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The
Early Years: Kempsey South Public School, New South Wales
Being
serious about transition: 'Taking the school into the community'
The
context
Kempsey
South Public School was established in 1960. Today it has
an enrolment of about 200 students, of whom over half are
Aboriginal and most of those are Dhangatti people. Some students
come from rural areas, such as Dondingalong, but most live
in the urban area.
Kempsey
South is home to people of predominantly lower socio-economic
groups. There is a shortage of rental and public housing and
some families are now living in caravan parks.
An
Aboriginal Resource Room is separate from the main buildings
of the school and is a relocated classroom from the now closed
school at the former Burnt Bridge Mission. Many Aboriginal
families have historical connections with Burnt Bridge and,
as a result, with the Aboriginal Resource Room.
The
school has a stable staff and an approximately 50/50 balance
between men and women teachers. Conscious efforts have been
made to increase the number of Aboriginal workers in the school
and DEST funding has provided for an In-Class Tuition Scheme
which employs eight Aboriginal tutors.
More
about In-Class Tuition... |
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The
transition program
| Principal,
Hugh Rutherford, has this to say about transition to
Kindergarten (reception year).
 In
the old days, transition was basically just 'you came
or you didn't'. But we realised that you had to do
a lot better than that. So gradually, we've developed
a system which has a number of parts.
First,
there are transition activities. They're definitely
not one-offs and they spread over time.
And
now we have lots of information about the children
as well — their backgrounds, where they come
from, what their needs might be — and we put
that information together well before they start school.
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Beginnings
Kindergarten
teacher Lyn Knight was concerned that many children, and particularly
Aboriginal children, didn't seem to be ready when they started
school. They didn't know how to behave in a class and didn't
realise that there was a routine to be followed.
For
some years there has been contact with the pre-schools through
a reading program, in which the primary school students would
go out as a group and read to the pre-schoolers. Sometimes
pre-schools would go to the school for a concert as well.
But,
clearly, more contact with pre-schools was necessary so that
transition arrangements could be improved.
Lyn
talks about what happened.
A
few years ago, I would open my roll for Kindergarten
and it would just be A, A, A, A, A. Lots of absences,
especially for our Aboriginal children. It wasn't
good enough and something had to be done.
So
at the beginning of last year we had a lot of meetings
with the pre-schools, four or five of them, talking
about how we could improve the transition to school.
Not all children have been to pre-school, though,
and the previous year I had spent some time at a holiday
program for them in January. I just spent an hour
session with them doing the sorts of things that we
do at school. We knew they needed help to make the
transition to school.
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Lyn Knight |
But
my major concern was that sometimes children would come
here and it would take a long time to do an assessment of
them. Sometimes, because of intermittent attendance, it
could take up to two years. So that assessment had to be
done right at the beginning.
Then
we were able to get funding for a transition program. It
allows for more visits to the pre-schools, for home visits
and for orientation activities at Kempsey South. And Kim
became available to help.
Kim
Daley is an Aboriginal Education Worker at the school. She
talks about her role.
We
went out and did home visits with the parents whose
kids were coming to the South Kempsey School. We made
sure that their hearing and screening tests were all
done, and made sure their immunisations were up-to-date.
If they weren't, we pointed them in the right direction.
I
get along pretty good with most of the parents. They
know me. So when I approached them and told them what
I was doing and what my job was, they were very co-operative.
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Kim Daley |
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Transition
activities The
usual pattern is that there is a six week program, once a
week from 9.00 to 10.30, in which pre-schools work with the
current Kindergarten class. Lyn, Kim and Community Liaison
Officer Debbie Day all work with the groups and they run the
sessions rather like the first week of school, with reading
times, play times and so on. Pre-school children are able
to learn how to respond in the school situation.
| The
school makes the following further points about these
activities: |
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- Parents are invited to attend the first two weeks
and encouraged to leave the children for the last
four.
- All children attending are tracked and if a child
does not attend a home visit is made.
