Tuakau Early Learning Network meeting

Today I attended my first Tuakau Early Learning Network Meeting as a representative of Tuakau School. In 2018 each of the Termly meetings clashed with other events I had booked so when they released the dates early in the Term for this year I felt it was important to make these meetings a priority. 

During 2018 it had been my intention to build relationships with the ECE centres that aid in the transition to school for our Tamariki. Unfortunately, I never got the opportunity to do this. I believe that it is important to have face to face meetings with the centres so that we can have discussions around the students that are coming to our schools, ensuring that we as a school are able to offer the best transition for all students. Attending this meeting was a great networking opportunity and I was able to set up times to visit two centres for later this week; TLC and Tuakau Kindy. I am looking forward to working more collaboratively with the centres.

Tonight's session was a presentation from Rebecca, the SENCO for Onewhero School, talking about How to support students with Additional Needs. The focus was mostly around early intervention and talking to the ECE teams present about the importance of early referral. She shared with us two documents called ASQ assessments which are Ages & Stages Questionnaires used for preschool to determine the developmental level of a child. I had not seen these questionnaires prior to this and I would be really interested in using the tool as part of data gathering in my classroom, some of the students in my current class present as not being curriculum ready, which is where the PBL philosophy I have makes for a smoother transition for the students, but I'd be interested to see if my observations about their developmental level could be backed up through the use of this ASQ evidence-based tool.

Rebecca went on to share the alarming data around childhood anxiety levels - NZ has some of the highest levels of Anxiety in children. for these students, it is important to allow up to 6months to transition them into school with a combination of short visits and lots of planning around their individual needs. we need to identify things like:

• a safe space for them to go to when they are feeling anxious

• identify items of attachment to help calm/sooth them (discussion with centres and parents around suitable strategies and items)

• graduated starts - called a planned entry. 

When you look into the TKI Inclusive site there are lots of resources that you can access that support transitions to school and coping with change. I need to remember to refer to these when I know of students with Additional Needs that will be attending our Kura.

Resources from the MOE to support a successful transition to school

MOE page to direct parents/whanau to around Early Learning Support services.

Childhood anxiety: An Anxious World Part 1 - Neuroscience educator Nathan Wallis explains the causes – and one family shares their journey to understanding and overcoming their child’s anxiety.