Why is the playschool's environment important?

Playschool is the first step for the child into the outside world or an unfamiliar place outside home.
It should be attractive, friendly and welcoming. When the child enters the school for the first time, a teacher's smiling face at the entrance, makes him feel happy and secure. Sometimes when the child is naughty at home the parents themselves or some members of the family threaten the child saying, "Wait, if you do not behave well at home, we will send you to school and then you will see how your teacher will straighten you out." Never try to scare the child like this as he will fear going to school instead of enjoying the experience. Instead try talking to the child about the school being a wonderful place which has lots of play equipment and toys to explore. Emphasise on having opportunities to find new playmate at the school. Talk positively about the school. Try visiting the school before hand, showing the child various attractive areas such as the play area, colourful classrooms, outdoor play area etc. This will help develop a "happy" feel about the school.

What is the first thing that a child sees when he goes to school? It is the entrance, of course. The entrance of the school could be painted with animals, flowers or even cartoon characters to makes it look attractive and colourful. The name of the school should also be displayed at the entrance. This helps the child to form an association with the name of the school and remember it. This comes in handy in case the child gets lost.

If the school has open space, it can be used very effectively to attract children. The open space can be done up with a theme in mind. Various play equipment are available in various shapes and sizes apt for any theme. Consider the swings, slides, Jungle gym etc., which could be part of the décor for the Park theme. Some children would have visited parks earlier with parents and family, the pleasant and familiar experience would make them feel comfortable. This could further encourage the child to attend school and look forward to it.

Now, let me tell you more about the appropriate play equipment. The play equipment must be suitable to the age group as they are not just meant for free play. They are most useful for the physical development of the child. It also facilitates the socialization and teaches him how to share and be patient, while he waits for his turn to play. The same open area can be used for water play, sand play and various planned games. Water play and sand play can teach various concepts like sizes and shapes, eye-hand coordination and motor control. I will discuss in more detail with more examples when I will talk about "Learning through play".

The entrance lobby and waiting lounge for parents must also be done beautifully and interestingly. The information desk should be equipped with informative material about the school, academics, timings of the school, the list material the child must bring to class. For example, some schools do not allow ready to eat food items such as chips, chocolates, noodles etc. They encourage and insist that the child must be given healthy, home cooked food. Communication between the teachers and the parents must be very clear.

The passage leading from the entrance to the classroom can be done up nicely with soft boards which can be used for displaying children's works, circulars, weekly programmes and activities. The pegs for hanging the water bottles should be kept at a lower level so that the child can easy reach it. For this age group, the water bottles and the snack boxes are the most priced possession and they do not like to part with them. Specially the water bottles, since the snack boxes are usually inside the bag. So to encourage children to part with the water bottles, fancy wooden pegs could be put outside the classroom. An individual wooden peg with a big space and sliding slot for the child's laminated photograph with his name could be used to help the child identify his peg. The peg's face could be an animal's face or a Mickey Mouse's face for the boys and Mini Mouse's face for the girls for easy recognition.

What about the playschools in apartments?

Most of the playschools, specially in the Metro cities are run in apartments, which have space constraint. Even if the school is on the ground floor many societies do not allow commercial establishments and activities to take place for the fear of disturbing other society members. The playschools have to then make most of the space that is available depending upon the size of the apartment. All available space can be divided into different areas such as the reception area, office area, activity rooms, Music room, Language room, Number world etc. If the children are separated into small groups for different areas and are moved from one area to another, it helps to maintain their focus as the children at this age have very short attention span. They do not like being cooped up in one classroom for long periods of time. So, if the school interiors are well planned being apt for the subject, the children would enjoy learning. The entrance door could be made to look attractive by giving it a shape of a character with the name of the school. Though it is an apartment door, it must still attract the children. The passage here too can be painted with a theme. It must look different and attractive to the children. Near the entrance there should be a reception cum information desk with sitting area for parents. Some schools have CCTV monitors for parents to observe the child engaged in the classroom. Required number of screens can be displayed on a wall. Behind the reception desk the school activities can be displayed. The passage to the classroom can be utilized very creatively by placing the floor activities like the sand play, water play which come in various shapes and a handy lid to cover the top. The wall behind the sand play can be painted with appropriate themes. For example, if the sand play box is a frog shape the surrounding can be painted with a pond with other water animals around. If the shape is a lion's face, then a Jungle scene can be painted.

