School Readiness

What is School Readiness?

School readiness is a major milestone for every child and is a measure that demonstrates how prepared a child is to succeed in school. Many parents believe that school readiness is just being able to write their own name or count to ten but it is much more than demonstrated learning. School readiness includes children developing social skills, cognitive skills, and behavioural skills. These skills can look like making friends, listening attentively or making up their own adventures.

There are eight indicators we look at to prepare children for a positive transition into school: 

• Education basics
• Emotional readiness
• Participation
• Knowledge of the environment and their role in it
• Friendships
• Problem-solving, decision-making skills and their ability to seek out assistance
• Participating in activities and exploring new ideas
• Confident communication

As childcare educators, we believe it is one of our most vital requirements to prepare your child for this next adventure.

What can I do to help?

To support this transition and help your child there are many things you can do including:

• Involving your child in preparing for school.
• Planning lunches with them.
• Helping your child learn to dress themselves.
• Establish the bedtime and morning routine. Make sure your child gets at least 11 hours of sleep and that you have plenty of time to get to school.
• Practice the route you will take when you walk, drive or ride to school.
• Plan to take your child to school on the first day and show them where you will pick them up at the end of the day.
• Make sure you are always on time.
• Be encouraging. Children can sense worry so make sure to maintain excitement and encourage them that this is a good thing.

If you are nervous about your child starting school, don’t worry. Every parent is in the same boat so take some time to acknowledge the moment with other parents on the first day.