Preparing your child for school

Many child care environments help children with school readiness, but there is also a lot you can do at home to help give your child the best possible start to life in ‘big school'.

• Talk to your child in advance and tell them where they will be going and what they will be doing.
• Talk openly about school and tell them stories about your most enjoyable moments at school.
• Take your child to visit the school. Show your child where they will be going and where the important places are in the school such as, classrooms, toilets, canteen, and office.
• Answer any questions they may have openly and honestly reassuring them that everything is OK.
• Attend orientation, buddy and transition programs at the school if these are available.
• Talk about friends, about saying good bye to old friends and making new friends.
• Explain that there will be rules to follow - like getting to school on time, eating times and no running in hallways.
• If you know any other families starting at the same school think about arranging a play date for the children.

Get the right information and the right stuff

Find out the obvious things:

• What time does school start and finish?
• What is the teacher's name?
• Is there before and after school care and vacation care? If so, how do I enrol for these programs?
• Where do I take my child on the first day and where do I collect them from?
• What do the children need on the first day?
• What is the standard uniform? Where can I purchase uniforms?
• How does the school involve parents and how can I participate?
• What happens if my child gets sick at school?
• How can parents contact staff - through the school office, by phone or in person?
• What do I do if bullying is suspected?
• Are there any rules my child needs to know?
• What extra curricular programs are on offer?

We all feel better when we have the right 'tools' to do the job and this is especially true with children. Most of us have some recollection of not fitting in as well as we would have liked at school and some children have more anxiety than others. Help your child to fit in and find out what types of uniform, bags, lunchboxes most children will have.

Helping in the transition - What do early childhood education and care services do to support children?

Most child care services offer comprehensive school readiness programs for children in the year before school. Typically these ramp up in the last three-four months of the year and may include:

• Uniform day when children can wear their new uniform to preschool.
• Lunch box practice.
• Increased focus on literacy and numeracy with kindergarten style worksheets.
• Asking children to come in at 9am and answer a roll call.
• Visits from older children or ex students who are already at big school.

Helping in the transition - What you can do at home

The skills that typically help children transition easily into a school setting include:

• The ability to pay attention for extended periods and focus on tasks.
• The ability to adapt to a new environment and new rules.
• The ability to work independently.

Here are some tips on how you can support your child in developing these skills:

• Reading is a great way of increasing your child's attention span. Take cues from your child as to how long they can pay attention to one thing. As a guide, teachers may expect in the beginning that children will attend a group activity for about 20 minutes. Towards the end of the 1st year, the expectation maybe up to 30 to 40 minutes
• Introduce your child to new experiences - attend a children's play, visit your local museum, give guidelines on the rules - when it is appropriate to talk, when you have to wait your turn
• Give your child responsibilities at home. Start assigning chores for your child to complete independently such as setting the table, helping with the laundry, unloading safe items from the dishwasher
• Practice Writing - invite your child to write new words, copy letters and numbers and draw pictures
• Make sure your child is comfortable introducing themselves and reciting their name, address and phone number
• Help by reinforcing skills and participate in counting and measuring activities; practice using computers
• Build your child's co-operation skills, play games that involve taking turns
• Play act being at school
• Encourage your child to talk about experiences with you

As much as possible, offer your child natural opportunities to build skills that enhance his or her readiness for school and at the same time keep it fun.

Practice

Get bedtimes set so that your child wakes up in plenty of time before school. Rehearse packing lunches in the morning so you know how much time this will take. Do a 'dry run' of the morning routine, breakfast, getting dressed, walking to school or driving - whatever the mode of transport, see how much time it will take. Remember it always takes longer than you think.

To get the day off to a good start, develop a special fun routine to make the mornings happy. Start off with a cuddle and independent play and follow with a nutritious breakfast and then maybe a special CD in the car on the way. When children can predict what's coming next, they feel confident and are more likely to co-operate.

Establish a routine after school. If possible, take them straight home as they will be tired. Get them to wind down by changing into some comfortable clothes, have a healthy snack and relax with some simple play activities that are familiar.

Get Involved!

Your school is part of your community so if you can, take part and volunteer for working bees, canteen duty, excursions, sports days and fetes. Your child will find the transition to school easier if they know you're involved and taking an interest.