Council cabinet in agreement over school readiness plan
Council leaders have approved a plan to encourage parents to get their tots ready to go to school by using what one councillor called a “whimsical list” of activities.
The list has 50 suggested activities to stimulate young minds, including blowing bubbles and catching them, blowing a dandelion, and laying on the ground to watch the clouds sail by (with a parent).
There was cross party support for the 5by5 initiative which aims to give tots the best start in life when it went to Telford & Wrekin Council’s cabinet meeting for approval.
Councillor Shirley Reynolds (Labour, Wrockwardine Wood & Trench), the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People, Education, Employment & Skills told the meeting on Thursday (April 3) said: “Telford & Wrekin will be the first council in the West Midlands to introduce the 5by5 initiative.”
It aims to give children the ‘best start in life’ by getting them ready to start learning at school.
The need for such a scheme is based on national research that says over a third (36 per cent) of children struggle to play and share with other children, 34 per cent find it difficult to listen and follow instructions and a quarter (25 per cent) continue to require help with toilet training.
The lack of ‘school readiness’ also means that teachers spend more time and resources to improve basic skills.
Conservative group leader Councillor Tim Nelson (Newport North) supported the initiative after reviewing it as a councillor and a parent.
“The initial reaction was to sort of stiffen a little bit and think the council is taking a lot on and running a very fine line between being patronising and condescending.
“Most parents do most things for their children and never think of Telford & Wrekin Council.”
But he said the ‘world has changed’ some children are not “domesticated or civilised – please excuse the words”. Children, he said, needed to be able to turn up at school and sit down for a prolonged period of time.
“And that involves dressing themselves and feeding themselves and how to use the toilet,” he said.
“I am supportive and I hope it works well,” he added.
Council leader Lee Carter (Labour, Arleston & College) said the scheme reflected other priorities, including having a local plan with green spaces that does not leave development in the hands of developers.
Councillor Kelly Middleton (Lab, Woodside) the Cabinet Member for Public Health & Healthier Communities said was “really vital work, I think it is fantastic.”
Councillor Carolyn Healy (Lab, Ironbridge Gorge), the Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, Planning & Sustainability said: “Those early years are absolutely critical, it has such an impact throughout the lives of everybody.”
She said there is “evidence that there are some children who don’t get all of these experiences” because “life can be very difficult” for parents and these things don’t happen.”
She said it was a list of things that parents and children can do for free and could have a “really positive impact”.
One of the activities listed is for children go skipping over the Iron Bridge. She said she looked forward to seeing more kids doing that.
Deputy leader Councillor Richard Overton (St Georges) spoke of it being a small project that would help in “knocking those bricks out of the wall of inequalities.”
The report said the new initiative, which follows on from a push to get the under 10s to do 10 activities, would not cost the council anything extra as it uses current resources.
The full list of activities listed:
Eat a rainbow of fruits and vegetables in different colours
Splash in a swimming pool
Stamp and scrunch the autumn leaves
Grow your own food
Walk/Hop/Skip or run across the Ironbridge
Putting on own shoes and coats
Use a potty or toilet independently
Eat with Utensils
Learn to brush your teeth with supervision
Visit the Town park and use the equipment
Share a book and listen to stories
Go to Bounce and Rhyme and join the library
Learn a nursery rhyme and sing a song
Listen to outdoor sounds
Explore the sounds that musical instruments make
Join my friends in the role play area
Play peek-a-boo
Blow bubbles and catch them
Feed the Ducks
Teddy Bears Picnic
Visit a toddler or community group
Go to Pre-school
Play hide and seek
Play a board game with friends
Go on a treasure hunt with friends
Talk to the baby/toddler in the mirror
Draw a picture of your friends
Play circle games
Build a den
Attend an event in the community
Ride on a bus or train or both
Exploring paint
Play a musical instrument
Get messy with arts and crafts
Build a sandcastle
Lay on the ground and watch the clouds sail by
Dance and sing to music
Take a torch and walk when its dark outside
Blow a dandelion and make a wish
Play with playdough
Count to 5
Draw with a pencil
Look for letters and numbers on signs in the community
Write out a card for family or friends
Choose a recipe and bake it with a grown up
Make a shopping list and go shopping
Go on a bug hunt
Plant a sunflower and see how tall it grows
Make a snowman
Walk in the woods
At the risk of sounding negative, do the council members not recognise the early warning signs that a child maybe neurodivergent? and as lovely as the long list of activities are, that most parents do with children anyway, children who are ND will struggle with a lot of those things in the early years naturally.
Let’s also consider the fact you can’t feed the ducks at Telford town park and where you can you’re told not to use bread, as for libraries, well just ask the people of Dawley about theirs!
It would be nice to walk round the woods in Telford, if it weren’t for the uncertainty of what and who you might bump into, nothing says nature like the strong scent of
cannabis.
Bus routes have been cut over the years, parking isn’t great in Iornbridge.
I recognise the attempts the council are trying to make and the demographic they’re trying to reach, but those parents are more likely to have struggled themselves at school and failed to have their own needs suffiently identified and met, the environment, but more importantly the type of environment you grow up in will have a huge impact on a developing child, but if SEND children’s needs aren’t identified and supported adequately in the early years then you can blow all the dandilions you want it won’t help.