Kornmehl Pre-school

Terry Aizen – Director Kornmehl

School readiness

Early Childhood Services are well placed to contribute to the foundations for children’s long- and short-term success at school. The first five years of a child’s life are critical to a child’s lifelong development. By supporting all areas of children’s development and focusing on building strong, responsive relationships with young children, we provide children with the skills and confidence to continue along a path of life-long learning.

Early experiences influence brain development, establishing the neural connections that provide the foundation for language, reasoning, problem solving, social skills, behaviour and emotional health. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that we prepare and develop our children’s potential and ability to learn to the utmost in these early years.

Young children’s social and emotional development is the foundation for their cognitive development. Supporting children’s school readiness is about assisting them to develop their skills in areas such as literacy, numeracy and self-care when they are ready for this, and at their own pace. Children’s social competence is at the core of their readiness for school and effective school transitions. Social skills such as sharing, turn taking and playing well with other children are essential in assisting children’s short and long-term success at school. Responsive, positive relationships between children and their educators are also crucial in building children’s self-esteem and resilience which further assist them to make effective transitions from early childhood settings to school environments.

Emotional maturity implies that a child has reasonable control over their emotions. Emotional maturity influences important aspects such as self-confidence and self-esteem. It develops over time. The link between social and emotional skills and school success is a strong factor that needs to be considered when deciding if a child is school ready or not.

Families may believe that children require some reading and writing skills to be ready for school, however, these skills are not essential or a pre-requisite for school readiness. Having good social skills and being a confident learner sets the foundations for a lifetime of learning.

School readiness does not need to be a separate part of the program. Early Childhood Centres can prepare children for school by promoting all areas of their growth and development. A program that closely observes and responds to children’s needs and interests will provide opportunities for encouraging the skills and attributes needed for starting school.

We focus on using children’s current skills and interests as the basis for promoting their development rather than requiring them to complete structured academic tasks.

Below are some of the skills we promote at Kornmehl to support children’s school readiness.

Social skills 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 directions and understand rules
participate in groups; and
cope with transitions between routines and experiences.

Emotional skills to:

be able to complete tasks on their own
confidently express how they are feeling or to be able to ask for help
separate easily from their care-givers
be able to resolve conflict or small problems on a daily basis
be able to make their own decisions and choices
show or verbalise what they like and dislike
be able to show empathy
be able to persist at tasks and complete them competently.

Cognitive skills to:

show natural curiosity and interest in learning new things
have confidence in learning; and
be interested in solving problems.

Language skills to:

use language to ask questions and communicate their thoughts and ideas
listen to others
enjoy books and being read to
be comfortable talking to other adults.

Independence and life skills 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
deal with a structured environment.

Physical skills to:

use pencils, crayons, textas and scissors
balance, run, jump, and use equipment such as balls and climbing apparatus
be able to sit still for group times and to listen.

These are some of the main skills we develop over the children’s time at Pre-school and which support each individual child to develop the skills required to be school ready.

http://ncac.acecqa.gov.au/educator-resources/factsheets/qias_factsheet_13_school_transition.pdf http://www.geeyourebrave.com/2013/03/off-to-school-we-go-social-and-emotional-readiness-for-school-what-is-that-exactly.html

www.claremontpractice.co.za/newsletter-0912.html