Changes to Kidsport grants will mean that CirQuest Circus will no longer be eligible to accept Kidsport vouchers for participants’ fees, as of July 2018. Until then we are still registered as a Kidsport club but, after July, families with access to the grants will no longer be able to use them for CirQuest classes.

The hugely successful program has enabled 70,000 children in low-income families to access physical activity outside of school, and has been a model which other states have followed. KidSport funding has been available for children aged 5-18 with valid health care or pensioner concession cards, or who may be experiencing financial hardship, to join community sporting and recreation clubs.

In December 2017, the State Government of Western Australia announced that the program would be restricted to only apply to activities which meet the Department of Sport and Recreation’s definition of sport, which is as follows:

*Sport is defined as “a human activity involving physical exertion and skill as the primary focus of the activity, with elements of competition where rules and patterns of behaviour governing the activity exist formally though organisations and is generally recognised as a sport” (Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries website),

According to this definition, only activities which are competitive in nature will be eligible for program inclusion after July 2018. This rigid definition excludes many physical recreation activities of huge benefit for the health and wellbeing of WA children, and in particular for those children who are, because of disability or other individual differences, unable to participate in mainstream sport.

When the changes come into effect in July, the impact on CirQuest will be quite small. The Kidsport grant program is only used by a small proportion of our members, and the cumbersome way in which it is delivered results in a disproportionate amount of administration work to access the funds for us. But we are concerned that those families who need the funding the most won't be able to choose the activities that work best for their children, and will only be able to use the grants for competitive sport.

Children who don’t like, or find it difficult to participate in, competitive sport are the very children who most need assistance to stay physically active. These kids are, because of the same factors which make sport inaccessible, more vulnerable to social isolation, one of the most significant contributing factors in poor health outcomes over the lifespan.

Furthermore, many non-sporting recreational physical activities are the benchmark for inclusive service provision, in that children with disabilities are supported to participate alongside and in collaboration with typically-developing children, in a way that they are often not in mainstream sport. Reducing the access of children with disabilities on low incomes to the best quality inclusive activities is not only reducing the variety of options available, but indeed cutting out the very ones best suited to meet their individual needs.

Scouting Australia has led the discussion about the impact that program changes will have on families, and on 27th December, Nicolas Perpitch’s article “Kidsport voucher change angers Scouts and Girl Guide groups.” In response to the arguments I have discussed here, the Minister’s office was quoted in that article by saying that Scouts and Girl Guides get funding through other departments and LotteryWest. This is deliberately conflating the issue, because grants from these sources cannot be used to cover the costs of important aspects of service delivery, such as insurance, financial management, and administration expenses, without which clubs cannot provide any activities at all. These costs can only be met through fee-for-service delivery models, and the Kidsport program is a great example of funding that is targeted to assist those in need without disadvantaging the clubs who choose to provide inclusive activities.

The Healthy Active Kids reports identify that the proportion of kids getting the recommended amount of physical activity in Australia may be as low as 19%. This is no time to be further restricting the access to physical activity of those children in our community most vulnerable to physical inactivity and social isolation.

I expressed these views in a letter to Minister Mick Murray in December and received a reply, in which the Minister states that “The intent of the State Government s KidSport initiative is to reduce the financial barrier for children from lower socio-economic backgrounds to participate in recognised community sporting groups. The previous club eligibility criteria allowed KidSport grants to be accessed by organisations that were not recognised as offering an official sport, which did not meet the intention of the program.” The Minister offers no explanation as to why the intention of the program has been so restrictive as to include only competitive sport, or why, since the program has been so popular among children seeking alternatives to sport, the intention of the program has not been updated to meet the needs of the community.

The Minister goes on to state that “The McGowan Government recognises that organised sport offers great benefits to its participants” but does not state what these are, or how these benefits differ from those obtained by participation in co-operative, non-competitive physical activity.

We know that the social determinants of health have a compounding effect and that the reduction of opportunities for people who have one risk factor to access other protective factors will have a cascading effect on their lifelong wellbeing.

If you agree that the changes to the Kidsport program to exclude beneficial physical activity that is non-competitive in nature is a backward step by the Department of Sport and Recreation, I urge you to write to the Minister and let him know. The announcement, which was buried in the Christmas rush and a busy news week, has caused very little community response and besides the one article published on the ABC News website, has had very little media attention.

What the Minister apparently fails to understand are the reasons why families and children choose alternatives to competitive sport, and why physical activity that is non-competitive is just as beneficial, if not more so, than competitive sport. He needs to hear this from the voices of parents, not just those whose organizations will be excluded from eligibility, like me and Scouting Australia. You don't have to be eligible for a Kidsport grant to become engaged in this issue; if your children find sport does not meet their needs, the Minister needs your input to understand why these changes are so harmful.

