Services which aren’t part of the pilot should continue to use the current Transition to School Statement.

Note, the information below does not cover troubleshooting issues. If you have questions about how to use the Transition to School Digital Statement, please read the User Guide and troubleshooting FAQs (PDF, 1.3MB).

Do I have to complete a Transition to School Statement?

The Transition to School Statement is optional in NSW. It is recommended that early childhood education and care services complete a statement for children starting school the following year. The information in the statement records a child’s interests, strengths and preferred ways of learning in their year prior to school. It assists primary school teachers to better understand a child and how best to support their transition from early childhood education to school.

Do I have to complete the new Transition to School Digital Statement? What if we follow a different process for the Transition to School Statement, or have already completed our Transition to School Statements for this year?

The Transition to School Digital Statement and the related pilot is optional. You can choose to use a different process to complete the Transition to School Statement. However, we would love your feedback on the pilot of the new digital version so we can make it more useful for services like yours. We've designed the Transition to School Digital Statement to make it easier for early childhood services to complete and send the statement to schools.

It would be great if you could test out the functions of the Transition to School Digital Statement and provide us with your feedback. We'll roll out the new statement to all NSW early childhood and education services, pending the outcome of the pilot.

Why was I selected for the pilot?

We've selected a representative sample of services across NSW to pilot the statement. This includes community preschools, mobile preschools and long day care services.

Can I use our service’s existing consent form?

You must use a document substantially in the form of the written consent form template provided (PDF, 132KB).

Do I need to share the form with parents?

Parent/guardian consent is required for each child before creating a Transition to School Digital Statement. You will need to obtain written consent (PDF, 132KB) before completing the statement. There is an option to print/download to send to parents after you have completed the form.

What happens if I decide not to participate?

The Transition to School Digital Statement pilot is optional. While we would love you to participate in the pilot, you do not need to and there are no ramifications for not participating. We would like to hear more about why you were not interested in participating, so we will send you a survey at the end of the pilot period.

Can I still participate if I was not selected?

The pilot for the Transition to School Digital Statement is limited to a small number of services to ensure these services can be supported during the pilot period.

Services that didn't receive an email inviting them to participate in the pilot may not be able to login to the Transition to School Digital Statement. However, if your service is able to login, you can begin using the Transition to School Digital Statement.

If you choose to use the Transition to School Digital Statement but did not receive an invitation to join the pilot, please let us know at ececd@det.nsw.edu.au so we can provide you with an opportunity to provide feedback on the pilot version of the Transition to School Digital Statement.

Services who aren’t part of the pilot and cannot access the Transition to School Digital Statement should continue to use the current Transition to School Statement.

Will the Transition to School Digital Statement change after the pilot?

Depending on the feedback received from the pilot, we may make minor changes to the Transition to School Digital Statement and choose to launch the statement statewide. It would be great if you could test the functions of the Transition to School Digital Statement and provide us with your feedback.

When do I have to complete the statement?

We'll be contacting pilot services in October with a survey asking for your feedback on your experiences so far. You do not need to complete all your statements before the end of October as the Transition to School Digital Statement will remain live for you to use after the pilot has concluded.

Here you'll find information for NSW public schools who will be receiving an email with the new Transition to School Digital Statements.

What is the Transition to School Statement?

The Transition to School Statement is completed by a NSW child’s early childhood educator and sent to a child’s prospective NSW Government primary school.

The information in the statement records a child’s interests, strengths and preferred ways of learning. It can help teachers to better understand a child and how best to support their transition to school.

What is the Transition to School Digital Statement?

In 2020, the Department worked with early childhood education services and schools to develop a digital version of the Transition to School Statement. For children commencing school in 2021, the use of a digital statement offers a new way to help them connect into their new school community.

The Transition to School Digital Statement provides valuable information about individual children, aimed to support and enhance their transition from early childhood education to Kindergarten, developed in partnership with teachers, educators and families. This information can assist kindergarten teachers to get to know the children entering their classrooms, plan appropriate learning and teaching programs and provide an opportunity for children, their families and teaching staff to support a child’s successful transition to school.

In Term 4, 2020, we are piloting the Transition to School Digital Statement with a small set of early childhood education services, and schools linked to these early childhood services.

What is the change for schools receiving emails as part of the pilot?

In 2020, your school may receive Transition to School Statements in a new format with NSW Department of Education branding. If an early childhood education service has completed statements using the new Transition to School Digital Statement tool for children in your 2021 cohort, they will be sent to your school via email.

There is a two-step process for the secure delivery and access to the Transition to School Digital Statements. Your school will receive two emails, detailed below.

