Pre-school: 3 to 5 years old

School readiness

The journey to school readiness starts from pre-birth to age 5. To be 'school ready' means a child enters primary school ready to engage in and benefit from all the learning experiences available. This will help them on their way to becoming lifelong learners.

All children have different needs and abilities which will be embraced on their school readiness journey to make sure they achieve their full developmental potential, giving families the confidence they need.

The home learning environment is key to supporting a child's school readiness. This not only includes access to toys and books, but also relationships and interactions in and around the home with parents and family members. All of this supports a child's early social, emotional, physical, communication and language development.

Benefits of early education

Your child can benefit from early education because it:

• prepares children for school life
• promotes social and emotional development
• helps children begin to become independent learners
• helps children learn to take care of themselves and others
• promotes language and cognitive skills
• nurtures a child's curiosity
• includes activities that boost pre-maths and literacy skills
• helps develops their physical skills
• most importantly, is fun!

Why attendance in the early years is important

Attendance is important because:

• absence disrupts a child's learning and development
• children who do not attend regularly find it difficult to make and maintain friendships
• research shows that children with poor attendance are at a disadvantage in later life; for example, they:
  • are less likely to do well at school and gain qualifications
  • have a higher chance of being unemployed or earning low wages

To put it in numbers, if your child misses:

• 3 hours a week they lose 114 learning hours
• 6 hours a week they lose 228 learning hours
• 9 hours a week they lose 342 learning hours
• 12 hours a week they lose 456 learning hours

What you can do to support good attendance and punctuality

You can:

• set a regular bedtime and morning/afternoon routine
• lay out clothes and organise a school/nursery bag the night before
• develop backup plans for getting to your early years provider if something comes up. Call on a family member or another parent/carer
• talk to your early years provider if you're still struggling
• contact your early years provider on the day if your child is going to be late or absent

Remember to let your early years provider know if you change your contact number.