Transition

17822Starting school marks an important milestone in the lives of young children. Children’s adjustment to their first year at school is strongly influenced by their familiarity with the school setting. At Our Lady of Lourdes Primary school, we believe it is of vital importance to make the transition from home, or a preschool setting, to the school situation as smooth as possible.

Our Prep Transition program will:

  • Assist pre-schoolers in making a successful transition to the school environment
  • Provide opportunities for the children to participate in classroom activities
  • Provide opportunities for children to practise skills necessary for school
  • Encourage new friendships
  • Provide information and support for parents.

At Our Lady of Lourdes we value creating a positive start to school for all of our students and their families. In order to build the relationships that are crucial to a successful start to school we organise the following events to occur throughout Semester Two.

  •  Orientation Days
  •  Parent information sessions at school
  •  Visits by educators between early childhood settings and schools, if necessary.

Orientation Days

These sessions are held within the Prep and 1 classrooms and students are invited to participate in a variety of activities designed to help them feel comfortable in a classroom situation. We arrange the Year 5 and 6 Buddies to support the students throughout the Orientation Days.

Helping children get ‘ready for school’ at home or kindergarten:

  •  Support them to develop self-help and self-care skills (independent toileting, dressing, eating, cleaning up after themselves)
  •  Follow a routine together (eating and opening wrappers for lunch at a set time, read a story before playing etc)
  •  Help children learn to recognise and write their name
  •  Provide many opportunities for them to develop their fine motor skills (such as play dough, Lego, threading beads, cutting paper, undoing buttons and zips, drawing with different tools and rhymes)
  •  Slowly introduce them to more structured activities
  •  Practise sitting and focusing on small and whole class group activities for extended period of time
  •  Learn to wait their turn to speak by saying ‘excuse me’ or putting up their hand
  •  Support them to handle their emotions by reminding them to ‘use their words’ to resolve conflicts
  •  Practise taking turns and asking to join in game
  •  Visit local schools to become comfortable in the environment
  •  Practise playing ‘school’ and dress up in a school uniform
  •  Read picture books about starting school and talk about how the characters feel.