Creating a smooth transition to school
Transitions can be difficult for many children and it is important to be aware that some are more vulnerable compared to others. Creating a smooth transition into school is vital to ensuring the child gets the best possible start in their new setting. There are many people involved in the transition process and all need to be updated and work closely together during this time. Practitioners, parents, teachers, teaching assistants and the child themselves are all part of the process. As practitioners, there are many steps which can be taken to aid the transition process. Let’s look at this in more detail by breaking it down to the people who are part of the process.
The Child –
It is the role of the practitioner to help the child to gain a level of understanding about the changes that are about to take place. Preschool is all about preparing the child for starting school however the child will probably be unaware of this. For this reason, routines should be similar to those which will happen in school to create some familiarity with the school day such as registration, circle times and story time.
Closer to the transition time practitioners may choose to add more specific activities to the routine or planning to prepare the children for the transition. Such as talking about new schools, making new friends, new uniforms, reading stories about school, p.e sessions and learning about their teachers. It is a good idea to contact all the schools that the children will be attending and invite the teacher into the setting to meet the children. This will help the children to feel more settled when they start school as there will be a familiar face.
For some activities to support children through a transition such as starting school look here https://uk.pinterest.com/EarlyYrsCareers/supporting-transitions-in-the-early-years/)
The Parent –
For many parents having a child start school will be a completely new experience so they may be feeling anxious about the changes. As a practitioner, you can inform parents about what they might expect in the months before starting school and how they can help their child through the transition.
Holding a parents evening specifically to discuss starting school may be useful so any parents can air their concerns and practitioners can offer any advice and reassurance. Children often pick up on how their parents are feeling so it is important to try and help parents feel as comfortable as possible.
Informing parents of some of the characteristics that will be needed by a child before starting schools such as toileting and dressing is useful. Often many parents will be concerned that their child is not meeting all of the EYFS development outcomes, and it is a good idea to remind parents that children have another year during reception to become secure in all of these outcomes and that the foundation stage continues during the first year of school.
Parents may also feel their child is not ready for school and this is a good time to discuss how reception will be a play based year as it is still in the foundation stage. If teachers are coming in to visit the setting you may also choose to invite the parents in at the same time so they can talk to the teacher about any concerns. There will be other opportunities for parents to meet the teachers within the school if they cannot make the time.
The teacher –
This part is crucial in ensuring that the school are aware of any individual needs of the child and so the teacher has knowledge of where each child is at developmentally in order to plan an appropriate curriculum and support each child. Once you have found out which school each of the children are going to it may be useful to email each school inviting them into the setting to discuss each child.
If you have a child with additional needs or who you have concerns about you may choose to telephone the school and ask to speak to the teacher directly. It may be appropriate at this point to arrange a transition meeting where key worker, parents and teacher can meet and openly discuss a child’s needs, if any other agencies are involved they should also be informed of when the meeting is taking place. After this complete all EYFS documentation to send to the teacher. This should show the teacher exactly what each child is achieving in terms of EYFS outcomes.
Find a copy of a school transfer document here, this document should be completed for each child and contains all of the information a teacher will need in order to effectively plan.