Preparation for school

Press, 12 March 1983, Page 5

Preparation for school

A new course to teach parents how best to prepare their children for school is being offered in Christchurch. Mrs Zeta Laurie, who runs the course, said that it would teach parents how to help their children acquire the skills that they would need at school. "But it is not to show parents how to teach what is taught in schools,” she said. The emphasis was on how parents could provide a rich background so that their children would be interested and aware when they started school. A former primary schoolteacher specialising in new entrants, Mrs Laurie said that most parents were unaware of the demands school made on children.

Her course taught how to help childrens' hand-eye coordination, language skills, and mathematical perception. A section was devoted to how children learn, and another how to help children during their first weeks at school. “Details like how a child's lunch is wrapped can reach major proportions in a new situation." she said. Her first course was run in her home. Parents who attended encouraged her to expand it, and so she decided to use the Bishopdale Community Centre. The first course will start on March 17, and will consist of four weekly IVz-hour classes between 10 a.m. and 11.30 a.m. The course fee is $lO.