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This guide includes examples of how to support parents in understanding how best to develop their children’s skills and to increase their own parenting skills and confidence. Some examples relate to the home learning environment and taking a wider, whole community approach to school readiness, as well as the benefits of this for young children.
Learning from A Better Start: What works to enable families and communities to be ready for school?
- Create trusted, nonjudgmental relationships with parents, working holistically with families.
- Take a strengths-based approach to developing families’ knowledge and skills, building on existing good practice, working in small groups to provide more personalised facilitation.
- Improve the home learning environment by increasing parents’ knowledge of child development and build parents’ confidence in helping their child to develop.
- Provide culturally and linguistically appropriate resources to families to use at home.
- Use existing community-based settings where early years and school staff provide input to sessions for parents (for example Family Hubs).
Contents of this guide
- Creating trusted, non-judgemental relationships
- Taking a strengths-based approach to developing families’ knowledge and skills
- Improving the home learning environment
- Providing resources
- Using existing community-based settings
- Further resources on school readiness
1. Creating trusted, non-judgmental relationships
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Think about these questions:
- How do you currently build relationships with parents and families? How do you build trust with them?
- In what ways do you take a holistic approach, considering the whole family’s needs and circumstances, rather than focusing solely on the child?
- How effective is your current approach to building these relationships?
- How might your approach be further enhanced?
2. Taking a strengths-based approach to developing families’ knowledge and skills
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Read:
Read this blog from Lambeth Early Action Partnership (LEAP) which discusses taking a strength-based approach and how it empowered parents.
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Think about these questions:
- To what extent does your current practice take a strengths-based approach to developing families’ knowledge and skills in terms of child development?
- How could you further enhance the approach you take to this?
3. Improving the home learning environment
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Watch:
Watch this clip from Nottingham’s Small Steps Big Changes (SSBC) Legacy Film (up to 1.57 mins) which discusses the role of Family Mentors in supporting parents to aid their child’s development and enhance their school readiness.
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Think about these questions:
- What, if anything, does your setting do to help parents improve the home learning environment?
- How do you currently build parents’ confidence in helping their children develop?
- What else might you do to further enhance practice in this area?
- What barriers do you face when supporting parents and the home learning environment? How could such barriers be overcome?
4. Providing resources
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Think about these questions:
- How effectively do the resources you provide for home use reflect the cultures, languages, and experiences of the families in your setting?
- How do you support families to understand and confidently use these resources at home to support their child’s learning and development?
- What could you do to enhance practice in this area further?
5. Using existing community-based settings
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Think about these questions:
- How do you link with community-based settings, such as Family Hubs, to support parents beyond the setting?
- How does this help parents feel more confident in supporting their child’s learning and development at home?
- What changes could you make to strengthen your partnerships with community-based services to better meet the diverse needs of families?
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6. Further resources on school readiness
Best Start in Life - NHS
Trusted advice and guidance for parents and carers about pregnancy, babies, healthy child development, childcare and early education.
Other resources
- A Better Start Southend (2025) Stories of Impact, From Birth to School: Supporting Social, Emotional and Communication Development in Southend. Available at From Birth to School
- Kindred2 (2025) Starting Reception: Your child’s journey to school starts at home. Available at Starting Reception
- Lushey, C., Tura, F., Paechter, C. and Wood, J. (2019) Evaluation of Small Steps Big Changes First Annual Report: 2019. Nottingham Centre for Children, Young People and Families, Nottingham Trent University. Available at Evaluation of Small Steps Big Changes First Annual Report
- National Children’s Bureau (2025) Building a system that delivers for early childhood: Reflections from the NCB Summit. Available atBuilding a system that delivers for early childhood
- National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (2007) The Timing and Quality of Early Experiences Combine to Shape Brain Architecture: Working Paper No. 5. Available at www.developingchild.harvard.edu
- UNICEF (2002) A world fit for children, New York. Available at A World Fit for Children
- UNICEF (2012) School Readiness: a conceptual framework, New York. Available at School Readiness. A conceptual Framework