The Festive Season is nearly upon us and many of us are winding down for the year. But parents – be warned: Before you know it, the new year will be upon us, and it’ll be “back to school” time!

And if you are a parent of a toddler, then no doubt you’ve heard about “3-year-old kindy”.

The West Australian school system allows children to begin formal schooling at a public or private school the year they turn either 4 or 5, depending upon which half of the year they were born in. Kindergarten is not compulsory, but is recommended for all children.

However, 3-year-old kindy is a program that is not offered at schools, but is run outside of schools such as at community centres and day care centres. 3-year-old kindy is optional of course, but is highly beneficial for a child’s education, and is a fun and exciting start to their school years!

3-year-old kindy is a structured play-based program that teaches children about themselves and their environment. Kids learn social and communication skills; and there is a big emphasis on social development and emotional regulation which helps to prepare children for attendance in 4-year-old programs the following year.

If your child already attends regular day-care, you may think they don’t need 3-year-old kindy as well. But there’s plenty of reasons why your child will thrive by attending 3-year-old kindy!

For a start, attending the program helps “break them in” to school routines and a school environment and allows them to adapt at their own pace.

The programs are designed especially for this age group. Children learn a variety of literacy and numeracy skills, including how to write their names, identification of simple numbers and shapes, recognition skills, such as identifying their school bags, and a range of communications skills, tools and tactics.

And of course the biggest factor: 3-year-old kindy is about having fun learning and making new friends!

If you would like to give your child the best possible start to their schooling, consider enrolling them into 3-year-old kindy in 2020.

Kids on Beaufort are taking enrolments now for the new school year, so get in touch with us today!