Designed as a way to ensure a smooth transition for local third graders, the Parent-Teacher Association at Wentworth School in Scarborough is holding a pre-first day of school party next week.

The goal of the first-ever Third Grade Playground Social is to provide an opportunity for the students to meet and mingle with their classmates and to make new friends before school gets under way on Sept. 1.

The event, which will be held from 6-7 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 25, is free and open to all incoming third graders and their families and will include an ice cream treat and a demonstration by the Gym Dandies Children’s Circus.

Linda Faber-Shields, president of the Wentworth PTA, said each student in attendance would be given a color-coded name tag to indicate which learning community they’ve been assigned to for the school year. In addition to their name, the tags will also include the classroom teacher’s name.

“Our hope is that students will meet new friends, who will be in their same class or learning community (and that) this will ease any anxiety about entering a new and larger school,” Faber-Shields said.

She said the PTA came up with the playground social because “it’s important that the new families to the Wentworth community have a smooth transition and get excited (about making) new friends along the way.”

In Scarborough the school district is made up of six schools, three of those schools – Eight Corners, Blue Point and Pleasant Hill – house students in kindergarten through second grade.

It’s only when the students reach Wentworth School, which caters to students in grades 3-5, that they’re thrown together with all of their peers.

Overall, Faber-Shields said the school department is expecting about 200 third graders for the new school year.

Kelli Crosby, the principal at Wentworth School, said, “We are thrilled that the PTA is offering this playground social for incoming third-grade students. It not only gives students the opportunity to explore our fabulous playground, but also to meet peers in their class and learning community and hopefully shake off some nerves.”

She said that school administrators worked with the PTA “to brainstorm ideas about how to welcome our incoming third graders” this past spring.

Along with the playground social, Wentworth also held a parent information night and school tour before school let out in June. And, in the spring, second graders were also invited to Wentworth to meet school leaders, hear from student ambassadors and enjoy a tour.

In all, Crosby said, “We have worked hard to support a smooth transition to Wentworth from the three smaller community primary schools. The opportunity to meet up with friends on the playground before school begins nicely rounds out the transition activities.”

In addition to the upcoming playground social, Crosby and John Thurlow, the assistant principal at Wentworth, will also be sending out a Family Newsletter next week “to welcome back all of our students and provide important information to our families.”

Farber-Shields said the PTA “expects this playground social to become an annual event to ease the transition for new students” to Wentworth.

A brand new, $39.1 million Wentworth School opened last fall after four years of construction and many years of discussion in the community about the best way to replace the former school, which was built in 1962 as Scarborough’s first junior high school.

Covering 172,610 square feet, the new school was built to house as many as 900 students and each classroom wing includes lockers for student use, a small group gathering space at the end of each hallway and a special classroom and lab dedicated to science, technology, engineering and math instruction.

In addition to a playground, the school site features a playing field, garden and a large gym and cafeteria, which feature a shared stage. There is also space dedicated to art and music instruction, as well as a modern school library, called a learning commons.

Next week, incoming third graders in Scarborough will have the chance to meet and mingle before school starts with the first-ever Third Grade Playground Social. File photo