TRANSITION TO SCHOOL POLICY

Rationale

At The Cottage we are committed to supporting children and families in the transition to school.

Objective

Starting school is full of new things; teachers, environments, children, expectations and daily routines. While we recognise the time prior to beginning school as a time in itself for children to experience learning through play, we also recognise our responsibility to ensure children are ready for the transition to school.

We aim to continually foster a relationship with the local school to ensure both parties understand the expectation of children starting school and that there is alignment of Te Wharaki 2017 Early Childhood Curriculum, and The New Zealand Curriculum, Primary School curriculum.

Our environment encourages children to have a strong sense of self and belonging where they are emotionally, socially, cognitively, physically culturally and spiritually empowered, we feel these are fundamental to life at home, The Cottage, school and beyond.

Procedures

>We encourage children to share their experiences during school visits with other children.
>The child’s portfolio is available to share with their new school.
>We learn about relevant primary school curriculum to ensure there is a match between the children’s learning at our centre and the school curriculum.
>We check the school’s expectations and contribute where appropriate to meeting these, by including in our programme:

  1. A balance between structured and free play, where children can sustain an interest over a period of time and follow instructions.
  2. Routines that encourage children to self-manage dressing, undressing, going to the toilet, carrying and unpacking bags and caring for belongings.
  3. Encouraging children to be sociable, talking to other children, teachers and visitors.
  4. Provide opportunities to be respectful of others, the environment and resources.
  5. Strengthen fine motor skills and develop correct pencil grip using brushes, crayons, pens and pencils.
  6. Develop communication skills, with an appreciation of symbols, and language.
  7. Children have opportunities to develop early mathematical concepts.
  8. Chances for problem solving and decision making.
  9. Our curriculum will reflect the dual heritage of Aotearoa.

Children will have the opportunity to participate in fun activities designed to specifically target areas such as scissor skill, pencil skills, name recognition and writing. Letter and number recognition and writing.

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