What is school readiness?
C. Everett Koop once said:
“When a child shows up for school, and is not physically and mentally ready to learn, he or she never catches up.”
School readiness is defined as “a measure of how prepared a child is to succeed in school cognitively, socially and emotionally.” 20 Education in South Africa runs for a span of 13 years in total (From grade R – grade 12). Children typically start school at the age of 5, turning 6 by the 30th June that year.19 It is not possible for us to judge school readiness simply on age, but on other developmental aspects including social, emotional and physical.21 Thus, the first 5 years of a child’s life are critical for their development and their growth, for them to be able to succeed
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Their head becomes more proportional to the rest of their body.7 They begin to lose their milk teeth and develop molars in the back of their jaws. 9 During the stage in which a child is 5-6 years old, they rapidly decrease in growth in comparison to when they are younger.8 A typical 5.5 year old child tends be an average length of 115cm and weighs about 20-22kg. 7 Visual acuity and eyesight should be at 20/20 vision. If visual difficulties are present, they should be corrected to ensure success at school.29
Brain development is a rapid and complicated process in childhood. By the age of 6 the brain has grown up to 90% of it’s adult size.8 The brain is comprised of two halves: the right hemisphere and the left hemisphere. These two hemispheres develop at different rates. Only the left hemisphere develops in the years prior to school. The left brain is responsible for the acquiring and learning of language, which may explain why language learning occurs in the first few years of a child’s life. 7
The nervous system also goes through various stages of development in early childhood. The glial cells to nourish, insulate and remove waste from the neurons develop as well as the myelin sheaths which improve the neuron efficiency. 7
Sensori-motor