THE time of year is rolling around again when a new troupe of fresh faced kindergarten kids prepare to begin their journey to ‘big school’, and their nervous parents send them off into the big wide world of primary school.

Modern Media: Advertise with News Of The Area and you get your ad in 1) in Print, 2) on the News Website (like this ad), and 3) on our Social Media news site. A much more efficient way to advertise. Reach a HUGE audience for a LOW price TODAY! Call us on 02 4983 2134. Or media@newsofthearea.com.au
Or CLICK FOR ADVERT QUOTE

We met with some kindergarten parents from last year to get the tips from those who know best on how to prepare yourself and your little one for this big step, as the holidays wind up and you prepare for the first day of school.

Jessica Bakes, a Wirreanda Kindergarten parent from 2017, has some sound advice to offer new kindergarten parents.

She told News Of The Area, “Your child starting school can be the most stressful and worrying time of your life, it was for me.”

“But in all honesty, I promise it lasted about ten minutes, and I realised they were just fine and going to be okay.”

Jessica and some other Kindergarten parents put together these tips and tricks for parents to remember.

When asking how their day was don’t be open ended with your questions, ask things like “Who did you sit next to at recess?” Or “what letter did you learn about today?”

Because “how was your day?” Never gets any elaboration from a tired little person who has been on the go all day.

The kids are going to be tired, maybe cut down on the afternoon activities for a term or two until they are adjusted.

Don’t try and teach your child to read or write.

That’s the teachers job and they are absolutely amazing at it.

Just do whatever they ask of you, in regards to homework or readers.

It’s not like preschool where at pick up, the teacher would give you a run down of their day and what they did, so ‘no news is good news’!

If the teacher doesn’t speak to you then your kids day was probably fine, if you need to know something specific, just approach them.

Most schools in the Port Stephens area have a correspondence app, where the teacher posts daily or weekly tidbits of what they are learning.

Jessica said, “In KH at Wirreanda Public School, the kids eventually did a fair bit of the posting and were able to show us their work.”

“This is a good way to open discussion with your child.”

Try and link up with other mums. It takes a village to raise a child and it’s important to be a part of an awesome village.

We wish all the children from the feeder schools in our readership attending their first days of kindergarten all the very best!

Be brave, use your best manners, be kind to your teacher and your classmates, don’t be afraid to ask for help, and above all, just have FUN.

If you’d like your kindy child to be included in our ‘First Days’ article and photo gallery this year, please send your photo from your first day to rach@newsofthearea.com.au

By Rachael VAUGHAN