Good morning. Teaching four- and five-year-olds has always involved patience, care and flexibility. What many reception teachers say they did not sign up for was spending large chunks of the school day managing toileting, feeding and basic self-care because growing numbers of children are arriving without those skills in place.
New data points to a widening gap in England and Wales between what parents believe “school ready” means and what classrooms are actually experiencing – with consequences not just for teachers, but for every child in the room. And the long shadow of coalition-era austerity cuts to local services and Sure Start is exacerbating the problem in more deprived areas.
