Play School Advice for Scone

THE right time to send a child to school is not as straightforward as when their birthday falls.

Dr Cathie Harrison, advisor to Play School and expert in early childhood education will be visiting Scone to talk to parents and teachers about how to prepare children for school and often practical milestones are much more important than their academic progress.

Cathie Harrison with her Play School colleague Big Ted.

“Being outside is great for physical development and also there is less close adult supervision and we’re seeing more and more children who are so closely monitored now that they are not learning to generate their own play ideas and solve their own problems, a lot of that is being done for them,” said Dr Harrison.

“The Australian early developmental census which happens every three years is showing an increase in social and emotional vulnerability while at the same time language and cognition may have improved, so playing with other children, learning to be more independent and resilient is really key to success at school, they can learn a lot of the academic stuff when they get to school and probably in more effective ways than when you are trying to teach and you are not a teacher,” she said.

“Starting school is a significant milestone in the family and in the community and as the pressure has grown around literacy and numeracy sometimes there is increased anxiety around parents about if their child will be ready for school academically.

“From my perspective I want to propose a different way of looking at the transition not so much in terms of academic knowledge or the things that children are going to learn at school, but how they can be best prepared to learn,” she said.

“Recent experience has shown us that some of the basic things people used to focus on are now falling off the agenda and replaced by pressure for children to write their names earlier, so things like being able to have enough sleep, time to play, being able to unzip a bag and learning to toileting,” Cathie Harrison said.

This week Play School turned 50 and Dr Harrison said the formula for show had remained fairly much the same, which is also true for the fundamentals of childhood development.

“The reason the show has been successful is because it looks at the child holistically and looks at being playful and adults being present with children,” she said.

“It started out very Anglo and diversity is much better acknowledged now, but it does model good ways to play around cooking and gardening and playing while folding washing,” Cathie Harrison said.

Details of Dr Harrison’s visit:

• WHAT: Educator Workshop and Parent Information Session
• WHEN: Thursday, August 4. Educator Workshop: 5pm-6:30pm; Parent Information Session: 6:30pm
• WHERE: Upper Hunter Shire Council Administration building, 135 Liverpool Street, Scone.
• COST: Free
• RSVP: Friday, July 22: 02 6540 1151