Prep

Preparatory year

The Preparatory year, introduced in 2007 by the Queensland Government, is fundamentally the first year of a child's formal education. It has been established to better prepare children for Year 1 and beyond. Preparatory year is a compulsory, full-time program which is based around the specifically developed Early Years Guidelines. This curriculum aims to provide a framework for continuity of learning across the early childhood phase of schooling. It focuses on the following 5 early learning areas:

• Social and personal learning
• Health and physical learning
• Language learning and communication
• Early mathematical understandings
• Active learning processes

At Kuraby, the Prep children attend school between the hours of 8.45 am and 3.00 pm everyday. They are integrated into the school and participate in:

• Library
• Music
• H.P.E.
• Parades  

The children's progress in the Prep Year is recorded in an Early Learning Record and is an ongoing assessment that is compiled through observations and work samples.

Preparing Your Child For Prep And Year One

Beginning school is a time of change, excitement and hope, and also a time of possible stress and anxiety as separating from the familiarity of home and kindy/playgroup can be daunting for young children (and their parents). Our aim is to ensure that your child's introduction to school is as easy, enjoyable and stress free as possible.

During the first few weeks at school, we spend a good deal of time orientating our students to the school environment and to school practices e.g. lots of tours around the school grounds and buildings, whole class trips to the toilet and drinking taps and guiding the children to their eating/play areas. We believe that it is ultimately important that the children quickly feel safe, secure and confident within this initially unfamiliar environment.

Parents can do a great deal to assist with this transition process and to help a child be ready to learn at school. Kuraby State School offers a Pre Prep Program (Joeys)for children who will be enrolling for Prep in the following year. The program operates one morning per week and parents/caregivers are required to accompany children during this time. 
See program information under the Pre Prep heading.

The following are suggestions of desirable skills and abilities to work towards, before your child begins school, that should help your child settle into school more easily and provide a solid foundation for future learning: 

• Does your child know his/her first and last name? Can he/she recognise and write first name?  
• Can your child say "excuse me" and confidently seek assistance or further information?
• Can your child go to the toilet independently? Rearrange clothing? Wash hands after using the toilet?
• Can your child dress independently? Turn clothing the right side out? Put on shoes and tie laces? Recognise his/her name on clothing?  
• Is your child able to be responsible for his/her own belongings?
• Does your child go to bed early and get plenty of sleep? It is best to establish consistent early-to-bed routines long before school begins.
• Can your child distinguish between lunch and afternoon break food? Open own lunch box, unwrap food (especially things wrapped in glad wrap), put straws into poppers? (We highly recommend children practise eating lunch from their new lunchboxes several times at home, before school starts, so as to identify any potential difficulties that may arise.)
• Is your child encouraged to use correct English and discouraged from using "baby-talk"?
• Do you and your child share regular reading and story discussion times?
• Does your child have an alphabet chart that you regularly draw his/her attention to by singing or saying the alphabet while pointing to the letters?

Enrolment age (year born)

Primary enrolments interstate and overseas (year level in)