Laying a strong foundation for primary school education

preschool singapore expert

A strong foundation is needed when you child goes off to primary school, here is how you can help your child lay a strong foundation

How to lay a strong foundation for primary school education?

Primary school is the stage where your child is faced with various challenges and needs your help to guide them to overcome the challenge. Building a strong foundation for primary school includes the development of character and life skills. It is important for your child to learn such concepts so that it can serve them well when they grow older. You can provide your child with the necessary help to lay a foundation before he goes off to primary school.


1. Attendance

Missing school means missing instructions and knowledge to move on to the next lesson. Attendance is very important to make sure your child develops the academic standards the school needs.

You can ensure your child’s attendance meets up with the school criteria so that he can keep up with school. This can be done so by talking to your child to make sure that he understands the importance of school and also making sure that he goes to school everyday.

2. Staying on track

It is important for your child to stay on track in school so that he does not fall behind subjects hence a strong educational foundation is important for your child so that they don't struggle throughout their academic career.

If your child is struggling with basic foundations such as reading, it can be very difficult to carry on in other subjects such as reading a mathematical problem. You can help your child by figuring out the areas that he is weak in. For example, if he is weak in reading, you can help your child by reading books together with him so that you can get a hold and correct his pronunciation at the same time.

3. Communication Skill

Communication skill is very important for your child to communicate with their teachers and classmates. It also helps your child to share what he has learnt, be it in a group or individually.

You can help your child to improve in this area by asking about your child’s day. This way your child will try to express themselves and allow them to develop their conversational ability and talk more enthusiastically at the same time.

4. Organisational skill

Organisational skill is important so that your child can keep track of assignments and homework so he would not fall behind. Without being organised, your child may forget about his homework and will have nothing in school the next day.

You can help your child develop organisational skills by keeping a “to-do” list. This can help your child to remember the tasks assigned by the school such as homework and other activities.

5. Confidence

Confidence is the key to success as it plays a huge part in learning. Research has shown that self-confidence will affect your performance. This means that the more your child believes that he can do something, the more he is able to perform better.

You can help your child boost his confidence by practising positive talk. Instead of always criticising your child on his actions, you can instead tell your child what he did wrong and how he can do better the next time. Allow your child to know to understand how he can do better instead of destroying his confidence in trying again. 

6. Attention Span


Being able to concentrate for a good amount of time is a vital skill in classroom learning. Experts have said that the timing of the child’s attention span should be 3 to 5 minutes times the child’s age. Hence a child entering primary school should have the attention span of 21 to 35 minutes or more.

If you find your child to be lacking in this area, you can help increase your child’s attention span by practising attentive behaviour. You can do so by using a timer and have your child focusing on an object, discussing or an activity for a few minutes. This can help your child to increase his attention span overtime.

During kindergarten, it is a child’s formative years thus it would be easier to lay out a strong foundation at this time with the help of their parents. Therefore, it is important that parents allow their child to have the time and space to lay out such a foundation before they enter primary school.

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