ABSTRACT
Starting school at the age of 5 is daunting. Whatever their previous pre-school experience — nursery, playgroup, four-plus unit — for most children the move into statutory schooling requires the most formidable readjustment. It is a time of considerable stress which parents and teachers attempt to buffer in a variety of thoughtful ways. Becoming a pupil, entering the new culture of the school, means learning new patterns of behaviour, developing new expectations and relationships (Willes 1983). Adult intervention in this process tends to focus on the child's role as a member of a new community which is predominantly concerned with the child's development as a learner. The demands are predictable, the process well-structured. Parents and teachers consciously mediate this process, ensuring as easy a transition into the new culture as possible. In this brief study, I want to explore the possibility that the children themselves have a means of negotiating this particular status passage that is often overlooked.
