by Valando Demetriou
The School-Ready Checklist
What actually matters for starting school, and how to build it at home.
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The School-Ready Checklist
What actually matters for starting school, and how to build it at home.
- Staying with something tricky, asking for help and believing they can learn matter far more than writing their name.
- Practise the small things: bags, lunchboxes, zips and goodbyes.
- Keep school talk positive and calm.
- If you're worried, talk to your child's teacher or your GP.
From Valando
School is coming. You want to do more.
The Kitchen Table Method builds the hands, focus and confidence school asks for, in twenty minutes at your own table.
Start here
It's not about writing their name
In fifteen years I have never once seen a child's first year of school go badly because they arrived not writing their name.
I have seen it go badly when a child arrived unable to stay with something hard, unable to ask for help, or convinced already that they were not good at things. Those are the three, and every one of them is built at a table, not on a worksheet.
What it looks like
What this looks like
What matters
Five signs your child is ready
Tick the ones your child can mostly do. This is not a test.
Practise at home
Ten things to practise at home
Paint or draw for ten minutes
Builds focus and hand strength.
Let them dress themselves
Zips, buttons and shoes take practice. Give extra time.
Pack their own bag
Build independence with a simple checklist.
Play board games
Taking turns, waiting and losing gracefully.
Read together every day
Talk about the story, ask what they think will happen.
Practise asking for help
"Can you help me, please?" before they get upset.
Open their own lunchbox
Containers, wrappers and zips are real school skills.
Say "yet"
"You can't tie your laces yet." It builds belief.
Cut, tear and thread
Strengthens the small muscles for writing.
Have a calm goodbye routine
A hug, a phrase, and then go. Short is kinder.
Good news
What you can relax about
Every child and every school is different. This is general guidance and not an assessment. If you have concerns, talk to your child's teacher or your GP.
What teachers notice
What I notice in the first week of school
Children who can ask for help
They put a hand up, or say "I need help." It saves them a lot of upset.
Children who can cope with a surprise
A change of plan or a lost pencil doesn't derail them.
Children who can stay with it
They stick with a puzzle or a drawing for a few minutes.
Children who have a go
They try a new thing even if it might not be perfect.
Tips by age
What to practise and when
A year before
- Dress themselves
- Open their own lunchbox
- Take turns in games
Six months before
- Pack their own bag
- Practise asking for help
- Visit the school if you can
The last month
- Talk about the day
- A calm goodbye routine
- Early nights
Common mistakes
Five things that backfire
Troubleshooting
If your child...
The name arrives. It always arrives.
Focus on the three things that matter: staying with it, asking for help and believing they can learn.
From Valando
School is coming. You want to do more.
The Kitchen Table Method builds the hands, focus and confidence school asks for, in twenty minutes at your own table.
Sources and further reading
Where this comes from
- Get a grip on pencil grip Learning Potential, Australian Government
- Raising Children Network: the Australian parenting website Raising Children Network
Take the next step
Ready for the whole thing?
This guide gives you the ideas. The courses teach you how to run them, step by step, so it works on a real Tuesday.
The Kitchen Table Method
$139 once, yours for life
- Short audio lessons in my voice, to listen to while dinner cooks
- A ready-to-go activity and printable card for every session
- The exact words to say when it gets hard
The Method
$999 or $1,499 for your whole site
- Calm, confident art with three to six year olds
- Set-up, materials and the words to use, taught step by step
- 7-day money-back guarantee