Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is their definition of school readiness, and how "school readiness" is measured.

Children’s earliest years are crucial to their health, development and life chances. That is why the department has set a milestone of a record proportion of children starting school ready to learn in the classroom. We will measure our progress through 75% of children at the end of reception reaching a good level of development in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Profile assessment by 2028.

The statutory EYFS framework sets the standards and requirements that all early years providers must follow to ensure all children have the best start in life and are prepared for school. It requires that children be assessed against the EYFS Profile in the summer term of the academic year in which they turn five.

The EYFS Profile seeks to measure children’s level of development to support their successful transitions into year 1 and to support parents, carers and early years educators to recognise children’s progress and understand their needs. It comprises an assessment of the child’s outcomes in relation to 17 early learning goals (ELGs) across seven areas of learning.

Children are defined as having a good level of development at the end of the EYFS if they are at the expected level for the 12 ELGs within the five areas of learning. These relate to communication and language, personal, social and emotional development, physical development, literacy and mathematics. This is the definition that will be used to measure progress on school readiness, as set out in the Plan for Change.