Dissertation (MA Education)This was a univariate study which examined the influence of pre-primary education experience on literacy skills development among 473 primary grades 1-3 pupils. The first research question investigated the difference in literacy skill development with pre-primary school attendance. A two-way ANOVA revealed that the main effect for pre-school attendance, on literacy skill achievement was not significant F (1, 473) = .32, p = .57. The second research question investigated the effect of sex and grade difference in literacy skills performance across grades of study. It was found that female pupils performed better (M=42.64; SD=21.71) than male pupils (M=36.46; SD=22.92) in the literacy skills test with a small practical significant difference. The performances also increased as they moved to higher grades, namely grades two and three. The third research question investigated the difference in literacy skills performance with the type of pre-primary school attended. The effect for the type of pre-primary school attended, F (2, 473) = 8.51, p = .000, reached statistical significance indicating that the type of pre-primary school one attended had an influence on the development of literacy skills. Finally regarding teachers‟ qualifications and ability to foster literacy skills in early childhood, it was found 80% of the teachers were Grade IIIA and were not trained in early childhood education. The impact of these findings on early literacy development are discussed.