School readiness

Before making the decision whether or not your child is ready for school, consider the following questions.

Go to the toilet, eat and dress with minimal assistance?
Recognise their own belongings?
Stay with a familiar person happily?
Concentrate for short periods?
Understand and obey simple instructions?
Cooperate without frequent temper tantrums?
Makes needs known
Follow simple instructions
Uses a variety of things (pens, pencils, textas, paintbrushes, sticks in the dirt) to draw, to scribble or to write
Identify things in a group that are different, and differentiate between opposites such as day and night, light and dark etc.
Play cooperatively with other children - shares and takes turns
Use scissors to cut along a straight line
Enjoy a variety of indoor and outdoor play

If you answered 'yes' to most, this is a good indication that your child may be ready for the first year of school.

This article was created for Kidspot- New Zealand's parenting resource for education.

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