You can contact The Hon. Michael Murray at mick.murray@mp.wa.gov.au.

I love how this aspect of technique in aerials and acrobatics has changed over the course of my career in circus. Awareness of your whole body, right down to your toes, is and always has been such an important part of the skill of trick-based circus training, and the intentionality of what your hands and feet are doing is a powerful tool in the kit of every physical performer.

Training your feet to point automatically is a practice thing, but also training your toe point is about building strength and endurance in the muscles in your feet so that they can hold for longer. And if you want those amazing to-die-for feet that make your legs look like they go on forever, you'll want to increase the flexibility in your ankles too.

By training your toes point, you'll also build strength in your ankles, which is a great way to reduce your risk of injury. It sounds dumb but, of all the things we do at CirQuest that have a risk of injury, the one that most often happens is the rolled ankle as you step off the crashmat!

I came across this video and I think it's great. These tips are bang on point (boom) and her feet are amazing, so I asked the creator if I could share it here! Thanks so much Ballettoes!

Here's the link: https://youtu.be/M294tyQs7x8

Happy training!

No-one wants any child to be hurt. The safety of our children is critically important. However, by eliminating risks from the environments in which children learn, play and grow, we may be making them less safe, while also predisposing them to be more fearful, anxious, and less able to successfully manage risks. A child who grows up without exposure to risks may be deprived of the opportunity to develop their true sense of self.

Why play is important

Declining opportunities for free play in our modern culture are a huge concern among the health community (van Rooijen and Newstead, 2017; Brussoni et al, 2012; Gray, 2011; Little, 2015). Play is critical in the development of gross motor skills, cognitive skills, language, social skills, self-regulation, and physical health, but also has a critical function in the development of a sense of the self, and a lack of play experiences in childhood may threaten healthy development (O’Connor and Stagnitti, 2011; Gray, 2011; Stagnitti and Unsworth, 2000).

Gray (2011) argues that the decline in play is a causal factor of the rise in childhood and adolescent anxiety, depression, and narcissism. He argues that play is the primary way in which children develop five key aspects of children’s sense of self, and that without opportunities for play children may develop deficits in these areas, leading to poor mental health outcomes:

Through play, children develop intrinsic interests and competencies.Children learn and practice how to make decisions, solve problems, exert self-control, and follow rules through playing.Play is essential for children to learn how to regulate their emotions.Through play, children learn to make friends and learn to get along with others.Play is the primary means for children to experience joy.

Risk-taking in play.

An important function of play is for children to learn about their capacities to master their environment and the challenges it offers. Risky play exposes children to situations they have previously feared, motivated by the sense of exhilaration which risk-taking brings. It is argued that risky play in childhood may have an important function in the development of self-concept and confidence, mitigating the development of phobias, and mediating factors which may contribute to anxiety (Sandseter and Kennair, 2011).

Risk itself is a necessary part of learning to be safe and careful. Without the presence of risks in children’s play, they are unable to learn to assess risk, make choices to manage risks, and exercise care to remain safe where hazards exist. Brussoni et al (2012) propose that, instead of keeping children “as safe as possible”, which may limit their development and ability to learn to keep themselves safe, we should instead aim for childhood experiences to be “as safe as necessary” (p.3140).

The dignity of risk.

When we do not trust individuals to make choices about risks, we prevent them from becoming competent in doing so. The concept of "dignity of risk" comes from disability theory, and describes the opportunity to make choices and take action that involves an element of risk as a necessary part of human development that, prior to the 1970's, was typically denied to people with disabilities and mental illness. Wolfensberger and his colleagues (1972) described the denial of the dignity of risk as deleterious to of the rights of people with disabilities and mental illness to develop to their full potential and as one of the ways in which full participation in society was denied to a population forced to live a permanently infantalized existence.

When I first learned about the dignity of risk, I instantly thought of this as one of the important features of my childhood. My mother was a single, working mum who actively participated in politics and social justice issues and my brother and I spent many, many hours playing unsupervised in the bush. We built things using actual tools, we went on exploratory expeditions far from home, we tested our physical capacities and the properties of the objects in our environment. We fell off trampolines, were bitten by stinging insects, got lost, and fell when tree branches proved not strong enough to support a rope swing. We climbed on the roof of our house, and Mum would yell up to us, "Walk on the bolts!". We grew up tough, independent, and learned to make better choices. We could have broken bones, but we didn't. We could have been bitten by snakes, but we weren't. I started to wonder why more things didn't go catastrophically wrong for us.

