Ready for School: Outcomes
and Impact
Overview
The Ready for School (RFS) programme is a relationship-based early intervention designed to support children and families as they transition into Reception. The programme is delivered to a cohort of children living in a community ranked in the top 20% most deprived nationally according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), meaning that all participating children experience socioeconomic disadvantage.
Led by an experienced early years teacher, the programme combines small group work, home-based and school-based support, and community activities to strengthen communication, social skills, and independence in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage and help for children to develop the skills and confidence needed for a successful start at school.
Alongside this, the programme provides wider family support, working with parents on a range of practical and emotional issues that may affect children’s development. This includes helping families to build routines, access support, and create positive home learning environments. By strengthening parental confidence and engagement, the programme supports families to embed learning into everyday life.
Context and Data Considerations
Outcomes from 2019 to 2021 reflect a period of significant disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, access to early education, childcare, and support services was limited, and opportunities for in-person delivery were reduced.
As a result, data from this period is presented for completeness but is not directly comparable to later cohorts. The analysis therefore focuses on outcomes from 2021 onwards, when programme delivery stabilised and families experienced more consistent support.
Outcomes and Progress Over Time
Good Level of Development (GLD) is the national measure used at the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) to assess school readiness. A child is considered to have achieved a GLD when they meet the expected level of development in the key areas of learning, including communication and language, personal, social and emotional development, physical development, literacy and mathematics. Achieving a GLD indicates that a child has developed the foundational skills, knowledge and behaviours needed to make a successful transition into primary school.
The Good Level of Development (GLD) rate across the programme shows a clear trajectory of improvement.
From 2019 to 2021, outcomes were significantly below national expectations, with GLD rates of 40% and 30% respectively. From 2021 onwards, there is a marked and sustained improvement, with outcomes ranging between 75% and 100%.
This upward trend demonstrates both programme maturity and increasing effectiveness over time, particularly given the high level of disadvantage within the cohort.
Benchmarking and Comparative Performance
The programme’s post-pandemic performance compares favourably with local and national benchmarks.
GLD Benchmark Comparison (2021–2025)
The most recent national data shows that approximately 68% of children in England achieve a Good Level of Development. Against this benchmark, the Ready for School programme achieves an average of 79%, placing it above national performance and broadly in line with or exceeding both London and local authority averages.
This comparison is particularly significant given that all participating children are drawn from communities experiencing high levels of deprivation. While national and regional benchmarks include children from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds, the Ready for School cohort represents a consistently disadvantaged group. Outcomes at this level therefore indicate strong programme impact and suggest that children are being supported to reach levels of development comparable with, or exceeding, their peers.
Current Cohort and Emerging Outcomes
The most recent data, based on teacher assessment, indicates that outcomes remain strong. In the current class cohort, 62% of children are predicted to achieve GLD, while children participating in the Ready for School programme are predicted to achieve 71% GLD.
This difference suggests that children engaged in the programme are continuing to outperform their peers, providing evidence of ongoing added value. The previous cohort achieved 69% GLD, which aligns with the sustained improvement seen in recent years.
Outcomes Across Groups
Analysis by key groups highlights important patterns in programme impact.
Children eligible for Pupil Premium achieve slightly higher GLD rates (61%) than those not eligible (54%), indicating that the programme is effectively supporting children experiencing economic disadvantage.
Children with English as an Additional Language achieve particularly strong outcomes (69%), outperforming non-EAL peers. This suggests that the programme has a positive effect on communication and language development, likely linked to its emphasis on home learning and parental engagement.
Outcomes for children with SEND are significantly lower, reflecting the higher level of need within this group. This is consistent with national trends and highlights an area for further development, particularly in terms of tailored support and alternative measures of progress.
Interpreting Impact
The programme's outcomes provide strong evidence that children are making progress towards key developmental milestones. Improvements in school readiness are not only reflected in overall Good Level of Development (GLD) outcomes but also demonstrate progress in the fundamental areas of communication and language, personal, social and emotional development, and learning behaviours that underpin later educational success.
Children eligible for Pupil Premium achieve slightly higher GLD rates (61%) than those not eligible (54%), indicating that the programme is successfully supporting children facing economic disadvantage to reach important developmental milestones and narrow gaps in attainment.
Children with English as an Additional Language achieve particularly strong outcomes (69%), outperforming their non-EAL peers. This suggests that the programme is having a positive impact on communication and language development. The programme's emphasis on home learning, parent-child interaction and parental engagement appears to be effectively supporting children's language acquisition, confidence and readiness for school.
Outcomes for children with SEND remain lower, reflecting the higher level of need within this group. While this is consistent with national trends, it also highlights an important area for continued development. Future work will focus on strengthening tailored support and identifying additional measures that capture the significant developmental progress made by children whose achievements may not be fully reflected through GLD outcomes alone.
The strength of these outcomes is particularly significant when considered in context. All participating children live in an area of high deprivation, and many experience multiple and overlapping risk factors known to impact early childhood development. Despite these challenges, the programme consistently supports children to make progress towards age-related developmental expectations and key milestones associated with school readiness.
Since 2021, outcomes have improved steadily and now meet or exceed national expectations. This suggests that the programme is effectively addressing barriers to development through its focus on parental confidence, relationship-based practice and high-quality support for learning in the home environment. These are all recognised protective factors that contribute to positive developmental outcomes.
The stronger outcomes achieved by participating children when compared with the wider cohort provide further evidence that the intervention is making a measurable and meaningful difference. The programme is not only contributing to improved educational outcomes but is also supporting the developmental foundations that enable children to thrive beyond the early years.
Conclusion
The Ready for School programme demonstrates a clear pattern of improvement in outcomes over time, with particularly strong performance in the post-pandemic period. Results show that children supported through the programme achieve levels of school readiness that compare favourably with local and national benchmarks, despite living in significantly disadvantaged circumstances.
Evidence suggests that the programme is successfully supporting children to achieve the key developmental milestones, particularly in relation to communication and language development, parental engagement, learning behaviours and overall school readiness. Continued development, particularly in relation to SEND outcomes, will further strengthen the evidence base and support ongoing improvement.
Ready for School has also been recognised within independent research exploring effective early years practice, where it is included as an example of delivery contributing to strong outcomes within the local system (www.funding-futures.org/home).