Transition to School

Learn why it’s important for children to have a successful transition to school and how to support this process.

Importance of transition to school

Research tells us that a successful transition to school helps improve children’s educational and social outcomes. A good transition will help prepare children to make new friends, learn routines, and develop a sense of belonging within the new school environment. It will also help their school to recognise and support children’s developmental needs, interests and skills.

Supporting children to transition to school

Together, families, early childhood education and care (ECEC) services, and school staff all play a role in supporting a child as they transition to school. Visit the below pages for information and resources to help you through this exciting and important period:

Transition to school video resources

Learn more about how families, schools and early childhood education services can work together to help children have a successful start to Kindergarten.

[Narrator] Starting school is a big milestone in a child's life, and a positive transition to school can have a real impact on their longer term academic, social, and wellbeing outcomes. In the year before Kindergarten, strong relationships and planning between schools, families and early childhood education and care services are essential for supporting a child's transition to school.

- We know that the impact for a successful transition is that the students come in, and are much more confident in the school environment and ready to learn, and it really does set them up to be those lifelong learners moving forward throughout their primary years and beyond.

- I was so excited to go to school 'cause I was going to learn new friends.

- I was really excited to learn maths.

- Parents are very much a part of our transition process. They're the keepers of the information on their child, and so we do everything we can to get that information from the parents through interviews, and through information sessions.

- The Transition to School Digital Statement is easily accessible, and it gives you a lot of information about each individual student that's coming to school directly from the early childhood settings, where they're spending a lot of their time prior to that year of school. It is also highly valuable for our learning support team teachers and our assistant principals of early stage one, as it gives them that detailed information before the students enter our school site.

- I was so inspired watching my son's preschool get him ready for school and a thirst for learning. He was ready to learn because of the work the preschool and the Kindergarten teachers did.

[Narrator] We all have a role to play in supporting every child to have a positive transition to school, as they start their journey into Kindergarten and beyond. To learn how you can help prepare children for a life of learning, visit our website.

Learn more about how families, schools and early childhood education services can work together to help children have a successful start to Kindergarten.

[Narrator] Starting school is a big milestone in a child's life, and a positive transition to school can have a real impact on their longer term academic, social, and wellbeing outcomes. In the year before Kindergarten, strong relationships and planning between schools, families and early childhood education and care services are essential for supporting a child's transition to school.

- I'm excited for big school because I get new teachers.

- I wanna learn how to count up to 100 million, 16, 30, 20.

- I'm excited to go to big school because I wanna make friends and learn.

- We use a wide range of tools for transition from our orientation programs where the children get to come to the school, and another really fantastic tool is the Transition to School Digital Statement, where we have really a one stop shop where our educators can get information about the children who will be coming into their class in that year.

- So the Transition to School Digital Statement is written in a strengths-based approach. So as educators in the preschool setting, we include all of the teaching strategies that work best for how that child learns, so the Kindergarten teachers can use those strategies when they enter their classroom.

- All three of my children have very different needs. However, I found that the school, the preschool, and all the services involved definitely worked together to make their school experience and their transition to school a really positive and successful one. Starting school can be a very scary experience for children and parents, but I definitely felt so comforted to know that they were coming to a place that were definitely supporting them individually and targeting their specific needs.

- The things I love learning is split diagraphs. I love learning because I want to be the girl boss in the whole wide world ever, so I can tell people what to do.

(girls giggling)

[Narrator] We all have a role to play in supporting every child to have a positive transition to school, as they start their journey into Kindergarten and beyond. To learn how you can help prepare children for a life of learning, visit our website.

Category:

  • Early childhood education

Business Unit:

  • Early Childhood Outcomes
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