This online guide offers practical examples and resources for early years settings practitioners.
The guide draws on evidence from the five A Better Start partnerships Blackpool, Bradford, LEAP, Nottingham and Southend and builds on the learning in our Insight Report on School Readiness.
It also uses the UNICEF model of school readiness to explain the concept and to explore how each of its three dimensions can be used to achieve school readiness.
The government released their Best Start in Life Strategy in July 2025. Since then, the topic of school readiness has gained attention. Several reports have highlighted that children are not meeting expected goals associated with a ‘Good Level of Development’ (GLD). This good practice guide, and the accompanying insight report, offer a more nuanced view of school readiness, as a much broader concept than is measured by GLD goals.
The practice guide:
- outlines the UNICEF model of school readiness and explains its three dimensions: the child ready for school, school ready for the child, and families and communities ready for school
- shares learning from the ABS partnerships on what worked to support school readiness in each of these dimensions
- asks reflective questions to support practice change
- signposts to resources and further reading
- includes a podcast with a highly experienced early years practitioner, and Isla, a mother of three, who explore what getting young children ready to start school means to them.