Set for School

BestStart's Set for School programme ensures that families know what to expect for their children's transition to the next phase of their learning journey.

Preparing your child for school starts from your very first day with us at BestStart.

Set for School is our BestStart framework to support both you and your child, preparing them for primary school and further learning.

Set for School considers the unique needs of your child, family/whānau and the school they will attend, ensuring your child grows up to be a competent and confident learner. Set for School is grounded in research as well as feedback from schools, so we know we’re supporting your child to reach their potential.

Support for families

We know that your child heading to school is a big step for you as well, and you may not be too sure of what you need to do as a parent. Set for School ensures families feel supported as they go through the process of enrolling their child.

Primary schools do things differently with regard to zoning, when you need to enrol by, transition visits and the timing of new entrant intakes, eg this might be on each child’s 5th birthday or having groups of children start at the beginning of term after their fifth birthday. Our centres will often know this information for the school your child is enrolling at but, if not, they can guide you to find this information.

Centres have regular parent meetings to provide local school and enrolment information, along with what expectations you should have for your child’s transition within their BestStart centre and the preparation your child is getting for school through our play based curriculum.

Using the 16 Areas of Play to prepare your child for primary school

At BestStart we take play seriously! Research shows children learn best through meaningful experiences created through play.

Our curriculum gives children the time, space and support to explore, experiment and try things out. Exploring is what drives brain development in our youngest learners. This means taking risks, getting messy and being creative! We nurture knowledge such as literacy and numeracy through playful interactions and the use of language that sets your child up for their further education at school.

At BestStart, we talk about 16 different areas of play that cover all aspects of explorative learning, such as messy play, dramatic play, physical play, painting and drawing etc. Each area of play is used by teachers to intentionally link to learning in the school curriculum.  We’ve launched a new video series which explains how each of our 16 areas of play links into the early primary school curriculum, and what learning is occurring as children play.

Learn more below, and explore the different areas of play here: https://centres.best-start.org...