Starting School

Life at 5

February 15, 2011
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I first discovered the Life Series when Immy was only a few months old. At that time, Life at 3 was showing and I quickly discovered the original Life at 1 episodes online. I was captivated by the combination of real life footage and interesting social experiments as the eleven children chosen to represent modern [...]

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Starting School: A Child’s Eye View

January 19, 2011
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This post is by contributor Catherine Oehlman aka SquiggleMum. The start of the school year is nothing new for me.  As a teacher I’ve had more than my fair share of first days.  I’ve seen the nerves, the anxiety, the eagerness and the tears.  But this year, everything is different. This year, I’m not going [...]

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New Beginnings: A Reflection on Starting Kindergarten

January 12, 2011
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This post is by contributor Sarah Bendeich of Oesch and Doots. This year Doots starts kindergarten. It’s the beginning of her school career, and she will continue (all going to plan) at the same school for the next fourteen years. She’s horrified – because her friends aren’t going with her (they’re all going to different [...]

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Revisiting: Starting School

December 12, 2010
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As a whole new batch of Australian parents prepare to send their precious four and five year olds off into the world of ‘big school,’ I thought it was a good time to revisit three starting school posts from late last year… School Readiness:What Do The Teachers Say? What do real Australian school teachers have [...]

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The post in which I control my anger: Literacy and math testing for four year olds!

May 5, 2010

Pre-primary reading and maths to be tested – Optus online news reporting for ABC News WA pre-primary children to be skills tested – The West Australian newspaper online *For readers outside of Western Australia, this post discusses pre-primary children, who in WA are 4 and 5 years of age at the beginning of the school [...]

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The ABC of Child Care: K is for

April 9, 2010

K is for Kindy Transition Beginning school is a major milestone in young children’s lives, and research confirms that a happy transition to school is vital in setting foundations for future academic and social success. Child care centres provide a perfect platform for educators and families to work together to provide each child preparing for [...]

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A Fine Line

February 6, 2010

Image: Clearly Ambiguous A friend’s four year old has recently started kindergarten, as have so many others. This little girl is quite shy and anxious and my friend was concerned that she would find it difficult to settle in even though she had previously attended child care (where she experienced ongoing settling issues). The teachers [...]

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School Readiness: It’s not about reading and writing

December 5, 2009

Image: Robert S Donovan Last week I shared the responses of Australian kindergarten teachers when asked about school readiness (in preparation for the year before Grade One). Today I would like to share some thoughts and ideas about the need for school readiness to focus on five important areas of development, and believe it or [...]

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