By Ruth O’Sullivan, Head of Holmewood House
RECENT studies have shown that four year olds starting school are struggling with fine motor skills, speech and language delays and attention and listening difficulties, having experienced less physical play and interaction with peers during the pandemic.
The Covid years fractured developmental experiences such as managing transitions and resolving conflict, creating school starters with far less to draw on as they began navigating the busyness of school life than their older brothers and sisters.
Media headlines often frame these children as being “school unready” but in 2026 this feels like an outdated approach.
Readiness needs to be viewed through two lenses – is the child ready for school, yes, but is the school ready for the child, given children are turning up at school very differently to how they used to.
Historically, readiness was seen as a fixed ability within the child – did they recognise their letters and know their numbers? This outlook dominated well into the 2010s. But in recent years longitudinal research has started to challenge this notion. Studies consistently show that early academic skills such as letter naming and counting were surprisingly weak indicators of long term school success. Instead, it suggests that far stronger predictions lie in the ability to emotionally self regulate alongside executive function and language development.
Bad news, you might conclude, for those Covid babies. Well actually, not a bit of it. Crucially, research also shows that initial ability gaps between children at school entry closed quickly with high-quality teaching. Readiness, it turns out, is not a prerequisite for schooling as it can be created by schooling itself.
This is a paradigm shift as we accept that readiness is no longer something a child either is or is not. Rather it emerges from the relationship between the child and their learning environment. So the concept of schooling broadens beyond academics and becomes a developmental environment that is influencing neural development.
For the Covid babies, not only were they born into a unique period in 20th century history, but their childhood experiences look set to be totally different from those of previous generations – more screen exposure, less unstructured play and fewer opportunities for physical risk taking and less movement overall. On top of this, many families are time poor, under economic pressure with demanding work patterns. This is not about the quality of parenting, but about the cumulative economic stress that parents are now under.
This is the reality and schools must respond accordingly. That means we can no longer design early years learning around “ready children” but instead reframe it for real children. Staff should be trained not just on the curriculum but also to coach on regulation and behaviour. We need to adopt a shared language around development based on school values and reduce cognitive load in the classroom for those children who are overwhelmed. Adaptive teaching increases attention, improves behaviour and boosts learning.
It is also important not to assume children innately understand how school works. We must teach them how to ask for help, how to wait, how to successfully make transitions and how to be part of a group sharing a teacher and TA’s attention. Modelling and repetition should be just as much a part of the curriculum as the alphabet.
Above all, relationships are key. Schools and parents must work together to find a way for what is happening at school to continue in the home. Reading together, talking about feelings, practising everyday independence, encouraging problem-solving and allowing children to be bored without constant adult direction all matter enormously.
In 2026, school readiness is no longer about preparing children for school alone. It is about schools preparing themselves to meet children where they are and helping them grow into where they need to be.