The conclusion I have come to is that we learned to make good choices. We avoided going into places that looked very likely to conceal snakes, and made a lot of noise. We learned to test our constructions before expecting them to support our body weight. We would still put the hose and a bottle of dishwashing liquid on the trampoline, but we didn't go as close to the edge, remembering that time one of us had had a leg disappear between the springs.

Children, as they grow, deserve the opportunity to develop the faith in themselves as makers of good choices. They need to be trusted to take care of their own safety to learn to take responsibility for their decisions, and can only do this if we allow the possibility for a poor choice to be present. Because they are children, of course, they need some boundaries within which they make their choices; we need to compensate, assist them and scaffold their emerging capacities for predictive thinking, inductive reasoning and impulse control, but we can also watch these capacities thrive when they are given the opportunities to exercise, strengthen and practice them.

Safety culture.

It can be hard for parents to balance their belief that risks are healthy for development with their desire to keep their children from being harmed. While a majority of mothers understand the need for children to engage in risky play, a much smaller proportion are able to allow their children to engage in risky play without intervening (Little, 2015).

Brussoni et al (2012) describe an approach to safety that eliminates sources of harm that are not obvious to children, but does not eliminate all risks. They argue that it is important to allow children to recognise and evaluate the challenges of a situation, and to form a plan of action that is not dangerous, but that still involves an element of risk. This means that we do not allow children to be in situations that are truly dangerous, or tolerate hazards that have a high likelihood of causing harm or even a very low likelihood of causing very serious harm, but that we teach children how to observe what risks are present, and how to choose a plan of action which ensures that they will be safe.

In the circus, this approach is an intrinsic part of our safety culture. Circus has an intimate association with risk, and every circus artist develops and maintains their own relationship with the risks they engage with. Safety culture is a fluid, constantly-evolving conversation between artists in which risks are identified, hazards are controlled, and safety is cultivated through all of our collective experiences and shared knowledge.

This is why it is critical that circus artists remain strongly and closely connected with the broader circus community. Safety-conscious students and parents should make sure the teachers they learn from are connected members of the circus community, and have experience working in circus companies or circus schools, rather than self-taught and operating in isolation, unable to benefit from and contribute to circus safety culture.

In “Why Circus Works”, the great Reg Bolton stated that “circus is intrinsically a process of risk management” (2004, p. 189). We at CirQuest believe we have an important role in teaching our students and community about risk as something we can manage in a variety of ways, and which we don’t necessarily have to avoid, isolate or eliminate. We believe that managing and navigating risks is part of learning respect for ourselves and our environment, and that it is an important part of development to recognise and cohabit with risks with care and respect.

In a world where there are no exposed corners, rough surfaces, or sharp edges, there are no consequences for behaving in a careless way, and the individual has no responsibility for their own safety. That is not what the world in which we live as adults is like, and a childhood in such an environment would do a poor job of preparing us for the real world.

Children need risk to thrive, and that is why they seek risk through play. To deprive children of risk in the aim of making them safer may indeed place them in more danger.

To quote my dear friend Theaker von Ziarno: “Live with care, not in fear.”

References:

Bolton, R. (2004) Why Circus Works: How the values and structures of circus make it a significant

developmental experience for young people. http://www.regbolton.org/why-circus-works-reg-bolton

Brussoni, M., Olsen, L., Pike, I. and Sleet, D. (2012) Risky play and children’s safety: Balancing priorities for optimal child development. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 9 pp. 3134-3148.

Gray, P. (2011) The decline of play and the rise of psychopathology in children and adolescents. American Journal of Play 3(4) pp. 443-463.

Little, H. (2015) Mothers’ beliefs about risk and risk-taking in children’s outdoor play. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning 15(1) pp. 24-39.

O’Connor, C. and Stagnitti, K. (2011) Play, behaviour, language and social skills: The comparison of a play and a non-play intervention within a specialist school setting. Research in Developmental Disabilities 32(3) pp. 1205-1211.

Sandseter, E. and Kennair, L. (2011) Children’s risky play from an evolutionary perspective: The anti-phobic effects of thrilling experiences. Evolutionary Psychology 9(2) pp. 257-284.

Stagnitti, K. and Unsworth, C. (2000) The importance of pretend play in child development: An occupational therapy perspective. British Journal of Occupational Therapy 63(3) pp. 121-127.

van Rooijen M. and Newstead, S. (2017) Influencing factors on professional attitudes towards risk-taking in children’s play: a narrative review. Early Child Development and Care 187(5-6) pp. 946-957.

