It is the time of year when we are saying farewell to our eldest children, who are due to make their transition to School in September. The children have had a fantastic month celebrating with their friends and putting on an amazing graduation show for their parents.

Within our preschool room we ensure that we prepare the children for this school transition, by offering a range of activities to promote the seven steps for school readiness. These steps have been produced by schools to ensure children have the appropriate skills to access a rich and stimulating start to their formal education. The steps we work on with the children are……..

co-operating - learning how to get on well with others
listening and understanding - enjoying talking about stories and understanding simple instructions
sharing - being able to share with other children
dealing independently with care needs - using the toilet, washing hands and being able to get dressed
speaking clearly in sentences - being able to ask for help when needed
having co-ordination - being active from the tips of their fingers to the tips of their toes!
showing curiosity and enthusiasm - being able to have fun and explore the world around them

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our school leavers the best of luck in their new adventures at school, we know you will all be amazing.

Within the nursery we also support children transitioning from our baby room up to our toddler room, and from our toddler room into our preschool room. It is really important to us that these transitions are smooth and seamless for the children, and that they feel safe and secure in their new environments. Within each room the practitioners prepare for the transition by helping the children to learn the skills required for the next room, to ensure their transitions are successful. This could be making sure children are able to feed themselves independently at meal times, to teaching the children how to put their own coats on for garden time.

We always try to move the children with small groups of their peers who share a similar birthday. This enables the children to move with their friends, and know some familiar faces in their new room. A member of their current room will take the group of children into the new room for a short settling in time initially. This gives the children the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the new room, the new ‘grown ups’ in the room and also their new peers. Practitioners ensure they show the children where they can find their drinks, use the toilet if age appropriate, and help them to access all the different learning environments available to them. Throughout the transition period practitioners will ensure they share information with parents, including a welcome pack to their child’s new room. This welcome pack will give further information about the practitioners within the new room, details of the daily routine and the curriculum covered. We will also ask parents to complete a new ‘all about me’ form to ensure we have the most up to date and correct information.

At First Steps we pride ourselves on offering a ‘home from home’ experience for our children ensuring they are happy, secure and always learning and developing. Transitions from room to room are handled with care and consideration of the individual child, and therefore some of our children may go in for their initial settling in session and never look back, whilst some children may need a longer transition period with additional support to feel secure in their new environment.

Transitions

Preparing for Nursery and Pre-school

Summer Time Play