School Readiness Survey for Parents and Carers

Feedback updated 14 Jan 2026

We asked

We surveyed parents and carers in May and June 2025 to ask about their views on what it means to be ‘School Ready’ and the kind of support that might be helpful.

You said

50% of parents and carers agreed with recent news stories that lots of children are not ready when they start school.
68% parents and carers stated that they needed more information for parents and carers about how to help their child.
99% of parents and carers told us that they thought it was their job to support their child to be ‘ready to learn’ but that they also sought help from Nurseries and childminders, Schools and the Health Visitor.

We did

We met developed a ‘Ready to learn’ subgroup to unpick the views of parents, carers and professionals to create a definition of what ‘Ready to Learn’ means in Sefton.

We developed and published ‘Six Steps to Success’ to support parent’s understanding of key milestones.

We have developed and published the ’50 thing to do’ leaflets to give ideas for parents to do at home that will help their child’s development.

Our ready to learn work is collaborative so that all professionals can give consistent key messages to parents and carers. This includes health visitors, schools, nurseries, childminders, children’s services, family hubs and the voluntary sector.

Contact

Kim Evans

(Early Years Partnership and Project Coordinator)

Sefton Early Years

07929742666

kimberley.evans@sefton.gov.uk

Overview

This survey will help Sefton Council understand the best way to support parents and carers of children 5 and under to help their children learn the skills that they need to start reception class.

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Please note that at the end of this survey, before submitting your results, you will be asked if you want to provide an email address so that you can receive a PDF copy of your response.  This is completely optional.  The email address is only used to send the email to you via the online consultation system provided by Delib as the data processor.  The email address will not be stored with the responses and Sefton Council will not have access to it.  You may be asked for your email address as part of the survey and if so, there will be a Privacy Notice explaining why we are asking for this and you can choose whether to provide your email address or not on this basis.

Why your views matter

By taking part in this survey you will help Sefton Council understand the best way to support parents and carers of children 5 and under to help their children learn the skills that they need to start reception class.

What happens next

The information that you share with us will be collated in a report. This report will be shared with council senior leaders. It will also be used to produce information for parents and to develop support across different council teams and partners such as Early Years providers and Health services.

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