Early Years Transition at St. Peter’s

As we near the end of another busy school year, it is hard not to look back and reflect on the rollercoaster ride that 2020 has been. Despite the circumstances, it is a good feeling to come to this point in a year of unforeseen curveballs and still feel assured that our students are happy, love coming to school and are thriving in their daily experiences. With all of its challenges, 2020 has been an amazing year of growth and opportunity for our students and staff at St. Peter’s and we have so much to be thankful for as a School Community. 

For our youngest learners in Prep, this is no exception. Over the years, our Prep programme has evolved and grown in amazing ways to celebrate the incredible journey that takes place in the early years of child development. We place great value on providing a quality transition programme that aims to give our students the best opportunity to thrive as they commence formal schooling. At St. Peter’s we have a team of Early Learning Professionals and Executive Staff who draw on current educational research to identify the best practice for supporting our students as they start school. Much of this transition takes place in an ongoing manner throughout the school year, with the culmination of our Kindergarten Orientation, Class Orientation events and modifications to our programmes and routines to enable our students to ready themselves for the inevitable and exciting changes ahead. 

Throughout 2020, transition has continued to be a significant focus and priority for our Prep Team and we have been overjoyed to be able to provide our students with a slightly modified experience for our Prep and Kindergarten Orientation events.

During Week 2, our current Prep students were welcomed into a Kindergarten classroom to enjoy a snapshot of the exciting things to come in 2021. Our Kindergarten teachers treated our Prep students to a shared story and creative activity. As students familiarised themselves with the Kindergarten learning environments, they were introduced to daily routines such as lining up with their class, moving around our school and participating in structured learning activities. All of these experiences aimed at helping our students to feel more at ease about the prospect of starting school in the new year. We look forward to having our Prep children meet their 2021 Kindergarten teacher and class friends during our ‘Class Orientation’ events later this term. 

In the coming weeks, we will also have our 2021 Prep Orientation where our new Prep students will join their class teachers in the Hall Playground for a 'Story and Play' Session. Prep Orientation sessions will take place during Week 6 for each of our four 2021 Prep classes. Although these orientation events will have some significant changes this year, we are so grateful to be able to meet our new Prep friends as part of their transition into our learning spaces in the new year. 

We have all had moments during 2020 when we have needed to demonstrate agility, to accept new challenges and to adapt to the unexpected. Despite all of the little ‘speed humps’ along the way, this year has provided us with a wonderful opportunity to evaluate and reflect on our current practices and to refocus our vision for the future. Rest assured that preparing young learners for formal schooling is something that we will continue to be passionate about in the years ahead.

We look forward to 2021 with excitement and anticipation as we embark on a new journey for our youngest learners at St. Peter’s. 

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