So, an interesting and well equipped entrance whether it is a small or a big space is very important to attract the children. Remember learning begins right from the entrance of the school.

 Few pictures are below to give an idea about the various equipment that I have talked about here.

Outdoor Play gyms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wall Painting

 

 

Soft Boards for the Passage

 

 

Sand Play

 

 

 

 Pegs for Bags or water bottles

 

 

Entrances

 

 

 

What could be the right age to take the first step?

 

Many parents wonder as to what age they should enrol their child in a play school. As I have mentioned earlier that in the generation prior to this, children started schooling at the age of five years. This was due to all the formal schools began from class 1. By this time children would have acquired self help and readiness skills, like listening, physical control, motor skills, proper speech and volumes of vocabulary, in short they are prepared for formal schooling.

Many educational philosophers put forth a theory that about 50% of the child's intellectual development takes place by the age of five. So, this is the reason why the early years from birth to five years of age must not be wasted, considering the child's learning starts right from birth.

 Most of the schools earlier had only Primary and Secondary sections. Many people capitalised on this theory of early learning and started nursery schools for the age group of three to four years. This was to prepare the children with more academic work and few fun activities. The nursery schools claimed to be preparing the children for the "Interview" that would train them to bag admissions in the formal schools ahead.

Most of the formal schools added pre-primary section, having Junior and Senior classes, calling them Preparation class or in short "Prep-class". This had an adverse effect on the private Nursery. Now, adopting the new theory of teaching children through play-way method, the Nurseries began calling themselves as Play-schools and started enrolling children two years or below.

 In recent times, Play-schools also have "Toddler class" which begin from six months onwards. Toddler class is the first experience for the baby of outside world and for the mothers an opportunity to interact with other parents. Having said this, I will remind again that each child is an individual and hence do not compare them to other children. The toddler class is of mixed age group of six months to one year usually. You must have noticed the growth of your child every month. This class aims at the children's social skills, sharing and physical development along with gross motor skills. The child is still emotionally attached to the mother and hence all activities must involve the mother and child together. All activities should take place under the teachers guidance and the mother's supervision. There should be only ten to twelve children in a class and the duration of the class could be limited to an hour.

By twelve or fourteen months the children are more settled and ready for advanced activities. They do not require mother's presence in the class anymore. If your child still cries too much at this stage, when left alone in the class, please do not insist and force the child to be alone in the class. I have seen teachers insisting on numerous occasions that the child will be alright and snatching away the child from the parent. They then bang the door shut behind them. The child then feels scared, insecure, emotionally upset and worried due to a sense of abandonment and anger towards the mother. Please never allow this to happen and instead take control and calm the child and reason out the situation with him. You could show him the play area with lots of toys and activities laid out and allow him to explore with the teachers' help. Over a period of time, the child will himself be independent and look forward to going to school.

 

Now again, what is the age criteria? Well, the education boards still do not recognise the pre-primary section even of the formal and well reputed schools. The schools calculate the age criteria themselves by counting backwards. For example, SSC (State board schools) the age criteria is set at five years to join class one. Hence, counting backwards the Senior Kindergarten would be age four, Junior Kindergarten would be three years of age and the Nursery would be two years of age. But, other boards have set the age criteria for standard one at six years, making the required age for the Nursery to be three years, Junior K.G four and Senior K.G to be five. This, in my opinion is the appropriate age criteria as even one year makes a lot of difference in terms of the child's emotional independence, motor control and physiological control, coordination and understanding. You must not think about saving an year and rather think about your child's academic achievements in the future.

 

 

 

In my next post, on next Thursday, I will discuss about the play-school's environment and the class room ambience.

Are they qualified for your children?

In my previous post I mentioned certain points to be kept in mind while selecting a play school for your child. I intend to elaborate on the qualification of the person in-charge of the play school and the teaching staff here in this post.

Parents must check if the person in charge of the play school is qualified and trained in the field of Child Development. Your child must be treated with care at this tender age. The head of the play school should be aware of the developmental stages a child goes through. Different skills develop at different stages and an unskilled person will not be aware about what to expect from the child. He or she may push the child beyond his/her capability. This could have an adverse effect on the child's emotional growth and learning skills. Do keep in mind that you are enrolling your child in a play school and not a "Creche". You may find many housewives and young girls opening so called "Play school" or a glorified day care centre around you.

