Supporting Transition into School

Hello everyone and Happy New Year! I hope you managed to enjoy some time off over the festive period.

As you will know, registration for school happens this month. The new academic year seems like a long time away but this time can be full of anxiety and worry as well as excitement for children and families.

There can often be conversations around the view that children need to be “prepared for school” but it is more important that school is prepared and ready to provide the support and care children require. Children are not going to be able to learn and adapt well to new experiences and a new environment if they do not feel safe and supported.

Many schools have great partnerships with nurseries with robust transition programmes in place so that by the time children are starting school, the environment and some of the people who work in the school are known to the children. This cannot always be the case for a number of reasons but there are lots of things we can do in our early years settings to make the transition easier. The resources, opportunities and experiences we have available for children can often naturally include skills which are useful for starting school.

Involving families in the transition into school helps make it smoother is often key so there are not mixed messages which can add to any existing worry. Talking to children and families about their feelings around starting school is important as it allows you to see where support is needed. For parents, sharing ideas and resources is helpful so they can feel they are doing the right things to support their children. For children, tell them or show them their school, talk about their uniform and why they wear one. Schools often have separate toilets for girls and boys which most nurseries do not have. Children may be used to using paper towels to dry their hands where their school has hand dryers. The idea of a playground where there are boundaries for different year groups may be different for children too. Talk about things that are different from what children are used to at nursery but also letting them know the elements that will remain the same is important too. All these details can be part of conversations with children and with families and can reassure them.

Rachel Turpie

Former Early Years teacher and Employability Facilitator at l&g learning

I spoke with a group of current Early Years Teachers who have worked across Early Level in both nursery and school environments. I asked them what they think is important to know before starting school or what they would suggest are the key things which are useful for children to be able to do before starting school. Here’s what they said:

• Independence- the ability to choose, play and look after their possessions

• Listening through shared conversations and stories

• Development of gross and fine motor skills

• Being able to dress themselves- zips, poppers and velcro rather than buttons and laces are helpful at first

• Being able to recognise when they need to use the bathroom and use the toilet independently including washing and drying hands

• Able to communicate their needs e.g. when they’re unwell, when they need help, when something has happened (can be verbal or through gestures)

• For parents to know there is support there for them too- reach out to nursery and school staff, meeting other parents of children going to school

• For school to be spoken about in a positive way by everyone involved in the transition process- it’s a transition process for families as well as for the children

• More of a focus on health and wellbeing rather than academic abilities

There is an excellent poster created by a company called Nursery Resources which is free to download. It is very useful to share with parents and to use in nursery to make sure there are opportunities for children to work on their skills to make the transition into school more seamless. It is also useful to refer to when talking with families about the possibility of children having a bonus year in nursery instead of going to school.

Am I Ready for School - Free Download

School can sometimes be thought about and discussed in a negative way- “When you go to school, you won’t be allowed to do that”, “your teacher will give you into trouble if you do that”. These are all negative comments which are not going to make the child excited to learn and be confident. We should try to make sure there is less of you can’t do that in school and more of the you get to do this in school! School is just as much about children showing what they can already do as it is about learning new and exciting things.