With the start of a new school year just around the corner, preschool-aged children are getting ready for the next stage of their lives.
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To make the process smoother for children and their families, schools have been busy implementing their Kindergarten transition program, before they welcome their new arrivals into the classroom.
At Cronulla South Public School, the final few weeks of term for current pupils, is also a time for the seniors - year 6, to help start the settling in phase. Led by Stage 1 teachers, the transition program was spread across two days.
Together they do various activities, meet their buddies and learn about 'big school' life. Parents and carers were also invited to the school for a presentation on how they can best support their child before starting primary school.
But this year, the school has done things a little differently. To not overwhelm parents with floods of information into a short session, teachers have separated curriculum information with general tips on how to support their child in areas outside of the classroom.
Principal Neil Lavitt said the idea was to provide knowledge about the new curriculum and how it operated.
"We reviewed our processes because we tried to do too much last year. This year we are trying to build on this new shiny curriculum, so by separating that into another session, it brings parents into the conversation around education and makes it collective," he said.
Among the changes explained to new parents, are the ways children are taught to read. "There is a return a phonics-based approach, and also in maths, instead of teaching one topic across a few days, a teacher might touch on one topic, and return to it in a couple of weeks," Mr Lavitt said. "It builds a more natural connection with children.
"The new curriculum sets a high standard. But we are seeing great results from our current Kindergarten cohort. They have developed quite a sophisticated language around grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, and a great depth of knowledge in numeracy. It's something we would have seen only in year 2. It's created excitement in year 3-6 staff who will navigate this in 2024/25."
