Thornleigh West Public School

1. Thornleigh West Public School

2. Getting to know us Agenda • Welcome • Shared book • Parents are the first teachers • My vision – What is your? • Best Start

3. Starting School can be an anxious time for parents too Parenting is one of the most challenging ‘jobs’ This is a role to be proud of and is certainly valued by your child’s first school teacher

4. Children develop much of their capacity for learning in the first 3 years of life, when their brains grow to 90% of it’s eventual adult weight. You are your child’s first teacher!

5. What have you taught your child? To…. • walk • talk • dress themselves • feed themselves • go to the toilet • count to ten • turn the page of a book • say the alphabet • play games • have good manners

6. You have taught your child so much • To read…they can all recognise signs and symbols such as McDonalds and road signs • To count…a child always knows when their brother or sister gets more of something than they do • Colours and counting…”please pass me 2 red pegs to hang your t shirt on the clothes line” • Routines and reactions…the phone rings…your child knows to answer it • To share • To socialise and interact with others Can you think of more?

7. Is your child ready to Start School?

8. Skills that will help your child transition to school smoothly… • Encourage your child to attempt these things…but don’t worry if they can’t do them all… • Teachers are experts at teaching your child to write, read and count (and much more) and it will make learning these things so much easier if your children have developed social and self help skills such as:

9. Social and Self Help Skills • Uses the toilet independently • Can say own name • Adapts to unfamiliar settings and new experiences • Can finish a task and tidies up afterwards • Plays cooperatively with other children – shares and takes turns • Can sit and listen to a story for at least 10 minutes • Can share an adults attention with several other children • Participates in imaginative play • Recognises own possessions and packs them away eg lunchbox, clothes • Can put on and take off jumpers, shoes, socks independently • Can tie shoe laces

10. What can you do to help prepare your child for school? You have done so much already, but here are a few more ideas…. • Allow opportunities to socialise with other children • Encourage independence • Be positive about school and learning • Visit the school with your child • Talk to your child about school • Read to your child in your home language and in English • Share many different experiences • Provide a variety of play materials • Encourage your child’s curiosity by asking questions and by encouraging questions • Start a daily routine. Encourage your child to help lay out clothes and make lunch.

11. So, your child is starting school… • You have taught them so much already… • You have enrolled them at school… • You are attending the transition program… • You have talked a lot about school… • You may have bought their school uniform • You may have bought a school bag and lunch box… You have worked hard and done a great job…

12. A new journey begins! • When your child starts school, it is not a time to step back and be less involved in your child’s learning. It is, in fact quite the opposite, a time to be involved, supporting, helping and learning together

13. The research tells us… The most accurate predictor of a student’s achievement in school is not income or social status, but the extent to which the student’s family is able to create a home environment which encourages learning, communicate high yet reasonable expectations for their children’s achievement and future careers and become involved in their children’s education at school and in the community. Anne Henderson and Nancy Berla (1995)

14. How to be a partner in learning… • Take an interest in school events by reading newsletters and attending functions • Get to know your child’s teacher. Join in with classroom activities if possible or offer to help at home • Volunteer to help in anyway you feel comfortable • Take part in any opportunities offered to help increase your own skills or understanding of ‘how schools work and why’ • Join a parent organisation such as the P&C, School Council or Parent Group • Attend ‘Parent Teacher Interviews’ • Use all communication options to ensure you know what is going on at school, and the school knows what is going on at home

15. Working together…. • Parents are children’s first teachers. • Children learn a lot from their parents. • Parents never stop being teachers for their children. • Teachers and parents can work together to make school an exciting place to be and to help children achieve their best at school. Enjoy your adventure……and remember, we never stop learning

16. Why Vision ? A vision is a picture of the future you seek to create described in the present tense, as if it were happening now. Vision statements show where we want to go and what we will be when we get there. Vision gives shape and direction to the school’s future. It helps people set goals to take the school closer to its desired future.

17. It builds trust, collaboration, interdependence, motivation, and mutual responsibility for success. Vision helps people make smart choices, because their decisions are made with the end result in mind…. Vision allows us to act from a proactive stance. Moving forward what we want…Vision empowers and excites us to reach for what we truly desire.

18. My vision • 21st century skills are paramount: • Collaboration: discuss and issue, solve a problem and create a product • Knowledge construction, interpret, analyse, synthesise and evaluate • Self regulation: learning task is long term students are in task • Real world problem solving and innovation: investigate, generate and design • The use of ICT for learning: use directly to finish a task • Communication: extended communication linked to connected ideas, not just a single thought.

