Transition to preschool
Supporting a successful start to preschool involves schools engaging with high-quality transition practices for children and families.
Evidence based transition practices
The key messages from the evidence around transition to preschool include:
Children’s holistic development informs transition practices.
Use of shared goals facilitates continuity of learning.
Children entering preschool can experience various transition points.
Collaborative partnerships with the key players in children’s lives inform transition.
When planning for transition to preschool, it is also important to consider the other types of transition the children will experience during preschool:
- This can include horizontal and vertical transitions.
Horizontal transitions involve children’s transitions during their everyday lives between, for instance, a pre-primary education setting or primary school and an after-school centre.
Vertical transitions refer to the transitions between different educational settings, such as between an ECEC setting and primary school.
Resources to support transition to preschool
- Transition to preschool information for families (PPTX 203.1 MB) – this presentation can be used to support your parent session about transition to preschool. It includes content and presenter notes that can be edited to fit your context.
- Transition to preschool – slide deck (PPTX 20.1 MB) – this professional learning is designed for principals and preschool leaders to use with their preschool teams to improve their transition practices into preschool. It includes speaking notes that can be tailored to your context.
- Starting preschool social narratives – social narratives help children understand what to expect at preschool. They have been developed as templates for preschools to use as part of their transition practices.