School Readiness
What is “School Readiness”?
Firstly, what is school readiness…? In the past, school readiness was determined by just being just an age and being admitted into school. This changed then to include a set of predetermined specific skills and competencies that a child “must” have to be “ready” for schooling. Now there has been a more recent shift towards not just the individual child being ‘ready’ but as a shared responsibility between the early childhood centres, families, children and the Primary Schools.
This “individual child maturation” view of school readiness has been shown to be too limited. Readiness does not reside solely in the child, but reflects the environments in which children find themselves – their families, early childhood settings, schools, neighbourhoods, and communities (Kagan & Rigby, 2003). School readiness is now seen as having four interrelated components: children’s readiness for school, school’s readiness for children, and the capacity of families and communities to provide developmental opportunities for their young children (Emig et al, 2001).
This rethinking of school readiness has come about as people gain increasing knowledge and understanding of how important the Early Years of childhood and development are. We now know the neural (brain wiring) connections and pathways are laid down very early in life and that these are curtail to effective learning.
““The best preparation for being 5 years old, is to be 4 years old for a whole year” ”
— UNKOWN
What factors can contribute to being ready for school?
As a parent there are things you can do to be “school ready” and prepare your child better for the transition to school.
Parents and care givers can find the transition to school daunting. Many parents begin pressuring their children to recite the alphabet, count, read and spell in fear of their child being “left behind” however this is not best practice. Success in a school environment is depended not just on cognitive ability alone, in fact some children who participate in programs like “jolly phonics” or attend school tutoring are quite advanced for their year level and tend to be bored in the first year at school as they are ahead of their classmates and can get bored in classrooms if teachers aren’t able to stimulate them or cannot due to classroom demands.
Additionally, academic learning cannot happen in isolation, children need to be secure, confident, and comfortable to be able to absorb the learning. This is where the other domains of development and readiness come into play. Children need to have adequate physical health and wellbeing, be socially competent, have strong emotional development/maturity, and have general communication skills as well as basic cognitive development.
There are a few factors that contribute to a child’s readiness for school some of these include:
Disposition for learning (Vic University, 2009). Does your child show curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity? These dispositions for learning make children thrive. They can be encouraged by process praise (i.e. “I can see your trying really hard to finish that puzzle” rather than trait praise “good job” or “your so clever”).
Experience of the process (Vic University, 2009). Allowing children to enjoy and take part in the process, and focus learning on the process rather the end product.
Social and emotional characteristics (Vic University, 2009). Having a child with good resilience, and the ability to socialise with peers in an appropriate way.
Program continuity (Putting children first, 2005). This is something we focus on with our Project work, seeing ideas through from their conception, throughout the process and down different learning paths.
Ongoing communication between families, Early childhood providers and Primary Schools (Putting children first, 2005). This means open, consistent, and early communication before schooling commences.
Involvement of parents in transition process (Putting children first, 2005). Ensuring parents encourage things like dispositions for learning, process praise, school orientation visits, communication with their children, communication with the early childhood provider and being available for their children during the transition time.
Many families and parents think supporting your child’s transition into school is about writing their name, knowing the alphabet and counting. However, these are all things children learn at school.
Access to programs like MELC’s educational program can provide children with the social, emotional, cognitive and other skills required to promote successful, capable and confident children. Quality Early Childhood programs greatly facilitate positive transitions to school and underpin later academic success.
“Quality programs should help grow curious minds and support social and emotional wellbeing through play-based activities.
Activities should help children cooperate with others, begin to focus so they can master new skills, lay down literacy and numeracy foundations and showcase new ideas that grow a love of learning and discovering new things”
— MEGAN O’CONNELL, MITCHELL INSTITUTE AT VICTORIA UNIVERSITY
Things that are more beneficial to supporting you child into transition include more social emotional aspects of their development and adaptive “life” skills.
We don’t support a checklist of things children MUST achieve before they start school; however, some things they should be confident doing or working towards achieving in the near future include:
Ability to pay attention for period of time, for instance group times or lesson times
Ability to feel confident to seek out and ask questions to adults
Work independently and as part of a group
Being able to toilet and dress themselves
Follow more complicated instructions (i.e. 3 “to-do “ items in a row- please get your hat, find your shoes and meet me at the front door)
Having responsibilities at home
Being able to dress themselves (for changes in uniform for some schools i.e. sports day)
Being able to hold a pencil and do “mark marking”
Making friends and meeting new people
Be able to take turns and share
Ready Parents
As a parent there are several things you can do to help prepare you and your child for “big” school.
Talk about school in advance, where they will be going and why
Talk openly about school and tell them stories about your most enjoyable school memories
Visit the school, show your child their classroom, the playground and important thinks like the bathroom
Attend orientation sessions, buddy and transition systems are important for smooth transitions
Talk about saying goodbye to their old school friends and making new school friends
Explain the rules that will need following, i.e., getting to school on time, lunch time, putting their hand up to ask questions
If you know other children starting at the same school arrange play dates before hand so they can se a familiar face
Practicing waking up in time for school, especially if your child is prone to sleep in’s or late starts
Practicing a morning routine (breakfast, brush teeth, get dresses, pack bag etc.)
Practicing going to bed earlier if need to wake up early
Get the right information. Have a think about the following…
Think about what time school starts and finishes, does this work with your work hours?
Does the school have Out of School ours care or Vacation Care? What are the costs and fees associated with this?
What are the teacher’s names?
What do you need to pack for the first day?
Make sure the uniform is correct and fits. Wear in school shoes BEFORE the first day to avoid blisters/sire feet.
What happens if my child is sick at school?
How can parents contact staff at the school?
What do I do if my child is being bullied?
Can my child open their lunchbox easily?
It can be an overwhelming process but we are here to help!
If you would like more information about school readiness we have a booklet titled “Ready or not- Preparing children for school”. Just contact one of our office staff and we can email or print this for you.