Loftus Kindergarten Preschool Program: School readiness and transition to school

What is ‘school readiness’?

School readiness enables and encourages infants and preschool children to develop a variety of developmental and life skills throughout their day at Loftus Kindergarten. These can include but are not limited to, language and literacy, numeracy and engineering, creative and sensory experiences, education of sustainability and cultural information, physical experiences and community excursions and incursions, as well as self-help skills. As your child develops these skills it prepares them in the best way possible for them to feel confident throughout their journey to Primary School. The children are encouraged to learn these skills throughout our weekly program guide.

When is ‘school readiness’ implemented?

School readiness is implemented from your child’s first step into our Centre and ends at the time of their departure from the Centre. Our Infant and Preschool room is set-up to encourage the above developmental and life skills. This is divided into sections, areas and is encouraged during group time experiences. The experiences set-up within these areas is all age-appropriate and engaging for the children to learn through play. This is based on their development, capabilities and interests. Our preschool program is displayed for parents and families to view this at any time.

The Educator’s also encourage family input by asking parents to choose two goals for their children to work on (alongside the Educator’s) each year. These goals are individualised for each child as we recognise all children are individuals and achieve developmental aspects at various times. This is completed online on Storypark and is an ongoing process throughout the duration of the child’s life.

Community and family input

As previously mentioned we provide parents and families with our program on a weekly basis. Within this there is an opportunity for families to supply any ideas they would like to see within our program. We maintain a close relationship with the Principal (Mrs Walmsley) and Deputy Principal (Mrs Gill) at Loftus Primary School as this is our local school. We often take the Preschool children on excursions to the school where we are shown a tour of the school, engage with the Kindergarten children (where we are reunited with some old Loftus Kindy children), practice eating recess and/or crunch and sip.

Throughout the year we also invite Mrs Walmsley to provide guidance for the parents who are deciding if their child is ready for school. E.g. social and emotional skills and self-help skills and the expectations of Kindergarten. We also invite Mrs Gill to visit our classroom to spend some time with our children.

If you would like to complete some further reading on school readiness and transition to school information please click here: https://wehearyou.acecqa.gov.au/2017/02/02/transition-to-school/