Starting School

Starting School

Parents with pre-school children are encouraged to visit the New Entrant classroom in the month or two before their child turns five. These visits can be as frequent as the parent and teacher feel is necessary for the child to become familiar with the school. Organise this through the school office.

When parents are teaching their child to write his or her name we ask them to remember to use lower case letters after the initial capital letter. We encourage parents to play games so that the pre-schooler begins to recognise letters and their names. They can then begin to associate the names of letters with the sounds letters make.

The ‘school business’ of teaching and learning begins on day one. Five year olds are given a reading bag in which to take their reading books home. These books go home most nights and must be returned the next day, to be exchanged for another book. This reading bag and an alphabet activity book are from the Duffy Books in Homes organisation as the school is a 'Duffy School'.

Short, enjoyable, fun reading sessions at home will encourage children to keep trying, to take risks. Talking about the pictures in books is very important at the early stages of learning to read as this helps children to discover text. Pointing to the words is important until the children learn to do this for themselves. Remember to praise often and value all the child’s efforts. This is what leads to a good, positive attitude about reading.

Joining the Avondale Public Library is free and they have a wonderful selection of books, puzzles and tapes. We encourage all our students to join.

Parents who wish to know more about our reading programmes are welcome to contact the Assistant Principal who looks after the junior classes.