Our unique pre-school Curriculum is designed to be an alternative to going to school for those children who are not yet School Ready. The primary focus is to have fun with continual emphasis on Number Concept and Number Recognition, Gross and Fine Motor Skills and Phonetic Alphabet with special attention being paid to promoting Self Confidence and socialisation skills.

Why the program was designed
It all started 4 years ago when she realised that her son wasn’t ready for formal schooling, but he wasn’t considered an 'at risk' child and would not receive a second year of funding, however there was no alternative to going to school. He was in need of a program that was more structured than 4 year old Kinder, but not as structured as school. So this is our aim for our Bridging-to-school Program

Who designed the Bridging-to-school program?
She is a qualified Junior Primary School Teacher and has studied Remedial Education. She has many years of very varied experience, teaching children from 3 years old up to 11 year olds. She also has 2 of her own children. She is thus using her training to develop this comprehensive program.

Is this for my Child?
There are 4 main areas of School Readiness:

1. Motor Development: These would concern a child’s physical abilities i.e using a writing empliment, using scissors, jumping, walking.
2. Language Development: e.g How the child expresses himself.
3. Emotional Development: e.g How the child copes in a group situation.
4. General Development: e.g Distractibility, arrange ideas into correct order.

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Checklist:
This Checklist has been developed as a tool to assist in the determining of a child's state of School Readiness. It is in no way a complete test to determine School Readiness, but only a guide.

Motor Development:

1. Does your Child have difficulty while jumping, especially when changing legs?
Yes No
2. Does your Child have difficulty when holding and using a writing implement?
Yes No
3. Does your Child have difficulty using scissors?
Yes No

Emotional Development

1. Does your Child cry easily?
Yes No
2. Is your child afraid to participate in class or group activities?
Yes No
3. Is your child slow to follow instructions?
Yes No
4. Does your child seem to daydream often and tends to live in a world of their own?
Yes No

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Language Development:

1. Does your child use baby talk? i.e He uses his name or the pronoun 'me' when talking about himself.
Yes No
2. Does your Child speak disjointedly or use mainly nouns and phrases? E.g. 'girls sit' instead of 'the girl is sitting'
Yes No
3. Does your Child confuse colour names?
Yes No

General Development:

1. Does you child confuse his age?
Yes No
2. Does your Child have difficulty remembering nursery rhymes,poems or songs?
Yes No
3. Is your child very active and fiddles with things?
Yes No
4. Does your child easily loose interest?
Yes No
5. Is your child easily distracted?
Yes No

If 8 answers out of 15 are 'yes' then the child's School Readiness is doubtful.
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Aim of Bridging-to-School Program
The aim of this program is to better prepare, potentially at risk children, with stronger basic building blocks which collectively make up School Readiness

Benefits for my child
Your child will cope better in a formal School environment and be a more confident, capable learner.
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