Supporting Effective Transitions

This training is brought to you by Slough Borough Council's Early Years Team for the attention of all Childminders.

Transitions – Birth To 5 Matters: High quality transitions recognise the importance of feeling “known”. The key to a high-quality experience for all children in the early years is ensuring continuity between home, key people and all the settings that make up children’s individual learning journeys. In today’s society children may have many out-of-home experiences, through childcare, toddler groups, family day care and more than one nursery, and they may appear to straddle change with ease. But while transitions may occur with great frequency, not all children navigate these comfortably or happily.

Transitions include not just movements between one setting and another in a linear way, but movements “horizontally” from one room to another within the same setting, moving to a more structured part of the day such as lunchtime, or moving from home to childminder, to nursery and back again all in the course of the same day.

When transitions in the early years are managed sensitively it lays the foundations for positive feelings towards the many other transitions children will face through life.

Some children are particularly vulnerable at times of transition. Moving from a place or situation in which children feel “known” into one in which they feel “unknown” can raise insecurities about having their entitlements and needs met. While some children have the resilience to cope with change, others are more vulnerable to uncertainty.

As Early Years practitioners we need to reflect on how our provision and practice supports every child transition, through:
Partnership working and building relationships
Effective pedagogy
Welcoming and enabling environments

Termly sessions to develop Slough Early Years principles and practice, through a shared commitment to child centred meaningful transitions by engaging with all EYFS practitioners in PVIs, schools and childminders

Focus: embed transition practice through child centred approach that recognises the unique child and develops a sense of belonging

Autumn session 1

What do we understand about transitions?
Why are supporting transitions so important?

What transitions are there, when do they occur, what do we do to make transitions successful? Drop off/collection, nappy changing, snack/lunch, key person and room change, onboarding and leaving, morning to afternoon, inside/outside, activities, change clothes/coat on and off, childminder to nursery, nursery to reception, reception to year 1

How do we keep the child at the centre? Child’s voice?
Role of key person/s?
How do we engage parents and carers? Collaborative approach?
Opportunity to reflect on what went well in September
What would have been better if….
What should we be doing now to support transitions to reception?
What could we do in the spring term?