Building Strong Foundations

The Impact of Home and Community on School Readiness

Early childhood is a time of rapid learning and development. However, a child’s ability to thrive in school is shaped long before they ever enter a classroom. A recent study describes two critical factors influencing school readiness: the quality of the parent-child relationship at home and exposure to violence in the community.

• Dysfunction in the parent-child relationship negatively affects literacy and overall school readiness scores—meaning that children in unstable home environments struggle more when they start school.
• Exposure to community violence also lowers literacy scores but, interestingly, appears to improve social-emotional and motor skills, likely due to children adapting to stressful environments.

The Home: A Child’s First Learning Environment

A child’s caregivers are their first teachers. But when parent-child relationships are strained, children’s early learning suffers. The study found that higher dysfunction in the parent-child relationship predicted lower literacy and school readiness scores. The Parenting and Family Adjustment Scales (PAFAS) were used to assess parenting consistency, encouragement, and family adjustment.

For more on the connection between parenting and early learning, read the School Readiness Study

The Community: A Double-Edged Sword

Beyond the home, a child’s community environment also plays a crucial role in their development. The PASAF study also found that exposure to community violence negatively impacts literacy skills, but, unexpectedly, it enhances social-emotional and motor skills.

While this suggests that children may develop resilience in response to adversity, the academic costs remain concerning. The NSAAC prioritises reducing violence against children and promoting safer environments as part of its national agenda. We need to create safe, nurturing spaces where children can develop without the constant stress of violence.

Want to understand how policy can drive large-scale change? Read this: Apolitical article on early learning policy

Driving Real Change for Young Children

These findings reinforce the National Strategy to Accelerate Action for Children (NSAAC) and its mission to improve early childhood outcomes by focusing on both home and community-level interventions. Responsive caregiving is a key pillar of childhood development and to ensure every child has the foundation for success. At Hold My Hand, we are dedicated to creating real change by supporting caregivers, strengthening early learning, and building safer communities where children can thrive.

This includes:

• Strengthening parenting programmes to improve caregiver-child relationships.
• Expanding access to early learning so more children benefit from structured, high-quality education.
• Reducing exposure to violence by advocating for safer communities and better protection policies.

One exciting development in early learning is Grow ECD’s free, DBE-approved, NCF-aligned curriculum for children aged 0-5. This play-based programme ensures that every early childhood development (ECD) centre—no matter where it is—has access to high-quality learning materials. Rated 93% for Quality Pedagogy by Education Alliance Finland, this innovative programme is accessible via the Grow Giraffe App (for owners) and the Meerkat App (for teachers). It includes a variety of engaging resources such as videos, voice notes, rhymes, and photos, making lesson planning easier than ever. Designed to be data-free and user-friendly, educators can plan anywhere, anytime. Plus, downloadable and printable PDFs ensure flexibility for every learning environment.

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