19. Australian Curriculum Our Ed Purpose as captures in the Melbourne Declaration Goal 1: Australian schooling promotes equity and excellence Goal 2: All young Australians become: • Successful learners • Confident and creative individuals • Active and informed citizens www.mceecdya.edu.au/mceecdya/melbourne_declaration,25979.html (accessed 16/10/2010) 19

20. MINDMAP:What skills, attitudes, understandings and knowledge would you hope these students have acquired when they graduate from your school?

21. Best Start

22. Best Start assists children to move from informal to formal learning Parents and prior to school service providers lay the foundation for learning that school education will build upon in a more formal setting.

23. What is Best Start? Best Start is one component of a NSW Government initiative to increase literacy and numeracy learning support in the early years.

24. Who is involved? • All Kindergarten children in public schools participate.

25. Best Start • Identifies children’s literacy and numeracy skills and understandings at school entry.

26. Best Start: • provides important information that supports teachers in meeting children’s individual learning needs • provides parents and caregivers with feedback on what their child can do and how they can best support their child’s learning • assists teachers to monitor children’s learning

27. Best Start in action • Best Start begins with the teacher interviewing each child. • At TWPS, each family attends an individual appointment in the first three days of school.

28. What are children asked to do? Teachers ask a series of questions to gather information about children’s early literacy and numeracy knowledge.

29. What information do parents receive? • Feedback to parents is provided as close as possible to the completion of the interview. Parents and carers receive clear, accessible feedback on: • their child’s learning at school entry • the next steps in the learning process • how to support their child’s learning

30. Feedback on your child’s progress In Numeracy your child Ideas to use at home

31. Feedback on your child’s progress In Literacy your child Ideas to use at home

32. Counting Sequence-Forward Number Word Sequence Count with your child Read and talk about rhymes with numbers, for example, Alice the camel, 5 little ducks, 1,2,3,4,5 Ask your child to tell you the number after a particular number

33. Counting Sequence- Numeral Identification Play card games where your child has to say the number on the card or find pairs of numbers.

34. Counting Sequence- Numeral Identification Ask your child to point to numbers in story books and tell them the name of the number. Read the numbers on a clock face Ask your child to read the numbers on road signs.

35. Early Arithmetic Strategies Count the number of eggs in a carton and again after some have been removed. Play dominoes with your child and count the number of dots.

36. Early Arithmetic Strategies Use empty plastic bottles and a ball to make a game of skittles. Let your child arrange the bottles and encourage your child to tell you how many bottles were knocked down and how many are still standing after each bowl.

37. Patterns and number structure Ask your child to create other patterns using everyday objects such as beads, stones, or pegs and describe the pattern.

38. Reading Text Share books with your child. Encourage him/her to join in as you read. At the supermarket or on outings talk about words - their look, sound and meaning. Point to and read labels on packets/products.

39. Phonics Use magazines or junk mail from your letterbox. Ask your child to find letters that they can name. Help your child to name three new letters. Use a set of alphabet cards to play games such as Memory and Snap where the aim is to have your child match letter cards that are the same. Use an alphabet chart or an alphabet book to talk about the shapes and names of letters. Teach your child to name the letters in his/her name.

40. Phonemic Awareness Sing and recite rhymes and jingles with your child. Help him/her identify the words that rhyme. Encourage your child to use a describing word with the same initial letter of a friend or family member, e.g. smart Sally, kind Kale.

41. Concepts about Print Before reading a book to your child, ask him/her to show you where to start reading. Ask your child to follow with their finger as you read Ask your child to point to a letter, and to point to a word

42. Comprehension Look through a book with your child before reading and talk about the main events and characters. As you read the story to your child, pause at key events and ask him/her what might happen next.

43. Aspects of Speaking After reading a story, encourage your child to discuss the events, characters. Encourage your child to talk to a variety of people while with you when you are out shopping.

44. Aspects of Writing Write a word then ask your child to trace over the word. Encourage name writing as a fun activity, e.g. finger painting on butcher's paper, writing in dirt, painting with a wet paintbrush, etc.

45. Planning 2015 - 2017 • Management plan • Strategic • Annual School Report

46. Focus Areas 2015 • Literacy and Numeracy • 21st century learning and teaching • Leadership capacity building • Curriculum and Assessment • Student Engagement

47. Your child’s lunch Your child Your camera Tissues What should you bring on Day 1?