What is the email?	Who is it sent to and what is the subject line?	When will I receive these?
1. Transition to School Digital Statement emails All the statements allocated to your school will be emailed in a password protected ZIP file, accessible by clicking the web link provided in the email.	Generic school administration email address Subject line: ATTN Transition to School Statements Included – Please Forward to Kindergarten Orientation Coordinator and Principal	Your school will receive these emails in: Week 7, Term 4 Week 9, Term 4 One week prior to week 1, Term 1 2021
2. Email with password to ZIP folder A separate second email will be sent to your school Principal containing a unique school password to download and unlock the Zip file which will contain all statements for your school.	Principal’s email address Subject line: ATTN Key Details for Transition to School Statements Included	The second email with the unique password will be sent to the Principal at the same time as the Statement email is sent to your generic school administration email address.

Why might I still receive different versions of the Transition to School Statement?

As the Transition to School Digital Statement is still in trial piloting phase, your school will continue to receive the older 2018 version of the Transition to School Statements through other means. This is because not all early childhood education services are using the Transition to School Digital Statement this year.

How do I access the Transition to School Digital Statements?

There is a two-step process to accessing the Transition to School Digital Statements:

1. The Transition to School Digital Statements for some children attending the school in 2021 are available via a password-protected ZIP file, emailed to the generic school administration email address. The statements will download automatically when you click on the link in the email.

2. For security purposes, a separate email will be sent to your school Principal containing a unique school password to download and unlock the zip file. Please check with your Principal to get this information.

What happens if I can’t find the email with the unique school password or have lost the password?

The Principal will have received an email to their individual email address, which includes the password to download and unlock the ZIP file. The second email with the unique password will be sent to the Principal at the same time as the Statement email is sent to your generic school administration email address.

If your Principal did not receive the password email or has lost the password, please ask your Principal to first check their Junk Email folder and then contact the Early Childhood Directorate’s Information and Enquiries team on 1800 619 113 (toll free) or at ececd@det.nsw.edu.au.

My school Principal is relieving and has not received the password email, or has received the password for a different school. What next?

If there is a relieving Principal arrangement in place at your school and the R/Principal has not received the password to download and unlock the ZIP file, please contact the Early Childhood Directorate’s Information and Enquiries team on 1800 619 113 (toll free) or at ececd@det.nsw.edu.au.

The enquiries team will verify the relieving Principal and re-issue a password email to the relieving Principal.

Can the password be sent to the Assistant Principal or another senior staff member?

For security reasons, the school Principal or relieving school Principal are the only staff-members who will receive the unique password to access and download the Transition to School Digital Statements.

What if I am having technical issues unlocking the ZIP file or viewing a statement?

If you require IT support, please consult your school’s IT Coordinator for initial local support. For ongoing issues or other queries or information about the Transition to School Digital Statement process, please contact the Early Childhood Directorate’s Information and Enquiries team on 1800 619 113 (toll free) or at ececd@det.nsw.edu.au.

Why did my school not receive an email?

Some early childhood education services are continuing to finalise and complete digital Transition to School Statements, and your school may receive Digital Statements in Week 9 of Term 4, 2020 or prior to Term 1 2021.

Schools that don’t receive an email did not have any early childhood education services take part in this initial pilot using the new Digital Statement tool for their 2021 Kindergarten cohort.

I’ve received Transition to School Statements for students that are not enrolled at my school.

Parents have indicated the school their child will be attending in 2021, and we have used this information to distribute digital statements to those NSW public schools.

You do not need to forward the statement to a different school. Please retain the statement in the event the child’s parent is yet to complete the school enrolment process. If the child does not attend your school, please delete the statement.

Where can I provide feedback on the process?

We would love your feedback on the way in which schools are receiving the new digital version so we can make it more useful for the rest of our NSW Primary schools once this digital version is made available to use by all NSW early childhood education services.

For schools taking part in the pilot, we ask for your feedback via our online survey. The survey will be open until 11 December 2020 and will take around 10 minutes to complete.

As a school Principal or Admin staff, what do I do with the Transition to School Digital Statements when we receive them?

Please pass on the Transition to School Digital Statements files to the relevant Kindergarten Orientation Coordinator or relevant school staff member.

The information in the Transition to School Digital Statement can assist Kindergarten teachers to get to know the children entering their classrooms, plan appropriate learning and teaching programs and provide an opportunity for children, their families and teaching staff to support a child’s successful transition to school.

Teachers can use the Educators Guide to the Transition to School Statement NSW (PDF, 256KB) to interpret the information provided by early childhood education services.