Preparing Your Child for School 

Preparing Your Child for School - General Information 

Beginning school is an exciting time in your child’s life. However, before children are able to benefit from the education that school offers, they need to have reached certain stages of physical, social, emotional and intellectual development. Few parents would think that their three-year old was ready for school but they recognise a five-year old’s eagerness for experiences outside the family. 

Children develop at different rates and therefore start school with different levels of skill. We take this into account when planning programs and activities for Foundation children. If a child is competent in many ways, it may not matter if there are some things that he/she cannot do, such as tie shoelaces, name colours or skip. 

Physical Development Skills

The physical skills that children need are of two kinds:

• those that are desirable for looking after themselves when an adult is not able to help
• those that enable them to join in learning at school 

Eating 

At school, children will need to eat their snack and lunch independently, for example:

• unwrap food packaging
• open a lunchbox
• take the lid off a drink bottle
• peel a piece of fruit
• get a drink from the tap

Toileting 

Children will also need to:

• go to the toilet by themselves
• undo and do up buttons and zips
• flush  the toilet
• wash their hands 
• manage the taps

Accidents can happen at this age. Our Foundation teachers try to prevent these by programming regular visits to the toilet during the day. In the first few weeks of school, parents should consider sending spare clothes if any problems are expected.

Dressing 

Sometimes children feel too hot or too cold so they must be able to cope with jumpers, jackets and coats by themselves. Sometimes shoes need to be taken off and put on again. The best way to help your child to learn these skills is to encourage them to dress themselves. Even so, many 5-year-olds still find it difficult to tie shoelaces. You may prefer to purchase shoes with Velcro. 

Nose Blowing 

It is important, for health reasons, that your child is aware when his or her nose needs wiping and that he/she is able to do this correctly. 

Hand-Eye Coordination 

This is the ability to direct the hand with the eye. It is important for many activities such as writing or catching a ball. It is developed through experiences such as painting (using brushes and water), drawing with crayons or pencils, pouring water, building with construction kits, catching big balls and hitting using bats. 

Basic Movements 

At school, children will practise the skills of walking, running, jumping, hopping and skipping in new game situations. Most children develop and refine these skills simply by having the opportunity to play freely. 

Clear Speech 

Clear speech is best developed over many years in a relaxed atmosphere. Parents encourage and extend their children’s speech and language by talking with them and gently providing a good model. For example, the child may say “We’re going to the hostipal” and the parent replies “Yes, we are going to the hospital.” 

Health

If your child has an illness or condition, for example, asthma, epilepsy, or an allergy, the school and your child's teacher will need to be informed. Your child's teacher should also be told about the effects of any treatment that your child is having, so that allowances can be made both in and out of the classroom. 

Some areas to consider are: 

Eyesight -There are many different kinds of eye conditions, although fortunately only a few children experience them. Some of these may not be evident until a child is asked to participate in reading or writing activities. If your child is finding these tasks difficult, then an eye problem may be a possibility. 

Hearing - Small children often seem to suffer from ear, nose and throat infections, which may affect their hearing for a while. If your child has an infection, or does not seem to be hearing very well, seek medical assistance. 

General Health - Starting school is usually a tiring experience, even for a healthy child. Help your child be in the best health possible for the start of the school year. 

Social Development

School is a place for children to develop their social skills. When small children have had opportunities to mix with children and adults, other than their parents, they learn skills which help them cope with the social aspects of school. 

Learning How to Relate to Adults 

Children learn how to relate to adults when they are minded by someone other than their parents, play at a friends’ house, go out with other people, learn to ask for things in shops or go to playgroups. 

It will be easier for your child to be happy and learn at school when they can:

• listen to the teacher and others
• follow instructions, and 
• make known his or her needs

Learning How to Relate to Children

Children learn to relate to other children when they have the opportunity to play and work together. 

Sharing, Taking Turns and Cooperating

Children often work in groups in school and this means they will need to take turns, share materials and co-operate. They need the same skills in the playground where adult supervision is more remote.

Children learn to share when they are given food to pass around at home and when they are asked to let another child play with a favourite toy. They learn to co-operate when they help to prepare food or play with other children. 

Playing games with adults helps teach children how to take turns and how to cope with success and failure. 

Emotional Development

Separation   

It helps if a child is able to separate easily from the parents. When parents tell a child that they are going to leave but will be back, and then keep their promise, the child learns to accept separation. This prevents the situation where a child, worried that a parent may not come and get him or her after school, is not able to concentrate on what is happening in school. 

It helps the child if parents point out the enjoyable things the child will be able to do at school. “You will have other children to play with. You will paint pictures, play ball, learn to read and listen to stories.” Be cheerful and encouraging. A child who enjoys school should not be made to feel guilty about this by parents asking questions such as, “Did you miss me?”