Wolfensberger, W., Nirje, B., Olshansky, S., Perske, R. and Roos, P. (1972) The Principle of Normalization In Human Services. Books: Wolfensberger Collection. 1. http://digitalcommons.unmc.edu/wolf_books/1

Only 19% of Australian children get as much physical activity as is recommended. That's the shocking finding of Active Healthy Kids Australia, a research initiative established by the University of South Australia in partnership with the Heart Foundation as part of the Active Healthy Kids Global Initiative. "Wow", I say, but also, "Oh, that's why..."

Why early childhood is such an important time for physical activity.

The benefits of being active for young children include:

Healthy growth and developmentImproving sleepBuilding strong bones and musclesHelping to establish connections between different parts of the brainImproving balance, co-ordination and strengthDevelopment of gross and fine motor skillsImproving concentration and thinking skillsImproving postureImproving confidence and self-esteemMaintaining and developing flexibilityProviding opportunities to develop social skillsImproving cardiovascular fitness and helping to achieve and maintain healthy weight

(Health Department of NSW)

That's important, but it's not the whole picture.

The early childhood years (age 2-5) are a time when children perceive their abilities to be quite high, and this is a critical period for the development of not only motor skills, but also self-concept. It is at this time that they develop many of the fundamental movement skills that are prerequisites for the later development of more sophisticated movement skills, as well as a sense of their own capabilities.

Studies have shown an association between kids’ activity levels and their ability to manage their own behaviour and to get along with others, and physical activity has also been shown to improve children’s concentration and attention.

In addition to low levels of physical fitness, the Australian Healthy Kids Australia Report Card in 2016 found that the motor proficiency of children in year 6 was very poor, with as few as 5% of boys and 7% of girls demonstrating mastery of some age-appropriate fundamental movement skills, and the highest level of proficiency in any one skill being 51% (girls, performing a side-gallop). The correlation between low levels of activity and poor physical literacy cannot simply be a coincidence.

Studies have shown that kids who are more physically active in early childhood are more likely to be physically active in later years (Telama et al, 2014; Jones et al, 2013). It’s partly because the habit of physical activity is established in the family, but also because the confidence and skill development that occurs in these early years enables children to more confidently engage in physical activity as they grow (Wrotniak et al, 2006). Physical literacy is one of the strongest factors in the enjoyment of and engagement in physical activity in later childhood and adolescence (AHKA, 2016), so engaging children in physical activity when they are young is critical for their lifelong physical health and psychosocial wellbeing.

Physical activity in childhood is predictive of physical activity, fitness and overall wellbeing in adulthood (Telama et al, 2014, Timmons et al, 2012). It is also very important that children maintain physical activity through adolescence, as this is a huge factor in whether they remain physically active as adults (Janz, Dawson and Mahoney, 2000).

How much physical activity to children really need?

School-aged children should have at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day, including activities that make them “huff and puff”, and should have physical activity at least 3 times a week that builds strength in their muscles and bones (AHKA 2014; Department of Health and Aging, 2014; Jones et al, 2013; Strong et al, 2005). For younger children, physical activity recommendations are much higher, at least 3 hours per day every day, which is broken up into shorter sessions throughout the day (AHKA, 2014; Department of Health and Aging, 2014(2)).

Is sport enough?

Most Australian kids play sport, but there are a number of reasons why participation in sport may not give kids the physical activity they need. When all the time spent listening to instructions, waiting for turns, or discussing tactics is assessed, as little of 50% of the time spent at sports training may be spent being physically active (AHKA, 2014).

The competitive nature of sport can be a huge barrier to participation among children. Active Healthy Kids Australia (2014) advocates strongly for the need for a wide variety of different opportunities to engage in physical activity to be available to children, including sport, active recreation, and the performing arts, but also advocates that children need to be encouraged to be more active outside structured activity.

Physical activity in childhood needs to include both structured, intentionally-taught, and unstructured, spontaneous activity (NSW Department of Health, 2017), and the decline in physical activity parallels the decline in opportunities for play in general which is a matter of great concern among early childhood health professionals.

How can our children get more physically active?

Increasing curriculum pressures on school teachers, and the risk-averse culture that has led to the removal of lots of risks from the playground, have resulted in children getting less physical activity at school. In addition, the availability and attractiveness of sedentary pursuits, such as the use of electronic devices, the tendency for kids to be supervised at all times, and the disappearance of the great Australian backyard from suburban landscapes, are all contributing factors.

