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The early years
Best Start in Life: Our policy recommendations
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For practitioners
— 25 Mar 2026
School readiness best practice guide and podcast
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We broadly welcome the measures announced today by the Department for Education in support of its aim to increase school readiness, but the starting gun for a child's development should begin at birth, not Offer Day.
We are pleased to see the package of practical guidance announced today for families to help prepare children for starting school.
This support underpins the government’s pledge to increase the proportion of children reaching a Good Level of Development (GLD) from 68% to 75% by 2028, a central objective in its strategy to give every child the best start in life. In particular, we welcome the commitment for schools, nurseries and childminders to work together as “one system around families” to get children ready for Reception. Joined-up services across the system are essential if we are serious about improving school readiness.
However, support and advice for families should begin long before the “starting gun” of school Offer Day. As our work with the Lambeth Early Action Partnership and the other A Better Start (ABS) partnerships has demonstrated, consistent support throughout the first 1,001 days and beyond is needed to support the development of children’s social and emotional skills, communication and language, and nutrition. These skills are an essential foundation for school readiness and aiming to begin support for the development of these skills at age four is simply too late.
We have created a school readiness best practice guide, drawing on evidence from the five ABS partnerships and building on the learning from our Insight Report on School Readiness.
Read the ABS school readiness best practice guide
You’ll also find a podcast where many of these issues are explored with help from an experienced early years practitioner and a mother of three.
The Best Start in Life strategy is a vital step towards tackling persistent inequalities that can impact a child’s outcomes from conception to Reception. With committed cross-government focus, stable investment and an equity centred approach, this strategy can deliver lasting, systemic change for babies, young children and their parents and carers. To translate that ambition into improved outcomes for all children, we believe the government must act on our eight policy recommendations.