Director's Report, Term 3 2023

Louise Brennan

As we are now half way through the year, Four year old group families are beginning to think about schools and going to school in 2024. This can prompt the question “is my child ready for school?”

School readiness: We often get asked at kinder when will be working on school readiness activities with the children. School readiness however, is not a separate part of the program. Kindergarten(and life!) can prepare children for school by promoting all areas of their growth and development. A kindergarten program that closely observes and responds to children’s needs, development stages and interests provides opportunities for encouraging the skills and attributes needed for starting school.

The environment we set up, the experiences we plan for, the interactions we have with the children, that they have with each other, the experiences they have outside of kinder all promote and provide opportunities for the children to enhance their skills in all areas of their development and therefore support children’s school readiness. We focus on assisting children to become confident learners rather than on developing specific literacy and numeracy skills. Using the children’s current skills and interests as the basis for promoting their development will prepare children better than requiring them to complete structured academic tasks.

Skills we take into consideration in our decisions , plans and goals for individual children and the group as a whole include the children’s ability to:

positively approach other children and make friends;
participate in play;
express emotions and deal with conflict appropriately;
show interest in others and form friendships;
express their needs and wants appropriately;
separate from parents or primary carers;
take turns in games and activities;• share toys and equipment;
follow some directions and understand some rules;• participate in groups; and
cope with transitions between routines and experiences.
show natural curiosity and interest in learning new things;
have confidence in learning; and• be interested in solving problems.
use language to ask questions and communicate their thoughts and ideas;• listen to others
enjoy books and being read to.
cope with a small amount of supervision in a variety of situations;• toilet and dress themselves independently;
unpack their lunch box and use a drink bottle; and
cope with a structured environment.
manage and use pencils, crayons, textas and scissors; and
balance, run, jump, and use equipment such as balls
and climbing apparatus.

Teachers at Livingston will always have discussions with parents and offer advice, strategies etc. If we feel your child would benefit from support to help them be the best they can be to start school or the next stage of their journey.

Foundation Enrolment 2024

Please note that the new Foundation enrolment application timeline for 2024 enrolments requires that parents and carers submit an enrolment application for Foundation 2024 by Friday 28 July 2023.

Information for services and parents and carers about the enrolment process for can be found hereIf you have any questions or concerns I am happy to have a chat.

Thanks,

Louise