After school programs can help provide children with the physical activity they need (Beets et al, 2013), but not all after-school activities are as beneficial as they could be. Active Healthy Kids Australia (2014) cites that the amount of time spent actually moving during sport training sessions and competitions may be as low as 50% of the total time spent "doing" sport, and recommends that coaches and organizations should ensure that physical activity providers maximise the time children spend being physically active.

This is something we at CirQuest pride ourselves on. We reduce the time children spend waiting for their turns by giving them lots of things to do. We keep our classes small and our student:teacher ratios low, so that children can spend more of the time they are in our classes doing physical activity. We use circuits and other innovative equipment set-ups to keep kids moving and learning as much as possible, and use lots of different ways of giving instructions to reduce the time kids spend listening to verbal instructions. We engage the children in instrumental tasks, such as setting up and packing away, which not only keeps them moving, but also builds a sense of their contribution to the team and responsibility for their environment. CirQuest is an industry leader in this area.

In addition to engaging in organized physical activity, it is imperative that our community encourage, support and facilitate the incorporation of more physical activity throughout their everyday activities. Ways to do this include using active transport to and from school, sporting commitments or social engagements; providing opportunities to be active both indoors and outdoors in an unstructured environment at both school and home; participating in household chores. and breaking up long periods of time that they are sedentary, including limiting the amount of time that children and young people are engaged in using electronic media (AHKA, 2014).

Unstructured active play is a critical element in kids’ development of motor skills and physical literacy (AHKA, 2016). At CirQuest, we see a lot of children who do not know what to do when given time for unstructured activity. We encourage kids to learn how to occupy themselves in free time by providing stimulating equipment, a social environment, and supervision when required to ensure that play does not become inappropriate for the setting. We also model and participate in active play, support children to use verbal communication to collaborate with peers, and involve children in the planning and set-up of play experiences. We believe this may have a positive impact on how children use their unstructured play time at home and at school.

Would you like some ideas for gross motor play activities you can do with your preschooler or toddler at home? We've compiled a list of 31 of our favourites - that's one a day for a whole month of play!

Click here to get your copy of 31 Great Gross Motor Play Ideas.

Circus is a fantastic physical activity to complement kids' activity through sport, at school, at home and in other places in the community. Circus may be more accessible to children who don't like competitive sport, and is also very rewarding for those who do, and helps children develop their fundamental movement skills and their confidence and self-concept in unique and powerful ways. At CirQuest, we know kids and we are experts in how to ensure kids get the most out of their circus classes.

To find out more about CirQuest's classes for kids, click here!

If you would like to find out more about how Australian kids’ levels of physical activity compare to the global context, and how you can get your kids more active, check out some of the links in the source texts list.

Physical activity in childhood source texts:

Active Healthy Kids Australia (2014). Is Sport Enough? The 2014 Active Healthy Kids Australia Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Young People. Adelaide, South Australia: Active Healthy Kids Australia. https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/images/uploads/publications/ahka_reportcard_longform.pdf

Active Healthy Kids Australia (2016). Physical Literacy: Do Our Kids Have All the Tools? The 2016 Active Healthy Kids Australia Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Young People. Adelaide, South Australia: Active Healthy Kids Australia. http://dx.doi.org/10.4226/78/57AAD6BD49165

Becker, D., McClelland, M., Loprinzi, P. and Trost, P. (2014) Physical Activity, Self-Regulation, and Early Academic Achievement in Preschool Children Early Education and Development 25(1) http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2013.780505

Beets, M., Beight, A., Erwin, H. and Hubert, J. (2009) After-School Program Impact on Physical Activity and Fitness: A Meta-Analysis. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 36(6) pp.527-537.

Department of Health NSW (2017) https://www.healthykids.nsw.gov.au/teachers-childcare/physical-activity.aspx

Department of Health and Aging (2014) Make Your Move - Sit less - Be active for life! National physical activity recommendations for children aged 5-12. http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/F01F92328EDADA5BCA257BF0001E720D/$File/brochure%20PA%20Guidelines_A5_5-12yrs.PDF

Department of Health and Aging (2014) Move and Play Every Day: National physical activity recommendations for children aged 0-5 http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/F01F92328EDADA5BCA257BF0001E720D/$File/Move%20and%20play%20every%20day%200-5yrs.PDF

Hinkley, T., Teychenne, M., Downing, K., Ball, K., Salmon, J. and Hesketh, K. (2014) Early childhood physical activity, sedentary behaviors and psychosocial well-being: A systematic review. Preventive Medicine 62 pp. 182-192

Janz, K., Dawson, J. and Mahoney, L. (2000) Tracking physical fitness and physical activity from childhood to adolescence: the Muscatine study. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 2000.pp.1250-1257.

