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Get ready for school

Starting school can be challenging, so we’ve created resources to help your little ones prepare for starting school.

Illustration of a mother and child pointing at a calendar of September

Borrow our free Get Ready for School pack

We stock free book bags aimed at families with children who are about to start school for the first time. The Get Ready for School with Suffolk Community Libraries pack is filled with reassuring and confidence-building stories about the school day, along with a useful fact book and an information booklet to help you prepare for this next step.

Each pack contains:

Information leaflet with advice on getting ready for school
Useful tips on learning to read
A selection of books to help make children feel positive about starting school.

Borrow a free pack

Starting school is an exciting time but it can be daunting too. With a little preparation and encouragement, most children will settle in easily at school, ready to learn and discover.

School readiness is about making sure your child has the skills and information they need before they start school. This includes:

Building resilience and emotional readiness to learn, socialise and get their needs met.
Understanding early years subjects such as shapes, numbers, the alphabet, opposites and colours.
Social skills such as good behaviour and sharing.
Personal care skills like using the toilet and healthy eating.

Libraries also run lots of activities for pre-schoolers to help with making friends, speech and language, listening skills and following instructions.

Recommended books

Books to help your child cover the basics before they start school.

All of these books are free to borrow with your library card.

Get Ready for School: Alphabet

Books to help your child cover the basics before they start school.Albert ABC Ian Brown and Eoin Clarke Learn the alphabet with Albert and friends in this new board book. Ian Brown and Eoin Clarke's brilliant Albert the Tortoise takes young children aged 0-3 on a...

Get Ready for School: Colours

Books to help your child cover the basics before they start school.Fletcher's Colours Julia Rawlinson and Tiphanie Beeke Learn about the different colours Fletcher and his friends encounter in the forest featuring the characters from the Fletcher picture books. Borrow...

Get Ready for School: Getting dressed

Books to help your child cover the basics before they start school.Guess Who's Getting Dressed Smriti Prasadam-Halls and Marta Altés Guess who's getting dressed, is it you? Who's put on some stripy socks? Is it reindeer? No, it's Fox! Who's put on this spotty coat?...

Get Ready for School: Good behaviour

Books to help your child cover the basics before they start school.The Elephant and the Bad Baby Elfrida Vipont and Raymond Briggs Follow along with the adventures of a giant elephant and a mischievous baby in this timeless picture-book story. When an Elephant meets a...

Get Ready for School: Numbers

Books to help your child cover the basics before they start school.My First Numbers: Let's Get Counting! Dawn Sirett Let's have fun counting to 10, then up to 20, recognizing numbers, and saying lots of words! 1 toy train, 2 little feet, 3 spotty ladybirds - it's time...

Get Ready for School: Shapes

Books to help your child cover the basics before they start school.The Shape Badge Zahara Andrews and Danny Stack The Squirrels are practising their shape skills, but some shapes are more difficult than others. Will Duggee and the Squirrels be able to help the animals...

Get Ready for School: Opposites

Books to help your child cover the basics before they start school.I Am Big, I Am Small Vicky Woodgate Meet a GIANT squid, and a teeny tiny seahorse. Did you know that a cheetah can run faster than a sports car, but a slow loris's top speed is 1 mile per hour? Have...

Get Ready for School: Starting school or nursery

Books to help your child cover the basics before they start school.Hooray! It's Our First Day Martha Mumford and Cherie Zamazing Get ready to start school with the bunnies, as our four favourite friends set off on an exciting lift-the-flap adventure to get to their...