by Belinda Bray
Director of Wellbeing

Do you have a little one starting Prep? We have lots of tips and advice for you to have a good start to the year.
Beck Cameron is pretty famous around our campus, she is the wife of our Lead Pastor, Doug, she is the mum of Max and Judah, she is a great photographer and she is part of our campus media team. She is also getting ready to welcome baby number three!
Beck’s oldest son Max went through Prep recently and there second son, Judah is in Kindy, so they are in the thick of the early years of school. Beck has lots of advice and has hints and tips for getting ready for Prep and also how to thrive through the first few weeks of the year.
There are four easy things parents can do to get ready for the school year for a Preppie:
1. Being Ready
– Having a morning routine is really helpful. Beck says she has a chart with the steps to getting ready: Breakfast, Hair and teeth then uniform. Beck says that this helps her children to be independent and to have some ownership of their school day.
– It is good to get to school at least 10 minutes before the bell. This gives you time to settle in and not be rushed to say goodbye to you too quickly.
2. Uniforms
– Beck says that buying uniforms when you need them is a good idea, rather than buying them a few sizes too big too soon.
– Uniforms should be just a little bit bigger than needed, rather than too big. Children should be able to run and play comfortably in their uniforms.
– When buying shoes, it is also good to not buy them too big, again,

3. Bags – what is the right size? Do we want batman bags? Etc.
4. Lunchboxes – must be easy to open. Check with your school about the use of cling film etc? Have one that matches what your children like to eat…

5. What goes IN a lunchbox? Got some good tips? Maybe we could talk about the things our kids like to eat and stuff…
6. Labelling everything – what have you found to be the best way to label clothes and books and things?
7. Extra-curricular – when do you start that stuff?

Quick tips for day 1:
1. Be on time
2. Make after school a bit special with an afternoon treat and some time to debrief about the dya
3. Enjoyment is key – don’t worry too much about academics

Thank Beck… wish her well
Remind viewers to leave comments or questions
Any topics you would like us to discuss – just ask!