Indicators of school readiness include eating, getting dressed and going to the toilet independently; being able to take turns, sit, listen and play; and being well nourished and within a normal weight.[2]

The government has said it will measure school readiness by the number of children achieving a ‘good level of development’ in the early years foundation stage (EYFS) assessment.[3] The EYFS sets standards for the learning, development and care of children from birth to five years old.[4] All schools and Ofsted-registered early years providers must follow the EYFS, including childminders, preschools, nurseries and school reception classes.

A child is judged to have a good level of development if they are at the expected level in five of the early learning goal categories: communication and language; personal, social and emotional development; physical development; literacy; and mathematics.[5] The assessment is done at the end of the EYFS, in the summer term after a child turns five.[6]

2. How many children are ready for school?

In the academic year 2023/24, 67.7% of children had a good level of development at the end of the EYFS.[7] The government also presents statistics for the proportion of children at the expected level for all early learning goals. This includes five goals that are not counted in the good level of development measure; these are in the areas of understanding the world and expressive arts and design. In 2023/24, 66.2% of children met these goals.

The proportion of children with a good level of development and at the expected level across all early learning goals increased in both 2022/23 and 2023/24.

Table 1. Percentage of children ready to start school: Key indicators

2021/22 2022/23 2023/24
Children with a good level of development 65.2% 67.2% 67.7%
Children at expected level across all early learning goals 63.4% 65.6% 66.2%

(Department for Education, ‘Early years foundation stage profile results’, 28 November 2024)

The Department for Education attributes the increases seen in 2022/23 and 2023/24 to gradual recovery from disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. It has also suggested that practitioners being more familiar with the new assessment framework, which was introduced in September 2021, could be a factor.

3. What has the government said it will do to make sure more children are ready for school?

The government has said increasing the number of children who start school at a good level of development is one of its six priorities for the current parliament.[8] In its December 2024 ‘Plan for change: Milestones for a mission-led government’ document, the government said making sure more children start school ready to learn would be its milestone for progress towards the mission of breaking down barriers to opportunity:

To achieve our overall mission objective of closing the opportunity gap we have set a milestone of a record proportion of children starting school ready to learn. We will measure our progress through 75% of five-year-olds reaching a good level of development in the early years foundation stage assessment by 2028. This assessment looks at children’s development across areas like language, personal, social and emotional development, and maths and literacy. This is an increase from 67.7% currently, and would mean an additional 40,000 to 45,000 children a year hitting developmental goals.

To meet its objective, the government said it would:

  • recruit 6,500 extra teachers
  • deliver the previously announced expansion to 30 funded hours of childcare
  • support 3,000 new and expanded school-based nurseries
  • work in partnership with the sector by offering sustained professional development and working with providers to help spread evidence-based programmes
  • strengthen and join up family services by continuing to invest in and build up family hubs and ‘Start for life’ programmes to support early child health, parenting and home learning; strengthening health visiting services for all families; and improving early identification of special education needs and disabilities

Cover image by Freepik.

References

  1. Public Health England, ‘Improving school readiness: Creating a better start for London’, 2015, p 4. Return to text
  2. As above, p 6. Return to text
  3. HM Government, ‘Plan for change: Milestones for a mission-led government’, 5 December 2024, p 37. Return to text
  4. HM Government, ‘Early years foundation stage’, accessed 20 March 2025. Return to text
  5. Department for Education, ‘Early years foundation stage profile results’, 28 November 2024. Return to text
  6. HM Government, ‘School admissions: School starting age’, accessed 3 February 2025. Return to text
  7. Department for Education, ‘Early years foundation stage profile results’, 28 November 2024. Return to text
  8. HM Government, ‘Plan for change: Milestones for a mission-led government’, 5 December 2024, p 37. Return to text