Concern kindergarten kids will be ‘starting from scratch’ after lockdown

Teachers fear our youngest students will have to start again from scratch and effectively have a second year of kindergarten due to the lockdowns.

Teachers fear our youngest students will have to start again from scratch and effectively have a second year of kindergarten due to the lockdowns.

As school prepares to return on October 25, parents are again trying to prepare their little ones for schooling without mum and dad by their side.

Head of St Catherine’s junior school Elizabeth Worsley said it was sad to see these children lose the routine and social connections the school had worked so hard to establish.

“By term two we really had them showing independence and forming relationships and that’s what school is all about and then it all got taken away,” Mrs Worsley said.

“I feel that by the time we get them back we will be starting from scratch.”

Shannon and Kim Flexman with their children (from left) Fesaitu, Maliha, Leilina, Helava, Solomone and 6-month-old Keilana. Helava is looking forward to returning to kindergarten when lockdown ends. Picture: Tim Hunter

Mrs Worsley said with just a few weeks of face-to-face learning before the Christmas holidays, next year will be kindergarten part two.

“Next year we will almost be having two lots of kindergarten,” she said.

“It's not about the learning, people think everything is about the academics …. school is about relationships.”

Shannon Flexman said his daughter Helava was excited to go back to Emu Plains Public School with her older siblings.

“She’s a very reserved girl so going back into school next term, if it was just her on our own, I think there would definitely be some reservations,” he said.

Luckily having older siblings there “will make the process easier for her”, he said.

Mr Flexman says his 5-year-old daughter Halava is shy on zoom but looking forward to going back to the classroom because her older siblings will also be going to school. Picture: Tim Hunter

Mr Flexman said getting Helava out of her shell is vital to her development as she falls back into her shy habits on Zoom classes.

“I can see her creeping back into that sort of ‘just sit back and don’t say anything and keep quiet’ sort of mentality,” he said.

Anne-Marie Giannikos said her five-year-old Eden, who attend St Catherine’s, is starting to lose her excitement about school the longer she stays at home.

“I feel like they’ve been robbed of a special year that they can never get back and the beginnings of enthusiasm have drained away over time and that’s something that worries me,” Ms Giannikos said.

The mum-of-two said Eden is sometimes in tears over missing her friends but has also become used to having mum around all the time.

“It’s going to be hard to transition her back to school.”

Tony and Jackie Barakat said their son Albert was missing his friends at Father John Therry Catholic School and feared he was losing ‘“traction” with social skills while learning from home.

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