At Bellevue School, we aim to make your child’s transition to school as smooth and easy as possible. We welcome you and your child to visit prior to starting school and encourage children to attend at least 2 pre-school visits in a New Entrant class. These visits are flexible and we are happy to arrange additional visits to cater to the needs of your child. For the first visit we encourage parents to stay in the class to support this transition however during subsequent visits you may wish to leave your child for a short break but please note, as a legal requirement, you are required to stay on site. Transitioning to school can be a big step for young children and parents alike, and it can help to build certain skills in your child before they start school so they will be better equipped to begin their school journey.

Being independent and able to manage themselves and their belongings are the most crucial elements for making children feel comfortable and able to cope within the school setting. Academic skills, while helpful, are not the most important things for your child. We encourage children to have opportunities to see and talk about the world around them; including letters, sounds, shapes, colours, numbers and other things of interest. It is not essential for your child to know all of their letters and numbers before starting school as introducing these are key parts of our early learning experiences. We provide a play-based learning environment in our New Entrant classrooms and you can support this at home by encouraging your child’s curiosity, creativity, questioning, and by talking about their interests.