A child's first day at kindergarten is a milestone moment.
The transition can be emotionally and socially challenging, particularly for children from refugee backgrounds.
But specialised bilingual playgroups are helping families launch into the education system.
Phillippa Carisbrooke reports.
A dozen Burmese Chin refugees, aged four and under, are learning classic children's songs with their mothers.
Oi Deung is all smiles.
She starts kindergarten in February.
Her mother, Ling Ling, says she and her daughter are looking forward to the next momentous stage in the family's settlement.
(Translated)"I'm happy. Also, my child is very happy. We are excited about it."
The family has been attending a cultural- and linguistic-specific playgroup at Braybrook, in Melbourne's west, which helps new arrivals prepare for kindergarten.
The organiser, VICSEG, runs 30 such groups, supporting families from Burmese, Arabic, Persian, Vietnamese and Hindi-speaking communities, among others.
Playgroup area coordinator Jackie McWilliam says some parents do not know what kindergarten is.
"Some families might not have actually been to school themselves, so the concepts of playgroup and kindergarten are quite foreign to them. So it's really useful to start off in a playgroup setting, so that they can learn from others about what the education system in Australia looks like."
(Teacher:) "Who will go to kinder next year? Please put your hand up." (Kids:) "Me, me."
A bicultural family mentor named Nguri says the playgroups offer new arrivals a taste of what is to come without being intimidating.
"No one will dare to go to a multicultural playgroup, because, when you don't speak English, then everything is so frightening and (such a) scary thing to do."
Practical issues ranging from how to enrol to what to pack in a lunchbox are covered.
Families get to practise English and learn about the routine at kindergarten.
"Like in the playgoup at singing time, you must come together. Or at playtime, you play. And then when there is food time, you all sit and eat and, like, wash hands."
Playgroup Australia is a national body representing playgroups.
General manager Vivenne Cunningham-Smith says playgroup is one of the only platforms in the zero to 3 age group that gets parents and children learning together.
"Parents gain confidence. They gain an understanding of why play is so important for their children. But they also are in relationship with their children in a really positive way. And the evidence is clear that that's all the things that children need as the foundation for successful lifelong learning."
With each new wave of refugees, demand for cultural- and linguistic-specific playgroups increases.
In 2016, services are expecting a surge in demand from families from Syria and Iraq.