Jones, R., Hinkley, T., Okely, A. and Salmon, J. (2013) Tracking Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in Childhood: A Systematic Review. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 44(6) pp.651-658. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2013.03.001

Lobo, Y. B. and Winsler, A. (2006), The Effects of a Creative Dance and Movement Program on the Social Competence of Head Start Preschoolers. Social Development 15 pp.501–519. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9507.2006.00353.x

Palmer, K., Miller, M. and Robinson, L. (2013) Acute exercise enhances preschoolers' ability to sustain attention. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 35(4) pp. 433-7.

Strong, W., Malina, R., Blimkie, C., Daniels, S., Dishman, R., Gutin, B., Hergenroeder, A., Must, A., Nixon, P., Piyarnik, J., Rowland, R., Trost, S. and Trudeau, F. (2005). Evidence Based Physical Activity for School-age Youth. The Journal of Pediatrics 146(6) pp.732-737.

Telama, R., Yang, X., Leskinen, E., Kankaanpaa, A., Hirvensalo, M., Tammelin, T., Viikari, J. and Raitakari, O. (2014) Tracking of Physical Activity from Early Childhood through Youth into Adulthood Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 2014 pp. 955-962.

Timmons, B., LeBlanc, A., Carson, V., Connor Gorber, S., Dillman, C., Janssen, I., Kho, M., Spence, J., Stearns, J. and Tremblay, M. (2012) Systematic review of physical activity and health in the early years (aged 0–4 years) Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism 37 pp.773-792.

Wrotniak, B., Epstein, L., Dorn, J., Jones, K. and Kondilis, V. (2006) The Relationship Between Motor Proficiency and Physical Activity in Children. Pediatrics 118(6).

Starting school is a huge step for children and, understandably, one that many parents approach with some trepidation. After all, there is only one chance to make a great first impression, and we all want every child’s first experience of school to be a delightful one, setting them up for a love of learning we hope will be life-long.

What is school readiness?

It may be a relief to many parents researching what skills are necessary for a child to have to make a successful transition to school that the most important skills are not things like knowing how to count objects or how to write their name. These academic skills are taught in school and it’s not necessary for children to already have these skills when they start. So forget the flashcards!

It is more important for their child to have good social skills and to be a confident learner to set the foundations for a lifetime of learning. Social skills, like sharing, taking turns, playing together and waiting for each other are skills that can only be learned through interacting with other children. These skills are developed through your child’s relationship with you, and are then generalised to other people through play-dates and other social interactions.

Taking these skills into a large group of children with fewer adults per child present requires a whole new level of social skills. To participate at school, children need “to be able to get along with other children, cope with stress of new situation and new learning tasks, have healthy assertiveness, ability to play solo and with other children, have pro-social behaviour, and cope with being in a large group with minimal adult contact”, writes early childhood specialist (and personal hero of mine), Maggie Dent.

Self-care skills are essential for successful transition to school as well. Children need to be able to go to the toilet independently in a strange new place, manage their own clothing, and to do things like open their own lunchbox and unwrap their own food. The fine motor skills required for these tasks are far more important than knowing how to hold a pencil, and are precursors for the development of pencil grip that is more developmentally-appropriate at a later age anyway.

The classroom environment places huge demands on the young child’s concentration, attention and emotional regulation. When we think of these as learned skills, rather than inborn attributes, we are able to provide children with opportunities to learn these skills through organic practice during activities that are inherently motivating.

Gross motor skills, such as postural endurance to sit upright for a whole school day, are also very important because they can impact on a child’s ability to engage with classroom activities, and to play with other children at break times.

Why school readiness is important.

Children who are ready for school are more likely to

Feel comfortable and relaxedBe motivated to learnForm friendshipsFeel excited about going to schoolDevelop a sense of belonging to the school and feel valued

This means that children who start school when they are ready are less likely to experience anxiety and stress, and to be happier and healthier. Not only that, it’s important for their academic development that they have these critical skills for success. ”Children who already have these foundation skills prior to entering school advance more quickly, because they are ready for the school environment and are able to build on the skills they already have, rather than begin the process of school readiness”, according to Dockett & Perry (2014).

