Kindergarten attendance and health improve at Bidyadanga community

Extra hours of Government-funded kindergarten for all children in the Bidyadanga community has been good news for La Grange Remote Community School, located 180km south of Broome.

The success of the extended class time was highlighted recently in the Closing the Gap: Prime Minister’s Report 2013.

Principal Rebecca Robson said prior to the introduction of the Australian Government’s Universal Access to Early Childhood Education commitment in 2010, the school offered a kindergarten program four days a week from 8:30am to midday.

“Not much was achieved by the time the kids actually got to school. Parents were not picking their children up or dropping them off as the start and finish times were inconvenient because they were different to the normal school times and this was affecting attendance,” Rebecca said.

“Since we have offered a longer kindy day that aligns with the rest of the school times, enrolments have not only increased from 14 to 20 children this year but attendance has also improved and stabilised.”

She said children who attended kindergarten in 2010 and 2011 showed a remarkable increase in performance when they started full-time schooling.

“Increased attendance allows for better pre-literacy and numeracy screening and the ability to collect baseline data. This means we can target individual learning,” she said. 

“They are engaged and learning and have more awareness of school behaviours and routines.”

Now that parents are taking their children to and from school, Rebecca said they are more involved in the school community. Children too are more engaged if the increased popularity of the ‘crunch and sip’ healthy lunch program is any guide.

Universal access has given the school more time to work in partnership with the community health service to identify and address health issues earlier.

“We can screen for health problems and catch them early before they become entrenched,” Rebecca said.