• 

If it’s time for your little one to take their first independent steps to preschool, odds are that you are nervous. After all, it isn’t easy to have your heart walking outside of your body. It will help you at this stage to remind yourself of the many things that the child will learn at a preschool. Let us look at some of the essential skills the child will pick up at this crucial stage of development.

Self Confidence

First and foremost, enrolling your child in a preschool is a crucial lesson in fostering self-confidence. Beyond helping them overcome separation anxiety, a preschool cultivates age-appropriate independence. Whether it’s mastering the art of washing hands before meals or organizing their belongings effectively, children acquire a repertoire of skills autonomously. These experiences, in turn, instill in them a healthy dose of self-esteem and confidence.

Selecting the right preschool also provides opportunities for acquiring invaluable life skills, including independent decision-making and effective emotional coping mechanisms. These skills empower them in their formative years and equip them to navigate life’s inevitable challenges with grace and resilience.

Language and Cognitive skills

As the child’s language skills develop, he or she needs a language-rich environment. Well-thought-out activities at a preschool help enrich the child’s vocabulary. A scientifically developed curriculum provides abundant opportunities for the child to engage in activities such as storytelling, singing, and conversation, all of which contribute to improving their language skills.

Socialization Skills

Learning social skills for a preschooler’s development cannot be over-emphasized. With the right socio-emotional skills, children will be better equipped to navigate social situations, make friends, and communicate effectively. They will also be well-equipped to regulate their emotions in various social situations.

The right preschool plays a critical role in supporting the social development of young children. Not only do children engage in social activities, but they also witness positive behavior being modeled, laying the foundation to build essential social skills. Preschoolers learn skills necessary to cooperate with others, work together to achieve common goals and develop important traits such as empathy, sharing, and self-regulation.

The well-researched curriculum of a preschool integrates social skills activities into daily classroom routines, providing preschoolers with the tools they need to succeed socially and emotionally. These socio-emotional skills also establish the groundwork for later academic success. Research indicates that these skills enable children to focus and collaborate effectively with others, benefiting them in their academic endeavours and beyond.

Kindergarten Readiness

A preschool plays a big part in laying the foundation for school readiness. From having them spend some time away from home to giving them the attention and stimulation they need to develop into good learners to offering pre-academic skills, the right preschool can make a real difference in the child’s life.

Above everything, the most crucial aspect that the right preschool teaches is to pique a child’s curiosity. What a preschool does, in effect, is not to teach the child what to think but how to think. This vital skill comes to the child’s aid as he or she begins the journey into kindergarten and beyond. This ability to question everything around makes the child a learner for life.

• 

Choice of a Preschool

Ensuring the right preschool is chosen requires careful consideration. Above all, verifying whether the preschool adheres to a meticulously crafted curriculum encompassing diverse facets, contributing significantly to the child’s holistic development, is crucial. Recognizing that 90% of a child’s brain develops by age 5, providing appropriate stimulation cannot be emphasized enough.

We implement the scientifically developed HighScope Curriculum at Footprints, grounded in evidence-led research. This curriculum focuses on critical aspects of early education, establishing a foundation for children’s success. HighScope’s research underscores that children exposed to effective early education enter school better prepared and exhibit higher graduation rates, secure, stable employment, create resilient home environments, and demonstrate civic adaptability.

Empowered by this curriculum, at Footprints, we are driven to ensure that children become independent decision-makers equipped with essential skills across academic, social, emotional, and physical domains and more. To achieve this, we utilize development indicators, including a child development filter, allowing teachers to select activities and interactions tailored to individual needs. Moreover, we prioritize play as the primary mechanism for learning, emphasizing active engagement with appropriate adult scaffolding.

In our classrooms, meaningful adult-child interactions are pivotal, with teachers acting as partners. For instance, when addressing conflicts, the focus is on a problem-solving approach rather than immediate teacher intervention. Similarly, we emphasize encouragement over praise when a child achieves a milestone or invests effort in something meaningful.

To Sum Up

The right preschool can make all the difference in preparing the child for the kindergarten journey ahead and life at large. When we nurture little learners who develop a love for the learning process, we cultivate school-goers who can maximize the knowledge imparted to them. With such an approach, the child will be ready for school, and we will also likely observe positive outcomes as parents.