We are delighted to share this thinkpiece by Dave Marsh, Executive Headteacher at the Maritime Academy Trust, following on from our recent roundtable discussion as part of the FED National Education Futures Projects on Inclusion. In this thinkpiece Dave asks, what if “school readiness” isn’t about children being prepared for school, but schools being prepared for children? David explores how the Maritime approach redefines a strong start, focusing on relationships, development, and community support from birth through the early years. It challenges traditional checklists and offers a more holistic, equitable vision, one that might change how we think about readiness altogether. Read more below.
Strong Starts for Every Child: Rethinking School Readiness
The idea of a “strong start” carries weight in education. It speaks to fairness, opportunity, and the belief that early experiences shape life chances. But it also raises important questions. What does a strong start actually mean? And who decides?
At the Maritime schools, working in partnership with the Maritime Children’s Foundation, the answer begins well before children enter school. Through the Strong Foundations programme, the focus is on supporting families from birth. Parenting classes, baby groups, and community networks all recognise that development happens in relationships, not just classrooms. This approach shifts the narrative. A strong start is not about accelerating children. It is about strengthening the environment around them, including families, communities, and early experiences.
Importantly, this work does not stop at the school gate. Maritime’s Strong Foundations approach continues into the Early Years Foundation Stage, known as EYFS, and Key Stage 1. This creates a coherent and connected journey for children. In EYFS, the focus remains on development rather than performance. Language, play, and relationships are prioritised, recognising that these are the foundations on which all later learning is built.
As children move into Year One, this commitment continues through a Developmentally Appropriate Practice. Rather than a sharp shift into more formal learning, the curriculum is designed to bridge early years pedagogy with Key Stage 1 expectations. This is particularly important for the development of executive functions, including attention, self-regulation, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. These are the skills that enable children to manage themselves as learners, and they develop best through structured play, interaction, and carefully scaffolded experiences.
By maintaining this approach into Year One, Maritime recognises that development does not happen in neat phases. Children do not suddenly become ready at five. They continue to grow, adapt, and need support.
This creates a genuinely joined up model. Support begins before children start school and continues seamlessly once they arrive. The Maritime Children’s Foundation and Maritime schools work together to ensure that families, early years settings, and classrooms are part of the same developmental journey.
Traditionally, school readiness has been seen as a checklist. Children should arrive able to sit still, hold a pencil, recognise letters, and follow instructions. These expectations still shape how readiness is understood in many settings. These still have importance, however, a broader view is emerging. School readiness includes communication skills, social and emotional development, physical confidence, and early thinking skills. Just as importantly, it includes a child’s sense of security, curiosity, and willingness to engage.
This wider definition reveals something important. Readiness is not a fixed state. It is shaped by a child’s experiences, relationships, and environment.
Yet the term “school ready” is not without problems. It can suggest that children themselves are lacking if they do not meet certain expectations. This risks overlooking the wider factors that influence development, including inequality and access to support.
The term can also narrow our focus. When readiness is reduced to literacy and numeracy, we risk ignoring the foundations that make learning possible, including language, confidence, and self-regulation.
Perhaps most significantly, it places responsibility on the child. It implies children must adapt to school, rather than schools adapting to children. A more helpful question might be, are schools ready for children? This reframing shifts responsibility onto the system. It calls for schools that are nurturing, language rich, and responsive to individual development. It also highlights the importance of early support for families and strong community connections.
The Maritime Academy Trust’s vision reflects this thinking. A strong start is not something a child achieves alone. It is something created collectively through support, relationships, and opportunity. In this sense, strong starts are about social justice. Children do not arrive at school with equal experiences. Some benefit from richer language environments and more stable routines. Others face significant barriers from the outset.
The challenge is not to label children as not ready, but to ensure systems are equipped to meet them where they are. The Strong Foundations programme offers a model for this. It connects support before school with developmentally appropriate practice during EYFS and Key Stage 1. It builds continuity, rather than fragmentation.
Ultimately, a strong start is not a moment in time. It is a process.
Children are not simply ready or not ready. They are becoming ready, through interaction with the world around them. The real task, then, is to build schools, systems, and communities that are ready for every child.
Because a strong start is never an individual achievement. It is a collective one.