Last week, I attended the 'Minds Matter' Pre-school Learning Alliance Conference with my colleague Rebecca Martland.
We listened intently to the Amanda Spielman speech, specifically about ‘school readiness’ and the physical development of children. 70 per cent of schools, apparently, have reported that children aged four are arriving to start Reception at school unable to use the toilet.
Did I miss that trend? Have I not recognised that practitioners were missing this very obvious 'next step' for children?
I felt despondent, incensed and perplexed all rolled into one! I knew that the headline grabbing 'children arrive at school in nappies', referred to in the speech, meant that it would be the topic of conversation in the media for days to come and, sure enough, there were phone-ins to reinforce the negative opinion that this headline inferred.
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