LOCAL families with children eligible to start preschool next year are encouraged to enrol their children now.
Children who turn four before May 1, 2022, need to be enrolled in preschool by June 30, 2021, to begin next year.
Aboriginal children and children who are – or have been – in care are eligible to begin preschool once they turn three years old.
Barmera Kindergarten director Amy Hunt said preschool gives children the “best start in life”.
“Preschool provides important opportunities to learn and develop skills for learning success such as language, motor and cognitive skills, building resilience, problem solving, and social behaviours,” she said.
“It gives naturally curious children the chance to learn about their world through play and develop new knowledge, skills and dispositions that will stay with them as they grow.
“Play-based learning environments, like preschool, encourage talking, reading, thinking, and writing, where children begin to see literacy and numeracy as part of their everyday experience.
“A child’s environment and their experiences in the early years establish the building blocks for learning in the future and can also help to establish positive foundations and learning patterns from the beginning of a child’s life.”
For more information, parents are urged to visit the Department for Education website: (https://www.sa.gov.au/topics/about-sa/government/departments/education).