A Guide to Preschool Success & School Readiness

Feb 25
4 min read

Starting kindergarten is one of those things that sits on the horizon for parents. You watch your child growing up through their early years, awaiting the big transition, filled with anxiety or excitement or a mixture of both. It can feel hard to know if they’re ready for big school, but with the preschool program at Watch Us Grow, you can feel confident that they have what they need to succeed.

What’s Covered in School Readiness?

There are five main areas that childcare school readiness programs should be covering to give your child the best start.

Physical health and wellbeing, including fine and gross motor skills.
Social competence, like the ability to interact positively with peers and adults
Emotional maturity, such as how to manage feelings and adapt to new situations.
Language and cognitive skills, including early literacy and numeracy skills.
Communication skills and general knowledge, like expressing needs and understanding the world.

The stronger your child is in these areas, the easier they’ll find it to cope with primary school. In fact, research suggests that children who attend quality early education programs for at least one year before school show improved outcomes in language, literacy, and social development. At childcare centres like Watch Us Grow, we start the children in our school readiness program between the ages of three and five, knowing most children start kindergarten between the ages of four and six.

The Building Blocks Your Child Needs

Social and Emotional Skills

One of the most critical factors in getting your child ready for school is how they handle themselves in social situations and deal with their emotions on a day-to-day basis. Can your child cope with being apart from you for a while? Do they seem to genuinely enjoy spending time with other children? Can they actually tell you what they need?

These skills develop over time, but some of the ways they are supported at preschool include:

Spending lots of time around other children their age.
Gradually increasing the amount of structured learning time they face in the classroom.
Reading books about going to school together and facilitating conversations amongst their peers about going to school.
Being a supportive ear when they're feeling down and helping them figure out how to bounce back.
Showing them what being friendly and kind looks like through our educators' interactions with others.

Children with stronger emotional regulation have better outcomes and adapt to school more easily than those without it.

Self-Care Independence

Preschool teachers are there to lend a hand with your little one, but learning some basic self-care helps make the transition to primary school a whole lot easier. This includes:

Supporting them in using the toilet independently.
Teaching them to wash their hands properly.
Letting them handle their own possessions and drink bottles responsibly.
Teaching them to put on shoes and jackets.

But here's the most important thing: it's fine if they're not perfect at all of this yet. Teachers at primary school have seen it all before and are happy to give your child a helping hand whenever needed. What's more important is that your child feels confident giving it a go, and knows that it's okay to ask for help when they need it.

Communication Capabilities

You don't need your child to be a whiz with words, but it's good to see them using basic communication, like telling you what they need, understanding simple instructions, and having a little chat back. Every child develops differently, and each learns communication skills at different times. At Watch Us Grow, we’ll support every child as they move through their years with us and will advise you during our parent-teacher meetings if we have any concerns about your child's speech development that should be addressed before starting primary school.

Play as School Readiness

Play is your child's most powerful learning tool. Through play, children develop problem-solving abilities, creativity, social skills, and emotional intelligence—all essential for preschool success. Diverse play can include:

Imaginative play: Dolls, dress-ups, and pretend scenarios build creativity and social understanding.
Construction play: Building blocks and puzzles develop spatial awareness and persistence
Physical play: Running, climbing, and ball games strengthen gross motor skills
Creative play: Drawing, painting, and craft activities enhance fine motor control
Social play: Group games teach turn-taking, cooperation, and rule-following

We provide all of these at Watch Us Grow, from structured play to unstructured fun.

Red Flags vs. Normal Variation

Every child develops at their own pace, and variation is completely normal. However, certain signs may warrant professional consultation before starting in our preschool programs around ages 3-4:

Very limited speech or inability to communicate basic needs by age three
Extreme difficulty separating from parents in all contexts
Aggressive behaviour that's frequent and intense
Lack of interest in any form of play or interaction
Significant delays in motor skills (walking, running, climbing)

We will bring up anything we notice at any of our parent-teacher chats. But if you have concerns, it is important to speak to your GP because early intervention can make a tremendous difference in school readiness.

Beyond Academic Skills

Many parents wonder about teaching academic content during preschool. While exposure to letters, numbers, colours, and shapes is beneficial and we do use these in our preschool classes, the pressure for academic achievement is unnecessary and potentially counterproductive for younger children.

Research consistently shows that the strongest predictors of later academic success are social-emotional skills, executive function, and a love of learning. A child who can focus, manage frustration, cooperate with others, and approach new challenges with curiosity will thrive academically, even if they don't yet know their ABCs.

This is why at Watch Us Grow, we focus on the following in our preschool programs:

Reading together daily.
Singing songs and rhymes.
Counting objects during everyday activities.
Providing rich language experiences through conversation.
Following their interests and curiosities.

Choosing the Right School Readiness Program

When you’re looking for the right kind of preschool program to support your child’s early development and prepare them for primary school, it’s important that you look at the emotional and social skill side as well as the academics. That’s why Watch Us Grow is a standout performer. We give a great balance between play-based learning, emotional support and regulation, as well as academic skills. Contact us or book a tour today to enrol at one of our childcare centres!