Ready, Not Rushed

Published on 22 August 2026 at 06:09

There comes a point every August when summer seems to change gear.

The school shoes begin appearing in shops. Parents start wondering whether bedtime has drifted so far that it now technically counts as nocturnal. Teachers begin looking at calendars again. And somewhere, inevitably, somebody suggests that children should probably start doing a few worksheets to “get their brains working again”.

This week at iSEND, I’ve been challenging that idea.

Because getting ready for school doesn’t have to mean starting school early.

For many children, particularly those who find change, uncertainty or transitions difficult, the most useful preparation over these final weeks may have very little to do with reading, writing or maths.

It may simply be about making September feel a little less unfamiliar.

What does “school ready” actually mean?

We often talk about readiness as though it were an academic checklist.

Can they read?

Can they write?

Do they know their number facts?

Have they remembered everything they learned before the summer?

Of course learning matters. But children don’t leave their emotional, social and developmental needs at the school gate while the academic part of their brain wanders into class on its own.

Readiness is broader than that.

It can mean beginning to restore a predictable sleep pattern. Getting dressed independently. Remembering where the water bottle lives. Packing a bag. Knowing what the journey to school looks like. Being able to ask an adult for help.

It also means having some idea of what is going to happen next.

The Education Endowment Foundation describes educational transitions as important points in a learner’s journey and highlights challenges including adapting to new academic demands, systems, expectations and routines. Its current work is examining transitions from early education right through to post-16 because these periods can have meaningful effects on learners and families.(Education Endowment Foundation - Supporting transitions between educational phases⁠)

That is particularly important when we think about children with SEND.

Something an adult experiences as “back to school next week” can contain dozens of unanswered questions for a child:

Who will I sit next to?

Will my teacher remember me?

What if my classroom has changed?

Where do I put my things?

What if I can’t do the work?

What if my friends don’t want to play with me?

What if I need help?

What if everything feels different?

Suddenly, “just going back to school” doesn’t sound quite so small.

Familiarity is powerful

This is why I’ve focused so much this week on small, ordinary preparation.

Not recreating a school timetable at the kitchen table.

Not three pages of fractions before breakfast.

Just gently reducing uncertainty.

Move bedtime gradually rather than dramatically. Bring back one part of the morning routine. Let children organise some of their belongings. Talk about school when it arises naturally. Drive or walk past the building if that helps. Look at photographs. Remind them who will be there.

For some children none of this will be necessary. They will stroll back through the gates as though the six-week holiday lasted approximately eleven minutes.

Others need more scaffolding.

Neither response makes one child more “ready” than another.

It means children are different.

And then there’s the emotional bit…

A child can be excited about seeing their friends and worried about the classroom.

They can be looking forward to their new teacher and wishing the holiday wasn’t ending.

They can tell you they don’t want to go back while simultaneously laying out their new pencil case three weeks early.

Humans are inconveniently capable of experiencing several emotions at once.

Our role isn’t necessarily to remove every uncomfortable feeling.

Sometimes it is simply to help children recognise it:

“It sounds like part of you is excited and another part feels a bit unsure.”

That is quite different from:

“There’s nothing to worry about.”

The first response creates space for the emotion. The second, although usually said with the best intentions, can accidentally close the conversation.

There is useful evidence behind taking children’s social and emotional development seriously. The Education Endowment Foundation’s evidence synthesis finds that social and emotional learning approaches can have positive effects on relationships, attitudes to learning and academic outcomes, with an average impact equivalent to around three additional months of progress across the studies reviewed.

Importantly, emotional regulation has value even when it doesn’t translate neatly into a reading or maths score.

I rather like that last point.

Not everything worthwhile in childhood needs to earn a mark. (Education Endowment Foundation - Social and emotional learning⁠)

Which brings me rather neatly to GCSE Results Day

Thursday was GCSE Results Day in England.

More than 5.7 million GCSE results were issued, representing over one million students across more than 6,000 schools and colleges. Overall results were very stable compared with 2025: 67.0% of GCSE results were grade 4 or above and 21.8% were grade 7 or above. (Ofqual - GCSE results 2026: key trends and context for teachers⁠)

Those numbers matter.

Qualifications open doors. They affect sixth-form and college choices, training opportunities and, eventually, university and employment pathways.

