Champions of Early Education Welcome NSW Government Initiative

The NSW and Victorian Governments continue to plan for the biggest reform of schooling in a generation. Their plans would see an extra year of education provided. Five days per week of pre-kindergarten tuition would be available to every four-year-old by 2030. This reform was put forward as "a crucial transition to kindergarten, a game-changer". 

Research shows that the first five years of a child's life are critical for their development, and strongly predict not only how they will perform in school, but also their long-term health and their positive engagement with others. It lays the foundation for a child's mental development, growth, and ultimately their success in the future. Hence it must be strong.

Mosman Preparatory School, an Independent School specialising in boys' education, has been offering a five-day pre-kindergarten program for the past 19 years. The boys learn at the School in Mosman and our Outdoor Learning Centre at Terrey Hills. It is a small school with a big heart, providing a deeply connected community, specialised teaching, individual attention, and abundant opportunity to its boys. 

At Mosman Prep, we are intentional about maximising this critical period in a boy's development through structured and unstructured play, explicit instruction in literacy and numeracy, and specialist teaching in creative arts, Mandarin, physical education, and spiritual and character development. 

Using provocations and fostering an environment of curiosity and wonder, the boys are encouraged to question the world around them, helping them to love learning and develop those vital 'future proof skills' such as creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and problem-solving. 

The well-established phenomenon called the Matthew Effect, states that relatively small differences in scholastic ability in the early years, if not attended to, lead to relatively large differences in achievement by the end of school and beyond.

At Mosman Prep, not only do we focus on the core foundational academic skills and future proofing skills, but also school readiness and relational skills, addressing the individual needs of each child, and putting in place support structures to set them up for success in the critical Kindergarten year. 

Exposing children to a wide variety of rich learning activities with specialist teachers in these crucial years, lays the foundation for developing a broad range of skills and confidence. This learning extends to interpersonal skills and character development such as kindness, respect, empathy, and teamwork, as our boys learn to contribute to the lives of others by living a life beyond themselves.

We have long been aware of the dangers inherent in 'just drifting along' and have stressed the benefits of 'purposeful and guided progression' through pre-school days.

Mosman Prep is proud to be an educational leader in "the crucial year before kindergarten."