Assessing School Readiness in Sri Lanka: A Baseline Study for a Play-Based Child-toChild Transition Programme

The transition from preschool to primary education is a critical stage in children's educational development, yet context-specific baseline evidence on school readiness remains limited in Sri Lanka. This study assessed preschool children's readiness before the implementation of a play-based Child-to-Child (C2C) transition programme and examined how baseline evidence can inform context-responsive transition support. A mixed-methods baseline assessment was conducted with 149 children aged 4-6 years from 10 preschools in the Western Province of Sri Lanka selected through convenience sampling. Structured assessment instruments measured literacy, numeracy, and socio-emotional skills, while preschool teachers provided qualitative observations. Quantitative data were analysed using frequencies and percentages, and teacher observations were analysed thematically. Overall readiness was high: 94.6% of children were classified as Fully Ready in numeracy, 90.6% in literacy, and 85.9% in socio-emotional skills. Gender differences were generally small, although boys showed lower socio-emotional readiness than girls. Children in the semi-urban preschools included in the study showed comparatively lower literacy and socioemotional readiness than those in the urban and rural settings. Teacher observations highlighted needs in self-management, turn-taking, conflict resolution, and responsible decision-making. The findings provide a baseline for tailoring the C2C intervention and for subsequent evaluation. More broadly, the study demonstrates the value of context-specific readiness assessment for designing play-based, peersupported transition programmes in settings where locally grounded evidence is limited.