Preparing for school - activities, methods, programmes and good practices

It is now natural that we try to get to know and familiarise our child with the institution where he or she will be sitting on the bench from September. The pre-school programmes organised by schools are a great help in settling in - we can finnd out if the child will be placed in the right environment, with sympathetic and well-prepared professionals. It's good to see them getting a taste of the school atmosphere through thematic sessions and by doing playful and exciting tasks. However, it should be remembered that these activities are more about promoting the school than about showing us the real picture.

An increasingly common practice is the organisation of primary school "freshers' camps", which introduce the young first-year pupil to school life in a playful, holiday-like way just before the start of the school year, thus undoubtedly avoiding the long-established first-day crisis and preventing many negative experiences.

There are many pre-school training courses and methods on the internet, all of which are certainly excellent and professionally developed, but may not be available to all because of their price - and they are much less institutionalised, so may help with learning issues, but are less suited to adapting to the new environment and the stresses and strains of a changed environment. You need a stout fellow to navigate through these - and often there is no guarantee of success.

In many countries (even in neighbouring ones) the preparatory year has emerged as a practice in many countries (it appeared in the Hungarian education policy as well). In this case, the child learns the habits and gets used to the tasks in a school environment, adapting to school rules - but without the pressure to perform and the resulting stress. It would be interesting if they were at least allowed to introduce these at some point - but at the moment, pre-primary is not an option for us.

We could also ask for direct help from professionals. On the basis of the opinion of the educational counsellor, we can get involved in programmes of development specialists specialising in the difficulties of starting school and in dealing with school difficulties. Of course, this is mostly only for those who have an already identified or a visible disorder or problem...

One thing is for sure: in order to prepare your child for the difficulties of starting school, it is essential to get a broad picture of the competences, strengths and areas for development of the child's pre-school skills. PractiKid® offers a solution to this problem, providing a playful, fabulous and comprehensive assessment of the learning abilities of the toddler - helping parents to choose the right programme and method.

How are you preparing for the challenge? Do you know of any other ways to help them settle into school life? Let us know!