This site is delivered by Worcestershire County Council.

Transition

Information

Communication and interaction: Information and advice on supporting and identifying those who may struggle with communicating and interacting with others.

Transition a parents perspective with top tips from parents who have gone through the process

Ideas to help with transition

Parents from Worcestershire Parent Carers Council kindly shared their experiences, both good and bad, of their child's transition and the impact on the whole family unit.

They detailed the different strategies employed by professionals, and round table discussions produced a range of suggestions that can be utilised in your setting alongside the Transition Toolkit.

  • transition booklets, passports, photo books
  • take it a step further and have child, parents and key worker go to new setting together and take the photos, have a tour and then create the book together
  • key worker to visit the new setting with the child to help settle them in
  • new teacher and SENCO to visit the nursery setting to read or do other fun activities so they become a familiar face and get to interact with the child
  • timetable of transition events for parents
  • extra visits to the school
  • home visits by the new teacher
  • take it a step further and have the key worker attend as well
  • stay and play sessions or a picnic
  • visual timetables send a copy home as well to aid in discussions about what the child is doing at school
  • parent information evenings meet staff, school nurse, and family intervention workers, visit the classrooms
  • invite pupils and teachers to come to nursery to talk about school life
  • involve older siblings at mainstream to support
  • offer a video tour of the new school
  • make sure parents know who they can talk to about concerns
  • careful use of early help website
  • informal coffee mornings for parents or weekly drop in sessions
  • direct SENCO contact with receiving school
  • all professionals to be involved at the same time
  • get parents involved in producing IEP’s – thoroughly explain reasons behind what’s on IEP
  • SENCO from nursery and SENCO from school meeting together
  • take it a step further and have invite the parent to this meeting
  • be clear about staff roles (a SENCO’s role differs in each setting)
  • have a quiet place to talk to parents or visit them at home
  • uniform of new setting in role play area or dressing up box
  • take it a step further and make cushion covers for quiet corner with uniform shirts for feeder schools
  • meet and greet everyday
  • multiagency meetings beforehand
  • all information is passed on so that parents and settings do not have to say the same thing over and over
  • grandparents to stay with children until settled
  • all about me book
  • make parents aware of when the child can start school
  • share learning journeys
  • school themed role play
  • right support for teachers and staff
  • good communication channels
  • play plan writing down key indicators for professionals to know and understand
  • remember small details can be big details for children and parents lunch boxes, bags toilets (i.e. may have hand dryers)
  • have a transition policy
  • take it a step further have a parent or two help with developing and writing it
  • have transition books on website
  • partnership days
  • marvellous me box – VAK learners
  • use transitional objects - consider a personal tidy bag with their photo, in their favourite colour, they can put a special object in it and take it with them for settling in days and when they start school
  • create a transition toolkit
  • try to see the new setting from a child’s point of view, give them a video camera, what do they film, what’s important to them?
  • get the whole family involved
  • take the child to visit for school events schools play for example
  • get parents to give talks to other parents and teachers
  • keep parents and teachers fully informed
  • SENCO’s to share knowledge with those who work directly with the children, provide more training
  • signpost parents to services that can support them, be knowledgeable of those services
  • allow child to take a photo of their parent or something else familiar to school with them
  • always remember ‘the little things matter’!
  • a great idea for reception teachers post cards from home
  • give all parents a SAS postcard to write something their child did over the summer (where they went on holiday, new baby brother, for example)
  • parents send these in before the start of the school year
  • create a display of all the postcards
  • every day for the first week, read out a few of the cards this is a great way for the teacher and children to all get to know one another better and help the child to feel like the teacher already knows something special about them

Transition templates

Transition templates

Every child in Worcestershire should have successful transitions throughout their early years and beyond. High quality transition planning can help children move into new environments with reduced anxiety and can support them to settle quicker. A major transition in a child's life is the move into reception class, and all early years providers will begin to plan for all children's transitions in school in the Summer Term, in liaison with their new school.

For children with additional needs, early years providers will plan more activities to make the unfamiliar familiar.

Download the transition templates below for ideas of different transition activities. The Inclusion Team, in liaison with specialist teams have created specific templates for a range of needs to support early years providers and reception teachers to plan appropriately.