Transition to School
Starting school is a big milestone for children and their families. The transition between learning environments can be both challenging and exciting. This page has programs and activities that families, early childhood education and care services, and schools can use to help children transition to school.
Importance of transition to school
The importance of a positive transition to school experience has been consistently emphasised in research around the world. A large body of evidence suggests a successful transition helps improve children’s educational and social outcomes.
For educators
Educators can use the following resources to help children transition to school.
Transition to School Statement
The Transition to School Statement is completed by a child’s early childhood educator and is sent to their new school. The statement:
- summarises a child’s strengths, interests and approaches to learning
- passes this information between families, early childhood educators and teachers
- gives children a voice in the process of meeting new people in the school environment
- helps link the Early Years Learning Framework to the Early Stage 1 Syllabus.
The importance of transition is reflected in the National Quality Standard (NQS). The standards require early childhood education services to collaborate with service providers and families to achieve quality outcomes for children. It also recognises that continuity of learning is supported by the sharing of information and the clarifying of responsibilities.
Steps
1. Open the Transition to School Statement (PDF, 358KB).
2. Use the Educators Guide to the Transition to School Statement NSW (PDF, 256KB) to help you complete the statement for each child.
3. Get written consent from parents or carers (PDF, 51KB) of enrolled children before sharing information about them with schools.
4. Send the statement to the child’s kindergarten teacher. You can do this by email, post or via the child’s parent or carer.
If you’re having issues editing the statement, uploading images and saving the statement, try:
- viewing it in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser.
Or try:
- downloading the PDF statement to your desktop
- then download the Adobe Acrobat Reader. This is Adobe’s official and free PDF reader – you don’t have to buy or start a trial of Acrobat Pro DC.
- open Adobe Acrobat Reader, click on ‘File’ in the top left, then ‘Open’, then choose the Transition to School Statement PDF you downloaded earlier.
If you’re still having issues please email ececd@det.nsw.edu.au.
New Transition to School Digital Statement
We’re currently piloting a new Transition to School Digital Statement with a small number of services. We’ve emailed services who are part of the pilot. The new statement is completed online through the Transition to School Digital Statement platform.
The digital statement makes it easier for early childhood services to complete and send the statement to schools. We aim to roll out the new statement to all services, pending the outcome of the pilot.
More information
- Information on the New Transition to School Digital Statement
- New Transition to School Digital Statement User Checklist (PDF, 85KB)
- New Transition to School Digital Statement User Guide (PDF, 1.3MB)
Should you require additional support, please contact 1800 619 113 (toll free) or ececd@det.nsw.edu.au.
Services who aren’t part of the pilot should continue to use the current Transition to School Statement.
Further resources for educators
- The transition to school – a paper on the literature and research done on transition to school programs
- Continuity of Learning – further research and suggestions on the transition to school.
- Transition to school guide for educators and formative assessment resources.
Case studies
There are lots of different ways for services to approach transition to school. In the videos below, three different services in NSW share their transition to school practices and experiences.
You can watch their stories here:
For teachers
Use the Educators Guide to the Transition to School Statement NSW (PDF, 256KB) to interpret the information provided by ECEC services.
For parents and carers
Resources to help you prepare your child for school include:
- Daisy's First Day (PDF 5.5MB) – a children's book about Daisy the koala on her first day at primary school.
- Let’s go to school (PDF, 2.5MB) – an activity book for children and parents about going to school.
- Getting ready for primary school (PDF, 2.1MB) – a school readiness checklist, useful preparation activities and information about what to expect at school.
- Starting school – information on when children should start school, orientation day and helping your child get ready.
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