Fortunately, thanks to the excellent work of a team of people including the very inspiring Maggie Dent (did I mention I am a fan?), there have been recent changes to the regulations determining how children may be exempted from the compulsory school starting age if they are not ready. This is so important because there is huge variation in the development of children which should not be unduly pathologized when they are still so little. So if your child is not ready for school even though they are nearing the starting age, don’t panic, and don’t break out the flashcards. We all develop at different rates and many children who are not ready for school by age 4 or 5 have excellent academic outcomes, because they catch up.

What develops school readiness?

There’s not much point starting jumping lessons early while a frog is still a tadpole. No matter how beautifully a tadpole is taught, no matter how much praise or motivation the tadpole has, it’s not going to become a frog that is the best at jumping by being introduced to jumping before it has legs. It can actually be harmful to introduce academic skills when your child does not yet have the capacity to learn them, because trying to do something that is just too hard is very discouraging.

Here are the things the experts recommend for developing school readiness:

Reading to your childEncouraging your child to gradually become more independent in their self-careExposure to lots of different environments, and different sensory experiencesExposure to other children in groups of different sizesGross motor activity, andPlaying and pretending

It’s a really big jump from playing with a few children at the park with you, or having play-dates at home with a few children, to being in a classroom of up to 30 children. It’s also a very big jump to go from short activity sessions to being engaged and learning for a full school day. There are lots of different activities that you can do regularly to build your child’s social skills, fatigue tolerance, self-regulation and willingness to be formally taught, such as story times at the library, concerts and music activities, dance classes and outings to museums and natural environments.

If you'd like to find out about CirQuest Circus's Busy Bodies program for preschoolers and toddlers, check out the Early Childhood page on our website, or my earlier article in this blog,

Let’s not rush children into school before they are ready, but also let’s not hothouse children thinking that if we start teaching them coding or cursive script at two, that they’ll develop precocious abilities. Life is not a race, and the shortest distance between two points is not the only way to link them.

References:

Centre for Community Child Health (2008) Policy Brief No 10 2008: Rethinking School Readiness The Royal Children’s Hospital Flemington Road PARKVILLE 3052 Victoria Australia www.rch.org.au/ccch/policybriefs.cfm

Centre for Community Child Health. (2005). School Readiness. Parent Information. The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne.

Child and Youth Health. (2008). Starting School. http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/ HealthTopicDetails.aspx?p=114&np=122&id=1770

Connor, J., & Linke, P. (2007). Your Child’s First Year at School: A Book for Parents. Watson, ACT: Early Childhood Australia.

Dent, Maggie (2012) Is your child ready to start school? https://www.maggiedent.com/blog/your-child-ready-school/

Dent, Maggie (2017) Important information re starting age for pre-primary in WA https://www.maggiedent.com/blog/important-information-re-school-starting-age-wa/

Department of Education and Training. (2008). Preparing for Kindergarten. Retrieved March 11, 2008 from http:// www.schools.nsw.edu.au/gotoschool/primary/prepareforkindi.php NSW

Department of Education and Training. (2008). Starting School. Retrieved March 11, 2008 from http://www.schools. nsw.edu.au/gotoschool/primary/startingschool.php

Dockett, S. & Perry, B. (2014). Continuity of Learning: A resource to support effective transition to school and school age care. Canberra, ACT: Australian Government Department of Education.

Dockett, S. & Perry, B. (2001). Starting School: Effective Transitions. Early Childhood Research in Practice, Vol 3 No 2 Fall 2001.

Owens, A. (2008). Family Factsheet: Transition to School. Retrieved March 13, 2008 from http://www.ncac.gov.au/factsheets/ transition.pdf

Sutherland, K. (2008). First day jitters. Rattler, 75, 16 - 19.

Tansey, S. (2006). School’s In. Childcare Australasia, Vol 2 No 4 November 2006.

Busy Bodies is a gross motor activity program CirQuest Circus has developed collaboratively with our experienced early childhood circus teachers and myself, CirQuest director and an occupational therapist. The curriculum has been specifically designed to include tasks which build the skills required for school.

We don’t just teach gross motor skills, but also verbal communication skills like understanding receptive communication, active listening, and expressive communication, as well as the fundamental skills required for formal education such as following instructions, watching a demonstration, and taking turns. These skills are taught in a gradual, progressive way, not all at once though!

Our program is strongly informed by the theory of sensorimotor adaptation (Gilfoyle, Grady and Moore, 1990). This theory is developed on the fundamental principle that children are driven to explore movement and their environment. Children encounter challenges which their existing skills are not yet adequate to overcome, which causes them to adapt to the new challenge and develop a new level of skill. This theory informs our whole program and the way in which we teach all the activities it includes. We present opportunities to explore and develop and the children make the most of those opportunities. The art and skill of the teachers is evident just as much in what we don’t do and say as it is in what we do.