Self-Control 

No one expects small children to control their emotions as well as an adult does. Other children often reject children who ‘perform’ when they do not get their own way or when they have to wait for something they want. 

Self-control is developed at home, for example:

• when parents do not give in to a temper tantrum and do not let the child have his or her own way
• when the child is asked to wait while the parent finishes an activity before attending to the child 
• when the parent doesn’t give the child everything he or she asks for

Emotional Development 

Starting school can be a very demanding experience for small children, particularly if they have to travel a long way or if they are unaccustomed to large groups of children. After the effort of coping at school, children may come home very tired. Quiet activities and free time at home are encouraged as ideal ways of dealing with this situation.

Confidence 

A confident child sees himself or herself as generally being successful. He or she will be better prepared to meet the new challenges of school than the child who is lacking in confidence. 

Each time parents commend a child for a new achievement they give the child a sense of his or her own ability to do things. When parents encourage a child to tackle tasks of gradually increasing difficulty and praise him or her for success they increase the child’s confidence. 

Responsible Behaviour 

In school, each activity has to be tidied away before another can be started. A sense of responsibility is developed when parents encourage children to keep their rooms tidy and to put their toys away. At first, parents need to help tidy up but gradually more and more can be left for the child to do. 

It is important at school that children are able to care for their own belongings,  pack and unpack their bag, unwrap their snack/lunch and be able to tidy up after themselves. 

Independence 

The school provides a vast range of activities for children. Children who occupy themselves independently can attempt more and may learn more. 

Each time parents allow children to tackle something for themselves they are encouraging the growth of independence, for example, dressing themselves, packing their bag or feeding a pet. As your child grows you can gradually give him/her more independence, for example, making their own lunch, going to a friend’s place to play or having a sleepover. 

Persistence 

At school, new tasks are based on the completion of earlier ones. Small children give up easily when they find things difficult. If you help him/her with the difficulty and let him/her finish the task, your child will come to see the value of persistence.

Pre-Reading Skills 

Learning to read well is a complex task which usually takes years to master. If children have some success when they first start developing reading skills at school, they will enjoy it and practise more often. 

Being able to read well, makes later school learning easier. Reading is an important skill utilised throughout life.

When preparing your child for reading, the following ideas may help:

• talk with your child so that he or she learns many words
• read aloud to your child daily
• draw your child’s attention to signs, advertisements and writing on packets. 

When children are read to, they learn many things. They become aware that:

• meaning can be obtained from print
• there are rules about reading, such as, you read the print, not the pictures and you start at the top of the page and scan left to right 
• the written language of books is often different from the language that is spoken.  We may say “John’s got a truck.” But in a beginner’s book this idea would probably be written as “John has a truck”.

Pre-Writing Activities 

Writing includes spelling, grammar, punctuation and handwriting. Encourage your child to experiment with writing. Some ideas to encourage your child to write;

• provide a range of materials to encourage writing, drawing and publishing, for example, pencils, paper, scissors, glue, magazines
• write together – make a shopping list and encourage your child to make one too. When you write to family and friends, encourage your child to add a piece to card, letters and messages
• praise all attempts at writing and spelling. Talk about what your child has written (even though it may only be scribble), have your child point to the writing and talk about the  message it carries
• let your child see you writing
• identify words and letters around you, play with the letters of the alphabet, find letters and words in magazines that are of significance e.g. “That letter is in your name.”

Pre-Numeracy Skills 

Mathematics in the primary school includes: 

• counting
• learning to add subtract, multiply and divide
• measuring
• working with money
• telling the time 

Children who come to school understanding terms such as more, less, the same as, bigger, smaller, how many, are prepared for early numeracy and should move easily to formal work. 

Early preparation for mathematics occurs when parents or others:

• help the child/children to count a few objects such as the number of plates to put on the table or the number of buttons on a jacket
• sing number rhymes and chants
• practise counting forwards and backwards
• ask your child to share groups of objects with others e.g. “Can you share your box of blocks so that everyone gets the same?”
• talk to your child about time, for example, “How many sleeps until your next birthday?”, “Daddy will be home in half an hour when the T.V. program is finished.” 
• discuss events that occur on specific days “We go shopping on a Thursday. The day after Thursday is Friday.”   
• let your child find out what he or she can buy with a few coins and talk about it as you are shopping 
• talk to your child as he or she uses building toys, for example, “Can you make it bigger? “, “Find some more blue blocks.”, Which tower is taller?”
• count fruit as you put it in the shopping basket
• let your child play with water, sand, dough, so that he or she learns how much will fit into different sized containers
• talk about events that are possible and impossible                     

Beginning School 

There are a number of things you can do to make the transition to school easier. Here are some ideas:

