Dooral Early Learning Centre aims to provide a rich and engaging school readiness program.

Preparing the year before school can be a daunting experience for families and this is where our school readiness program can help your child be ready for the first year of school and set lifelong foundation for early literacy and numeracy.

Starting school is an exciting time of a child’s life and the families. We are committed in supporting and promoting a play based and fun approach.

Preparing children for school

Emotional and Social Development:

Children who are entering school will need to be able to separate from their parents with ease and cope with change and spontaneous events throughout the day (e.g. a new relief teacher at kindergarten). This is really important for a successful transition from preschool to school.

Children also need to demonstrate basic problem solving and conflict resolution skills with their peers. They will have the basic skills to initiate play with their peers, interact in socially acceptable ways and communicate their needs and wishes during work and play.  Working alongside others in small and large groups is also an important social skill for children entering school.

Self Help Skills will include:

Independent toileting and hand washing, taking care of their own belongings such as a hat, drink bottle and lunch box, unwrapping lunches, putting on and off socks and shoes and dressing themselves.

Language and Music Group Times:

Your children will participate in a variety of small and large group experiences throughout the day. We focus on the children participating and interacting with their peers co-operatively, focusing and attending, listening and following instructions and contributing towards the group experience, placing their hand in the air when they wish to talk to the teacher and waiting their turn.

PreLit Program

Our educational prelit program is designed by Macquarie University and is a skill based, early literacy preparation program for preschool children in the year before school. It is designed to complement a play-based learning environment and provides early childhood teachers with the tools necessary to teach pre-literacy skills and concepts in a fun and engaging way.

Key benefits

• Evidence-based, best practice program for preschool children in their year before formal schooling
• Appropriate for Kindergarten students who have started school without the necessary emergent literacy skills
• Appropriate for all children regardless of skill level
• Comprehensive training, equipping teachers with the skills they need to prepare children for reading at school

Key features

The program is systematic, skills-based and taught in a hierarchical sequence and designed to complement a play-based learning environment. There are two main components:

• Phonological awareness
• Oral language development through Structured Book Reading

Kit contents

The PreLit Kit provides early childhood teachers with the tools necessary to teach pre-literacy skills and concepts in a fun and engaging way. There are 108 short, clearly prescribed lessons that incorporate different types of phonological awareness activities and oral blending and segmentation activities.

Various activities are presented in a game format and lessons are cumulative with children progressing through the program at their pace and developmental level. Each activity is 15-20 minutes and designed to be delivered three times per week.

The PreLit Kit includes the following components:

• Teacher manual
• Lessons book
• Sound snap presentation book
• Letter cards
• Alphabet picture cards
• Picture cards
• Shared story book reading cards based on 36 well-known children’s storybooks