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Let’s think again about school readiness

I had a really awful time at school. I was far from ready.  I was unsocialised, anxious, and sensitive.  As a summer born white working-class boy I had already been dealt a difficult hand of cards. 
James Hempsall is managing director of Coram Hempsall's
James Hempsall is managing director of early years consultancy Coram Hempsall’s - Coram Hempsall's

Being at home with mum had not helped me to be school ready for lots of reasons. Back then, pre-school groups were not readily available in our community, and as a stay-at-home mum, my mother mostly kept me at home, and we had a small family.  

I remember attending a pre-school group, once or twice. I was four years old, and I can still describe the experience in vivid detail, some fifty years later, as it was so traumatising and confusing for me. It did nothing to help me. Neither did starting one school for a year before being moved to another for the next.

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