• visit the school over the holidays, pointing out the different school buildings and playground areas
• once school starts, make sure your child knows where you will meet at the end of the school day
• label clothing, lunchboxes and school bags. Show your child the label, e.g “See, I’ve put your name here in black pen.”
• practise reading and recognising their name 
• talk about how long the school day will be in a way that the child can understand. “It’s as long as kinder, you’ll have lunch and do some activities and then I’ll come and get you.“
• show your child what food you have packed each morning and mention when it should be eaten. Make sure your child can easily open the lunch containers and drink bottle
• practise wearing the uniform, putting jackets on and off, tightening hat straps and wear in school shoes

Parent/School Relationships 

The first day of school marks the beginning of a new stage in your child’s life. It is important for parents and the school to work together, to ensure the best possible outcomes for your child.

You can help your child make a smooth transition by ensuring your child participates in the Foundation Transition Program in the preceding year together with;

• getting a good night’s sleep
• reading school newsletters
• contacting teachers if you would like to tell them something or discuss your child’s progress
• participating in school activities 

Information Specific to Foundation at Toorak Primary 

Communication

Email and Newsfeeds via our Compass parent portal  is our primary method to communicate with parents. Your compass login will be emailed to you prior to your child commencing.

Parent Representative

Each class requires a parent representative to act as a liaison point between your classroom teacher and families. Parent reps recruit volunteers to help at specific school events and year level social functions. If this sounds appealing, parents can nominate themselves to their child’s classroom teacher early on in the school year.

Buddies

Foundation students will be allocated a buddy from Grade 6. Special buddy activities are organised throughout the year. Buddies will assist your child to settle into school. Your child's buddy will provide your child with a supportive, interested and friendly contact in the school yard. 

Take Home Folders 

In the first few days of school, your child will be issued a named dark red Toorak Primary School take home folder. Parents are asked to develop the routine of checking this each night and returning it to school daily. Occasional School notices and eventually home readers will be sent home in this take home folder. 

Collecting your Child 

Foundation students are dismissed from their classroom door and are to be collected promptly at 3.30pm. If a child is to be collected by someone other than their mother or father, parents are asked to provide written consent via email for this to happen.  Should children be attending after school care (OSH), OSH staff collect Foundation students from the classrooms. It is free to enrol your child in OSH Club. Parents are encouraged to consider enrolling their child in OSH Club even if not intending to use the service regularly, as it may be of assistance in case of an emergency. 

School Nurse Visit

Early in the year, Foundation students receive a visit by a School Nurse who can undertake some preliminary assessments of a child’s health on parental request, for example, screen their hearing, vision or speech. Detailed confidential questionnaires are sent home for completion. Parents are encouraged to avail themselves of this free service as it is obviously beneficial to a child’s learning if any health issues are detected early. 

Some Ideas for Healthy Snacks and Lunches

-sandwiches/wraps/rolls

-meats, e.g. chicken legs, tuna, slices of beef etc. 

-crackers and dips

-fruit 

-yoghurt

-rice and noodle dishes 

-cheese portions

-hardboiled eggs 

-salad vegetables, e,g, celery, carrot sticks, tomatoes

A drink bottle containing water is strongly encouraged and should be brought to school daily.  Ice packs are recommended in your child’s lunch to keep it extra cool during the warmer months.  Please provide your child with a spoon or fork if required, for example if they bring yoghurt or rice. Remember Nude Food is encouraged, so minimise food wrapping as much as possible. 

Unhealthy items such as chocolate, lollies and chips are discouraged. It would be wonderful if sweet biscuits and cakes can also be “sometimes” foods. Sharing food is strongly discouraged at school.  Depending on student allergies, occasionally it is requested that some foods are avoided within the year level (e.g. nuts). You will be notified if this applies to your child’s year level. 

Library Bags 

A library bag is required to enable your child to borrow books from the school library. The bag helps protect books and keep them safe while transiting between school and home. No particular style of bag is necessary, it just needs to be durable, labelled clearly with your child’s name and able to hold a large picture book securely. The Department of Education provides a welcome pack to every Foundation student early in the year in a re-usable drawstring bag. We encourage all students to use this bag as a library bag.  

Children Learn What They Live

If a child lives with criticism, they learn to condemn.

If a child lives with hostility, they learn to fight.

If a child lives with ridicule, they learn to be shy.

If a child lives with shame, they learn to feel guilty.

If a child lives with tolerance, they learn to be patient.

If a child lives with encouragement, they learn to be confident.

If a child lives with praise, they learn to appreciate.

If a child lives with fairness, they learn justice.

If a child lives with security, they learn to have faith.

If a child lives with approval, they learn to like themself.

If a child lives with acceptance and friendship,

they learn to find love in the world.