Pretending is a massive part of every lesson and the development of pretend play skills is an area of focus of our Busy Bodies program. Pretend play is predictive of the later development of communication, literacy, social cognition, abstract reasoning, problem-solving and planning skills. Pretending in play has an important function for mental health as well, as when children play the roles and stories they see in real life, they process these in a way that enables them to make sense of what they see. It’s also one of the best ways to make the repetition and practice that is needed for motor skill acquisition more fun and engaging, for children and adults alike.

Waiting is a skill! It has to be explicitly taught and practiced. A huge part of our Busy Bodies program is concerned with teaching children how to wait and our teachers draw on extensive experience to make sure that children are challenged to wait just the right amount that each child needs to develop this skill further.

Another huge part of our program is the development of core strength and endurance. In a world of soft furnishings, comfortable couches, more time spent sitting, lots of devices, and smaller backyards, children are 15% less physically active than their parents were at the same age. This has huge ramifications for postural tone, and the majority of the activities in our Busy Bodies classes which may appear to be “just for fun” are actually devised to develop children’s postural muscles to facilitate better endurance.

Our program is designed to develop these skills in a spiralling continuum and a gentle progression in which the child has lots of choices. It’s developmentally-appropriate for children who are aged 2-4 years to do a lot of refusing and protesting. This is important for them to learn to be assertive. Usually the best way to handle this stage is to allow them choices when appropriate, respect their decision when you can, and assert boundaries when refusing or protesting is not acceptable. We find this stage usually passes much faster this way.

Verbal comprehension, working memory, and sequencing are all developed through specific tasks as well as incidentally throughout the lessons as part of other activities. Academic skills like colour recognition and counting are also incidental to other tasks; we use counting as a way of teaching children to pace themselves and self-regulate, rather than focusing on teaching number, and colours are used as a way to vary activities and stimulate motivation rather than taught by rote.

It is now broadly recognised that the best activities to promote school readiness in the community are early childhood programs that provide opportunities for family involvement, rather than childcare settings where parents do not participate. When you join in alongside your child, you have a wonderful opportunity to model learning and social behaviour, to provide additional scaffolding as required by your child to better ensure their successful learning, and to learn some of the tricks and tips that experienced teachers of young children need to have in their toolkit and that many parents find so useful.

We’ve learned from the Circle of Security program that the best way to promote independence in young children is to provide opportunities to explore the social and physical environment while maintaining access to the safe base that is the unconditional acceptance of their primary caregiver. So our Busy Bodies program supports and encourages the development of children’s independence with you, to enable the two of you to gradually navigate your young child’s moving out into the world and forging their own identity as a social being.

Playing alongside your child is a delightful way to learn together, and enables parents to take a break from being in charge and thinking about meeting the child’s, and the family’s, basic and instrumental needs. You can relax and enjoy the play and be totally present in the game, knowing that our lovely teachers are looking after the boundaries for safety, time-management and programming. You’ll also experience being a part of a community of parents and children who are motivated by the same thing as you.

To find out more about our Busy Bodies classes, click here.

Get our free resource, "31 Great Gross Motor Play Ideas" so you can infuse some learning through play into every day for a whole month!

References and further reading about school readiness:

Centre for Community Child Health (2008) Policy Brief No 10 2008: Rethinking School Readiness The Royal Children’s Hospital Flemington Road PARKVILLE 3052 Victoria Australia www.rch.org.au/ccch/policybriefs.cfm

Connor, J., & Linke, P. (2007). Your Child’s First Year at School: A Book for Parents. Watson, ACT: Early Childhood Australia.

Dent, Maggie (2012) Is your child ready to start school? https://www.maggiedent.com/blog/your-child-ready-school/

Dockett, S. & Perry, B. (2014). Continuity of Learning: A resource to support effective transition to school and school age care. Canberra, ACT: Australian Government Department of Education.

Gilfoyle, E., Grady, A. and Moore, J. (1990) Children Adapt: A theory of sensorimotor-sensory developmemt. SLACK Inc, Thorofare USA.

Owens, A. (2008). Family Factsheet: Transition to School. Retrieved from http://www.ncac.gov.au/factsheets/ transition.pdf

Powell, B., Cooper, G., Hoffman, K. and Marvin, R. (2013) The Circle of Security Intervention Guilford Publications, USA.

Stagnitti, K. (1998) Learn to Play: A Practical Program to Develop a Childs Imaginative Play. Co-ordinates Occupational Therapy Service, Melbourne.