We shouldn’t pretend grades don’t matter simply because we want children to feel good.

But they aren’t the whole story either.

Behind those 5.7 million results are young people who experienced completely different journeys to reach the same Thursday morning.

One may have achieved a grade 9 relatively comfortably.

Another may have fought for months to move from a 2 to a 4.

Another may have completed their exams while managing dyslexia, ADHD, autism, anxiety, language needs, processing difficulties or circumstances outside school that nobody standing beside them in the results queue knows anything about.

A grade tells us something.

It does not tell us everything.

And there was another statistic in this year’s results that caught my attention.

Among 17-year-olds resitting GCSE English language, only 21.0% achieved grade 4 or above; in maths it was 16.4%. Both proportions were lower than last year.

Those young people deserve particular thought.

Repeatedly asking a learner to demonstrate success through a system in which they have previously struggled doesn’t automatically remove the barriers that made learning difficult in the first place.

That is where good SEND practice asks a different question.

Not simply:

“Why haven’t they passed?”

But:

“What has made this difficult, and what does this learner need next?”

The thread connecting both ends of this week

At first glance, a five-year-old practising putting their shoes on and a sixteen-year-old opening their GCSE results envelope have very little in common.

Actually, I think they do.

Both remind us that education is a journey through repeated transitions.

And at every stage, children and young people need adults who can see beyond the immediate measure of success.

For the younger child, success might be walking through the classroom door despite feeling nervous.

For another, it might be independently asking for help for the first time.

For a teenager, it might be achieving eight grade 9s.

For another teenager, the grade 4 they worked unbelievably hard for may represent the greater personal achievement.

Context matters.

So does belonging.

The Department for Education’s Every Child Achieving and Thriving strategy places considerable emphasis on pupils feeling connected, valued and that they belong in school. The evidence it draws together links stronger school belonging with engagement, attendance, attainment and longer-term wellbeing.

That makes belonging rather more than a nice slogan for a school corridor.

It is part of the conditions in which children learn.

Five things I’d focus on before September

1. Restore rhythm, not rigidity.

Move sleep, waking and mealtimes gradually towards something sustainable.

2. Practise independence through real life.

Shoes, bags, lunchboxes, bottles, clothing and belongings provide plenty of useful practice without creating artificial “schoolwork”.

3. Make the unknown more predictable.

Talk through what will happen, particularly for children who find transitions difficult.

4. Allow mixed feelings.

Excitement and anxiety can coexist. Listen before immediately trying to fix.

5. Prioritise connection.

Make sure children know who they can go to when they need help.

And then?

Let them enjoy what remains of summer.

There is still time for late mornings, beaches, gardens, games, grandparents, pyjamas at questionable hours and occasionally having absolutely nothing planned.

Childhood doesn’t need to become a six-week school-readiness intervention.

For schools: perhaps the first question shouldn’t be “What do they know?”

As educators return, there is an understandable urgency.

New timetables. Baselines. Curriculum coverage. Assessments. Targets. Data.

All necessary.

But perhaps there are some questions worth asking first:

Does this child feel safe here?

Do they know where things are?

Do they know who will help them?

Do they feel that their teacher knows them?

Do they understand the routines?

Do they feel they belong?

Because a beautifully differentiated worksheet is of fairly limited use to the child whose cognitive bandwidth is currently occupied wondering whether they are safe, accepted or about to get something wrong.

There will be plenty of time for curriculum.

First, we help children arrive.

This week’s iSEND reflection

This week began with a simple message:

"Getting ready for school doesn’t have to mean starting schoolwork".

GCSE Results Day provided a rather fitting way to finish it.

Education matters enormously. Academic achievement matters. Qualifications matter.

But education has always been about more than what appears on a piece of paper.

Confidence matters.

Independence matters.

Communication matters.

Relationships matter.

Feeling safe enough to make mistakes matters.

Knowing somebody will help matters.

And sometimes the best preparation we can give a child isn’t another worksheet.

It’s the quiet confidence that says:

You don’t need to know everything yet. You’re supported enough to begin.

Ian Edwards
Founder | iSEND Specialist

Supporting families. Supporting schools. Supporting every child.

Read, explore and dig a little deeper

Education Endowment Foundation - Supporting transitions between educational phases⁠