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Starting School Checklist – What children should know?
Is your child starting school in September? If so, I’m sure you will be wondering “What children should know before they start school?” Club Hub UK have put together a practical checklist which will hopefully help to alleviate any worries you may have about your child starting school.
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Starting school is a huge milestone for children and parents alike. When you think about what children should know before they start school, many parents focus on academic things. Such as should they be able to count, add up, read and write whilst this is fantastic if your child already knows this, it really isn’t something that is necessary or that parents should stress about. It is much more about emotional, and social development.
Of course if your child is interested in learning to read or write there are many online classes and resources that you can find on Club Hub, but pressure certainly should not be put on you or the child as this will not be expected when your child starts school.
So, what should children know before they start school? Schools are a lot less worried about if a child can read or write and much happier to see a child who has manners, can use the toilet independently, knows how to wash their hands and can recognise their name. If your child cannot yet do everything on the checklist do no not worry, lots of children will develop different skills over time.
The list below highlights what children should know before they start school and can help parents see what would be useful to teach their children.
Starting School Checklist – What children should know before they start school?
Self Care/Independence
- I can use the toilet independently
- I know how to wash my hands
- I wash my hands after using the toilet
- I can wipe my nose and throw my dirty tissue in the bin
- I can be away from my parents
- I am learning to dress myself in my uniform
- I can eat with a fork, knife and spoon
- I can open my water bottle
- I can open my lunch box and items inside my lunch (there will usually be dinner ladies and teachers at hand to help)
Playing with others
- I can play fairly with others and I know how to take turns
- I can share with others
- I join in with games and fun with others
- Be sensitive to others feelings
Communication
- I can communicate my ideas with my peers and teachers with words and feelings
- I can ask a grown up to help me if I’m unsure
- I can follow single instructions
Learning
- I can recognise their own name
- I can hold a pencil correctly
- I can or am starting to form letters with a pencil
- I can recognise some letters
- I can recognise some numbers
- I can turn a page in a book
- I can name colours and shapes
- Sing or recite songs
- Use a computer
Hopefully this list is a helpful guide of things that would be useful for parents to know what children should know before they start school. You can simply ask your child to tick off each box when they have learnt how to do each task on the list. Don’t worry too much if your child cannot do any of these things on the checklist; it simply can be used as a helpful guideline.
It’s also important to note when asking what children should know before they start school that some children starting school will already be nearly 5 years old and some children will have just turned 5. In some cases there can be 11 months between children. In that year there can be so much growth and development.
So what can you do to help get your child ready for starting school? Here are some Starting School Checklist tips:
- Practice practice practice. Give your child lots of opportunities to practice, make it fun and turn it into a game. For example you could lay out their uniform and put on a timer to see how much they can get on and how quickly, at first you may want to guide them then they can start to do this more independently, give lots of praise and encouragement.
- Get your child involved, talk about school with your child. You may want to go to your local library and find a book about starting school or watch some videos together. You could go on their school website, show them a picture of their teacher, and talk about what kind of things they may be doing, make it sound fun and exciting so they look forward to it. You may also want to make a visual countdown calendar so they can see how long they have until they start. Also take opportunities to have fun reading together, ask your child about the book, who is who and what they may be feeling by looking at expressions. Why not sign up to the reading challenge? You could also take the opportunity to help your child to have a go using the computer there. Being able to control the mouse and type letters on the keyboard would be a fantastic skill to have when starting school.
- Arrange playdates with friends or anyone who may be in their class that you know. It doesn’t have to be someone from their class but play dates or even trips to holiday classes could be a fantastic way for your child to practice making friends, socialising and sharing. All essential skills for starting school
- It may take a little longer for your child to settle if they haven’t been to a nursery setting or away from you before. However do not get too worried about this. If you can use the summer break to allow a trusted member of family or friend to have your child around their house for a few hours so they get used to being apart from you. Drawing a little heart of both of your wrists under their sleeves in pen can be a good way for the first day of school that you child can get comfort and feel connected to you and any other siblings, parents or carers.
- Set up fun activities to help your child develop their pincer grip such as pegging, playing with playdough, and a treasure hunt with foam or jelly using tweezers. These activities can really help your child when learning to hold a pencil properly as it strengthens their muscles in their hands.
- Bake with your child. This can help with following instructions. We have lots of baking classes in person and online on our directory
We hope that this article on what children should know before they start school has been useful. We would love to hear your starting school tips on our social media channels. As we said earlier in the article. If you would like to do some extra learning with your child before they start school here are some useful links.
