Step up into education – School story
Churchill State School
Background
Step up into education is a Queensland Government
commitment to better prepare and support children to make the
transition to school, and to support parents to become involved
in their child's education. Under the Step up into education
initiative, Churchill State School received funding to deliver
school readiness and transition programs to suit the needs of
their local community.
For more information about the program visit:
http://education.qld.gov.au/schools/stepup/.
Churchill State School has been working on successful
transition for over six years. Prior to Step up into education,
children enrolling at school would come in for a Prep open
morning and work in the classroom with their teacher for the
following year. This was an orientation session, however,
and didn’t assist students and parents in acquiring the skills
necessary for a smooth transition into Prep.
Using the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC)
School demographics
data as a guide, the Prep Teacher came up with a ten-week
long Kindy-based prior to school education program.
Churchill State School was established in 1923 and has an
extended history of excellence with community pride in the
Readiness
achievements of school staff and students.
Churchill State School’s 2012 Australian Early Development
Churchill State School strives to provide a high quality
academic program which recognises and values high
Census (AEDC) data indicated that:

33.3% of children were vulnerable in one or more
domains

24.1% of children were vulnerable in two or more
domains.
achievement in literacy and numeracy and develops each
student's creativity, decision making and problem solving
skills.
A range of programs exist in the school which provide
students with an appropriate level of support, including
The highest domains of vulnerability were language and
cognitive skills (20.4%) and social competence (18.5%).
working towards improved outcomes in achievement levels
for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
Students live mostly in the local communities of Churchill,
Winston Glades and Yamanto, while there are also a
number of families from Amberley Royal Australian Airforce
(RAAF) base. Churchill State School provides a safe and
supportive environment for all students and staff.
At the beginning of 2015, 56 students participated in Early
Start literacy and numeracy tasks. Very few students had
exposure to literacy and numeracy experiences at home and
Early Start data confirmed that they did not have the
foundational literacy and numeracy skills typically expected
of students entering school.
The number of full time enrolments at the school on 2015
was as follows:
Key activities
In 2015, eight weeks prior to school, Churchill State School

socialisation skills – cooperating, sharing

gross motor skill development

fine motor skill development – through craft and
drawing.
ran an education program to help children get ready for
Prep. Parent information sessions were also provided to
These development skills were targeted as they were found
help parents and caregivers prepare their child for Prep.
to be the greatest challenges for students entering Prep.
Step up into education funding was used to resource the
Impact/outcomes
program and a Prep teacher to implement the program.
The positive outcomes from the program were:
In 2014, the prior to school education program consisted of
ten weekly two-hour sessions for the children and seven

enabling school staff to know children and their families
before school starts

enabling children to ease into the school system

offering useful information to parents about getting their
child Prep ready

providing the practical and necessary items to start
school.
one-hour information sessions for parents.
The children’s session ran from 9–11am in the Outside of
School Hours Care (OSHC) room. It included a carpet
session (songs, stories, craft, play-dough, manipulation play)
or an outdoor play/carpet session (story, songs).
Churchill State School implemented an intensive data
The parent information sessions focused on dental health,
collection program in Prep to track improvement. In February
healthy lunchboxes and cooking, reading with children at
2015, 19% of students were progressing as typically
home and supporting oral language development at home. A
expected using Early Start data. Within six months, 60% of
healthy lunch was supplied at the end of sessions.
students were progressing as typically expected or above in
literacy.
In 2013, approximately 20 children were enrolled in the
program, increasing to 33 children in 2014. Approximately
Challenges
75% of the prior to school education families attended the
parent information sessions. During the final session the
Staff attempted to organise a Prep teacher to run a
children were given a bag of ‘goodies’: pencils, pencil case,
playgroup with literacy based activities at the school,
toothbrush, colouring book, scissors, three reading books, a
however only one person attended. Another obstacle was
small tub of play-dough and some information sheets (for
parent awareness about the importance of reading with their
example, Helping your child get ready for school).
child from an early age.
Churchill State School continued the program in 2015 with
Recommendations for the future
the hope that numbers of participants would increase again.
Staff at the school planned to have the same presenters for
Staff realised that they need to work on strategies to engage
the parent information sessions.
parents early. It is hoped that in the future staff can work with
early childhood education and care providers and establish
Readiness skills
playgroups in the community. Working with existing
structures may help to engage parents and assist them in
The readiness skills targeted through informal age
appropriate activities included:

foundation literacy skills – concepts about print

numeracy – counting
preparing their child for school.
Conclusion
Churchill State School’s approach is to engage parents to
ensure they see schooling as a positive experience and
support them to understand issues and initiatives that can
support the health and wellbeing of their child/children.