How charity is preparing children about to start reception

2 hours ago

Georgie Dockerand

Lois James,North West

Catherine Desjardins has set up workshops in Manchester to prepare children for the start of reception

Catherine Desjardins A woman with black hair and a fringe wears a black t-shirt, red lipstick and has a black bow in her hair in a photo taken in a kitchen in front of a fridge. — Catherine Desjardins has set up workshops in Manchester to prepare children for the start of reception

A charitable project has set up classes to make sure children and their families are ready for starting reception at school.

Toilet training, dressing, sitting still and communicating needs are among the skills being taught by teacher and outreach worker Catherine Desjardins from Manchester charity Family Action.

It comes after parenting charity Kindred Squared found the region had the third highest proportion of children arriving into reception year in 2025 unprepared, with 39% of children were not school-ready upon entering reception in the North West, compared with national average of 37%.

"We wanted to make sure every child was able to go into school on a level footing," Desjardins said.

Desjardins said she wanted every parent and child to be able to access support ahead of starting school

Catherine Desjardins A woman with black hair and a fringe wears black glasses, a black dress with watermelons on it and a green lanyard in a selfie taken outside. — Desjardins said she wanted every parent and child to be able to access support ahead of starting school

Desjardins, 41,who has been a teacher for more than a decade, said she set up the classes in Wythenshawe for the first time last year after realising the need for school preparation classes.

"Some children arrive to school and they're ready to go and some children haven't had access to the same opportunities," she said.

"I strongly believe it takes a village to raise a child - and not everybody's fortunate enough to have that.

"It's so important for me to give people that chance."

Desjardins hosted 15 sessions from April to August for children about to start reception

A woman in a black dress sits in front of a group of children and adults in a classroom. The woman is counting on her fingers as the group watch. — Desjardins hosted 15 sessions from April to August for children about to start reception

She said the classes gave children a taste of the school day, helping them build up the necessary routine and skills for school life.

The sessions were organised in collaboration with the Manchester SEND Early Development Inclusion team to ensure the classes were suitable for all school starters.

"We worked together to make sure the workshops were inclusive and that children with disabilities and neurodivergence could access the same education as every other child," Desjardins said.

"Honestly I feel like crying when I think of these children.

"Because it was the most rewarding thing for them to go from having never experienced any kind of routine setting to being excited to come and sit down, sing and have a snack that they've never eaten before.

"All these little things that don't seem like a lot are massive."

Jenni Cawsey, a health visitor in Wythenshawe, said there were resources available to help prepare children for school - and called on parents to do all they can to help.

"It's just getting the information out there so parents know it's available," she said.

"There's several different areas, communication, listening, attention, toilet training, being able to sit still.

"These are little skills that we want parents to start supporting their children with at home so that they're ready to thrive at school."

School Readiness Declines

Thirty-nine percent of children arriving into Reception in the North West last year were not school ready, according to Kindred Squared.

The charity evaluated school readiness by looking at the proportion of Reception children that struggled with each of the following reported skills, according to primary school staff:

Unable to sit still

Don't know how to listen/respond to instructions

Struggle to play/share with other children

Struggle to hold a pencil or crayon

Cannot dress on their own

Overly upset away from parents

Not able to eat and drink independently

Incorrectly use books

Not toilet trained

Unable to communicate needs

Don't have basic language skills

The data showed the North West had the third highest proportion of children arriving into reception who were not school ready - behind the North East and the West Midlands, which had 45% and 42% respectively.

Across the North West, staff reported that 28% of children were not toilet trained when they started reception - as opposed to 26% nationally.

The charity's research also showed that school readiness in children entering reception had worsened in the North West from 2024 to 2025 - with the proportion of school-ready children entering reception in 2024 at 66%

It comes after the government said it wanted 75% of five-year-olds in England to have a good level of development by 2028.

The government said this will be achieved by making improvements to the quality of education and care that children receive in early years settings, at childminders and in reception education.

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