- Health files are kept on each child. A child with
a health problem has a health alert card.
- Transport is usually provided by parents and/or
the pre-schools themselves, but assistance is provided
to anyone having problems attending.
- In the last week of the program, pre-schoolers are
invited to stay for morning tea with the infants.
- Information sheets are sent home.
- A Kindergarten booklet is made, containing photos
of Kindergarten children.
- All children go home with their own 'Sow the Seed
to Read' bags.
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More
about Sowing the Seed to Read... |
Another
initiative is the buddy system. This involves taking Year
3 and 4 children to pre-schools, where they read to pre-schoolers
who are likely to go to the school in future. That way, when
the children eventually go to school, they already have a
friend and a face they know. Where possible, connections are
made within families, so that older brothers and sisters help
younger ones.
It
became a reward for the Year 3 and 4 children to be able to
go to the pre-school. And at the same time it improved teachers'
knowledge of the pre-school environment. |
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Knowing
the children A
number of strategies have been adopted to improve the school's
knowledge of the children and their needs.
Lyn
Knight again:
We
try to make sure we identify children who will be starting
school. So every year we go through the enrolment cards
for all students. On the back, it has a place for them to
list siblings and their ages, so we can use that to maintain
a list of all the children who we anticipate will start
school every year. Debbie and I look at the list and then
we can look for particular children when we visit pre-schools.
So they don't get lost.
Networks
are important, too. Kim knows so many families and we hear
about children from older siblings, from community members,
from Aboriginal workers in the school.
Here
are some of the other ways in which the school collects information
about its potential students:
- Through the pre-school reading program, in which teacher's
aides and AEAs visit pre-schools to sit in small groups
with the children and learn about books.
- Through home visits throughout the year.
- Through the school newsletter, asking for early enrolments.
- Through parent information sessions.
- Through an information pack for parents, which contain
enrolment forms, before school screening materials, bus
forms, pupil information sheets and school brochures.
In
all of these ways, the school aims to use knowledge to ease
transition and deal with every child as an individual.
There
are various health issues in the community, including a high
incidence of otitis media, and screening is vital, so the
school liaises with the pre-schools to make sure that planning
for children with special needs takes place ahead of their
arrival at school. |
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The
Schools as Community Centre Karen
Hall is Facilitator at the 'Schools as Community Centre' in
Kempsey. Her work also contributes to transition arrangements.
Here, she talks about some aspects:
Last
year we set up the Foundations for Learning Conference
for pre-school staff and school staff. It was a swapping
of information session, so that pre-school staff knew
about early stage 1 and the expected outcomes for
literacy and numeracy. And school staff found out
about what happens at pre-school.
It's
given Lyn an opportunity to go to the pre-schools
and see the children in their own environment. They
behave differently in the pre-school situation. They're
allowed to move around a lot more than they would
at school.
The
year before children actually start school, I have
a survey form which I send out to all the pre-schools
asking parents basically just to tick the box and
nominate which school the children will be attending.
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Karen
Hall |
I
do that in all the pre schools around town and they
give it to the parents or ask the parents to complete
it when they come in. It's something that the pre-school
staff have really taken on board and there's over
75% response. The schools can start planning for the
children they're getting.
At
about the beginning of Term 3, we have a transition
meeting inviting pre-school Directors and school staff
to come to a meeting and talk about the transition
process.
Then
there's the 'Starting School Expo'. It's held in a
vacant shop in Kempsey in the mall on a Thursday because
that's pay day, so it's shopping day and a lot of
people are in town. We've involved pre-school staff
and school staff and Aboriginal Education Assistants.
So if we saw a mum coming along the street, we had
helium balloons and we had information to give out,
and goodies about immunization and before school screenings.
We had support from business houses and there was
free yoghurt.
It's
about knowing your community and that local knowledge
is just so important. Because if you see someone passing
the door, and you know she's got a child starting
school next year then you can run out with a bag and
the balloon and ask her to come in and have a chat.
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