The Primary Class
A DEVELOPMENTAL POINT OF VIEW
Children come in all shapes and sizes. They look and behave differently. In spite of this, there is a common pattern of growth and development which can be traced from birth to old age. Parents expect that their children will achieve many developmental milestones, such as rolling over for the first time, taking the first steps, or speaking the first word. Each milestone is celebrated and lovingly remembered. Some children do everything according to the book, some take longer, and some skip a few milestones entirely. Overall, however, development follows a fairly predictable course.
Readiness for any task has its roots in the biological and maturational makeup of each child. Parents learn early on that they cannot produce, speed up, or ignore readiness. When children are ready, and only then, will they walk, talk, and achieve other milestones. Most parents know instinctively how best to help their children. They provide a supporting hand under an infant’s head, they give biscuits to teething babies, and a helping hand when the first steps are taken.
This developmental point of view seems to be understood and accepted by adults from the time a child is born until about the age of four or five. At that age, however, we somehow expect children to develop in neat increments of 180 days, or the length of the school year! What about those children who need more time, those who don’t fit into the 180-day time frame?
We realize that no school can match the developmental needs of all children all the time, and that some school stress is inevitable and normal. But when a mismatch between the child’s needs, the program, and the developmental level of the other students is too significant and sustained, the stress can become unhealthy. The unfortunate result is that school becomes an unpleasant experience on a daily basis, and long-term effects such as poor selfesteem and negative attitudes towards learning can result.
To avoid this situation, the Beginning School at OES offers three different classes, allowing a child to spend up to three years, if needed, before moving on to First Grade. The traditional Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten levels begin our program, and an additional grade level, the Primary Class, is available for those children who need more time to become developmentally ready for the challenging academics of the OES First Grade. For over 20 years the Primary Class at OES has done what it was intended to do for hundreds of youngsters: promote each child’s self-esteem and allow each child to have the time he or she needs to develop socially, emotionally, academically, and physically. Because of the individualized reading program, the structure of the daily activities, and the increased amount of one-to-one instruction, the academic performance of most students is enhanced, allowing these children to enter First Grade with confidence.