What to look for in the teaching staff?
The teachers must be trained in every aspect of child care. There are Early Child Care Education (ECCE) training programmes available. A Home Science degree course also has subjects like Child Development, Child Psychology and a course in teaching aids. This formal training is essential for the person handling a tender age group of one or one and a half.

The purpose of a play school is to have activities that help children to learn various skills like emotional adjustment, physical development, fine and gross motor skills, Co-ordination skills and to develop and improve concentration span along with listening skills. The teacher must not aim at academic skills like reading and writing. At this stage there should not be any set goals and the child must not be pressurized to achieve any goals either. The focus should be more on emotional and social skills till the child settles down. This is the first experience the child has beyond his home. Separation anxiety can disturb the child deeply. Socializing activities would help the child to interact with other children of his age and be rid of the anxiety and trauma he feels. The parents must prepare the child to begin schooling by talking and explaining to the child irrespective of his age. The child must be exposed to the school by showing him around for the first hand experience of the attractions it holds like the play area, toys etc. Do not make the child feel as though school is a punishment he needs to endure for his misbehavior. Once the child settles down, the teacher can introduce activities aimed at listening skills, motor skills such as music and free play. Free play could be used as a tool to begin the child's day at school. The teacher-student ratio must be 1:10. This ensures that the classroom is not over-crowded with children and there is no insufficiency in the teaching and support staff.

What about the support staff?
The role of the support staff is very important in the play school. Especially the "Aya Bais", who handle the childrens' personal and hygiene requirements. At times the child might soil himself or vomit due to various reasons. It is the responsibility of the support staff to attend to such needs of the child. If the support staff is harsh or mishandles the child during such situations, it could be traumatic for the child and not to mention embarrassing. Their emotions and self confidence could be harmed as well. Tender care and affection must be given to the child by the support staff along with a qualified teaching staff in the play schools.

Please keep your child's welfare in mind and do not hesitate to ask questions about the staff of the play school. Remember it is the first step into the outside world  for your precious baby.

How to choose a playschool for your child

Parent's apprehension is how to select a playschool or where they should enroll their child. Today, the competition is so intense that the parents want to train their child from a very early age. In a generation prior, children started schooling at the age five. But today, with so many play schools cropping up at every nook and corner parents feel that they must put the child in school at the age of one or one and half years itself. Each child is an individual and reacts differently. Please do not compare your child with other children. Do not judge your child's competency based on other children's success in school. It is very important to understand that each child has his or her own growth pattern and is born with certain inherent abilities. One must recognize this and give their child some time and space along with their patience.

When you look for a play school, do not follow other parent's advice or any hear-say information blindly. There are many choices one has these days for playschools. Visit each playschool in your vicinity personally. Seek information for the following:
1. Qualification of the person in-charge of the playschool.
2. How is the teaching staff; such as their qualification, background, relevant experiences in the field etc.
3. How well equipped the classrooms are, such as, the teaching material and the variety in the play material.
4. Spaciousness of the school/ classroom. Look for open spaces where the children can indulge in physical activities.

I would elaborate on each of the above points in my following posts. 

Pre-school; A step into the outside world.

Welcome to the Holistic Pre-schoolers blog!

Current education scenario has changed so much today, that parents are very worried about their children's educational future. Many young parents come to me for advice and share their anxiety and concerns. They are confused and put forth so many questions, for example, 1. At what age to put the child in play school or in a Toddler class?, 2. How to select a formal school for their child?, 3. How to prepare the child for an "Interview"? etc. They come for my guidance, since I have many years of experience with pre-school children. I have always loved this age group (two to six years). They are so loving and affectionate. I have worked with Primary children as well. However, it felt preschoolers are more disciplined and co-operative. 

I have had an advantage of working with schools that have had different Education Boards. I began my career with Maneckji Cooper Education Trust (ICSE) School, working for two years in the Primary section. Later, I joined Utpal Sanghvi School (SSC), as a coordinator for the pre-primary section, for eight years. For the next thirteen years I worked as the Headmistress for the pre-primary section of Anandilal Poddar (SSC) School. On its inception, I took the responsibility of the pre-primary section of Ramniranjan Poddar (CBSE) School. Given the numerous Educational Boards coming into the picture, parents are now also confused about which Board is better for the child. 

In my next post, I would like to share the right age for the child to be enrolled in the play school and a formal school.