School Readiness

Grade 1 - 2025

Dear Parents

A very warm word of welcome to both you and your child. We sincerely hope that you are going to be very happy as part of the “Kenton family”.

In order to make the transition to Primary School as smooth as possible for all concerned, please take the time to read through rather lengthy document on school readyness and first day procedures .

Please be advised that upon your child being accepted into Grade 1 at Kenton a fee of R2000.00 is payable by the end of November 2024. This amount will be split as follows:

R1000 – For GRADE 1 BOOK PACK which will include all the exercise books and workbooks plus: a chairbag/ Kenton book bag/ whiteboard/ blackboard/ beanbag/Kenton cap/ My first Dictionary/ abacus.

R1000 – Will be added towards your School Fees for January 2025.

1. SCHOOL READINESS:
2. SCHOOL READINESS TESTING:

It is extremely important that you are aware of what we expect from a child who is coming to school for the first time. You are best equipped to assess whether or not your child is ready to face the challenges of “big school”. These first few years are vitally important to the attitude they will have towards school for the rest of their lives. A child who is not ready for school will automatically start off at a disadvantage and will take much longer to settle down.

Kenton Primary School do not do School Readiness Tests to ascertain if a learner is ready for Grade 1. This can only be done by a registered Educational Psychologist at the request of a parent based on the suggestion of a qualified teacher. According to the South African School’s Act all children who are of the correct school-going age have to be admitted to a school. We often find that the classes are unbalanced as far as ability is concerned and this creates a number of problems such as too many strong academic learners in one class, too many learners requiring individual attention in another class etc. The only motivation for the learner testing conducted at Kenton Primary School is to ensure a balanced classroom.

The test lasts for approximately 60 minutes and we ask that parents remain in the hall while the children are busy in the classroom. Upon completion your child will be brought back to you at the hall. Please ensure that you are here on the day allocated to you. Once the assessment has been done we will use these results to place the learners in one of the four Grade 1 classes. Hopefully this will ensure that each class has a balanced number of learners. Should we encounter any extraordinary problems we will call a meeting with those parents and offer suggestions as to how you can assist by making your child school ready. The results will not be made known as we only use them as a guideline for placing learners in classes. Please start your relationship with the school off on a positive note by listening to what the teachers have to say and acting on their advice. Our mission here at Kenton is to prepare every child to fit into an ever-changing world and we cannot do this if we are constantly at loggerheads and if our parents try and find excuses for their child’s behaviour. We need to teach our children to cope with the curve balls that life keeps throwing our way and the sooner we start doing that, the better they will cope later on in life. If you are given advice on what you can do to get your child school ready, then please do it for the sake of the child. It is not about us…. it is all about them!!!