The
transition to school is an opportunity for families and prior-to-school and school educators, to work together to make school, including the environment and the expectations, comfortable and familiar for incoming children.
Effective transition to school practices help to build positive relationships between families, early childhood services, schools and communities, resulting in better adjustments in the first years of schooling, a reduction in behavioural difficulties, improved social skills, and ultimately improved academic outcomes.
What makes a successful transition to school approach?
There are 6 key elements associated with
successful transitions to school approaches: orientation, transition, understanding each child's unique capabilities, capability building, parental engagement, and partnerships and relationships.
Parental engagement and partnerships and relations between stakeholders underpin and support these elements. The department's
Parent and Community Engagement Framework outlines the importance of engaging with parents and the community to improve student levels of achievement and describes principles underpinning effective engagement.
Schools are guided by the
Supporting successful transitions: school decision making tool (PDF, 1.2MB) when considering transition approaches. In particular, see the example strategies and actions listed on pages 14 and 15 to inform decision-making and note the strategies identified as outside the scope of state schools and not viable options for school communities.
Examples of
transition approaches will be added to the website during the life of the project.