As a parent or caregiver, you want the best for your child – and kindergarten is where it all begins!
Why is kindergarten important?
Kindergarten is not just a year to get your little one out the door for a few hours each day. The year before school is a huge milestone in a child’s learning journey as they begin the transition into a structured routine and a more formal learning environment.
What is kindergarten?
Kindergarten is a play-based learning program that introduces children to the key components of formal education, such as routines, group participation, turn-taking, and instruction-following, without the pressure of traditional classroom expectations.Â
Through activities like storytelling circles, collaborative games, and guided explorations, children naturally get used to sitting in groups, listening attentively and engaging in structured tasks. These experiences help build emotional regulation, independence and confidence, ensuring a smoother transition to primary school where similar expectations exist.
The benefits of kindergarten for your little learner
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Kindy is when your child will start to develop essential social, emotional, and academic skills that will set them up for a lifetime of learning.Â
Helps build a love for learning
Remember how excited your child gets when they discover something new? Kindergarten takes that natural curiosity and nurtures it. As such, early childhood kindy programs are taught by early education teachers, ensuring your child’s development is in qualified hands.
Furthermore, to ensure consistent, high-quality early education is available to children of all learning capacities, the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) was designed to ensure kindergarten programs offer fun activities, play, and exploration so your child will start to associate learning with excitement, not a chore. Whether they’re listening to stories, making art, or playing with friends, these positive experiences will make them love school.
5 Learning outcomes of the EYLF:Â
1. Children have a strong sense of identity
2. Children are connected with and contribute to their world
3. Children have a strong sense of well-being
4. Children are confident and involved learners
5. Children are effective communicators
Kindergarten prepares children for formal learning
Kindergarten programs might seem like a year of fun and games but it’s actually the first step toward a formal education.
“Kindergarten is the foundation of a child’s formal learning. With these skills, the children learn they can seamlessly transition into the school environment and then into life,” states Lorraine Maree Ives – Early Childhood Teacher.
Here, your child will begin to learn the building blocks of literacy and numeracy – recognising letters, counting numbers, and solving basic problems. These skills will make the transition to primary school much smoother, giving them the tools they need to succeed in the years ahead.Â
Top 6 reasons kindy is important
1. Stronger cognitive development and literacy skills:
Kindergarten is a time when your child starts to realise that they can do hard things – and that’s key to building confidence. They’ll begin recognising letters, sounds, and words, which builds foundational skills in language, literacy and numeracy.
2. Improved school readiness:
Kindergarten brings structure, but there’s also room for flexibility. Teachers create a balanced routine that allows children to engage in activities that will familiarise children with traditional structured classroom learning.
3. Enhanced communication skills:
Encourages verbal expression, active listening and understanding instructions.
4. Lifelong love of learning:
Instils curiosity, confidence, and a positive attitude towards learning from an early age.
5. Social and emotional growth:
Helps children learn to share, collaborate, manage emotions and build friendships.
6. Collaboration with families for school transition:
The move from kindy to primary school is a big one. Your child’s teacher will work with you to make the transition smooth. As a parent, you can help by creating consistent routines and encouraging a positive attitude towards learning. When parents and teachers work together, the transition to prep becomes easier, and your child will feel less anxious every step of the way.
“We like to work with the children in small groups to provide them with focused quality learning times. We have an interactive whiteboard which helps us to facilitate our phonics/literacy program for the children. We collaborate with the local schools to ensure the children are ready for that next big step and the school Teachers visit the Kindergarten children regularly to check in on their learning.”
Early Childhood Teachers develop a stimulating, child-led program. Through children’s active engagement in their environment, with their Educators and their peers, they develop key learning dispositions such as perseverance, problem-solving, courage, curiosity, cooperation, commitment, creativity, enthusiasm, and reflexivity.Â
Why choose Busy Bees?
- Experience an amazing play-based curriculum led by highly qualified Teachers who support your child to get set for school
- Never stress again about the 3pm pick-up — our extended hours give you the freedom to drop off and pick up when it works for you
- Say goodbye to the lunch box dramas! Our dedicated Chefs prepare delicious and nutritious meals for healthy minds and bodies
- A more settled experience — avoid the juggle between multiple care providers so your little one has more time to focus on learning
- Building friendships for school — our wonderful community of families will help make sure your child has some friendly faces as they start school.
Learn more about Kindergarten at Busy Bees. Busy Bees welcomes your family to tour every day of the year, find your nearest centre and give us a Buzz or book a tour online.
