Jacqui Ward [Early Learning Coordinator]

Welcome to today's presentation, the transition to school statement, part one, supporting a continuity of learning. My name is Jacqui Ward and I am the Early Learning Coordinator with the Department of Education and I'm here with my colleague, Kelly.

Kelly Birket [Early Learning Adviser]

Hi everybody, my name is Kelly Birkett. I'm one of the Early Learning advisers with the Department.

Jacqui Ward

We're excited today to talk you through this session on the transition to school statement. First of all, I'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we all meet today, and being that this is a recorded presentation, that's many lands across our state, and I would like to acknowledge Elders both past and present, and any Aboriginal people with us today. And we've got some contact details there if you find that you've got any questions based on the presentation today. If you would like to reach out. You can contact the Early Learning Team who support schools in the transition to school space or the early childhood education policy team who support early childhood services.

Course outcomes today, we're looking at learners will develop a shared understanding of the links between the Early Years Learning Framework and the school curriculum. Analyse how sharing information across the early childhood and school sectors supports continuity of learning and reflect on how the transition to school statement informs teaching and learning.

Kelly Birket

Thanks Jacqui and I just want to add at this point that the audience of this professional learning is both educators in the early childhood education sector, as well as school staff. Throughout the presentation we’ll refer to the staff who work in early childhood settings as early childhood educators and we’ll refer to those in the schools as school staff.

Jacqui Ward

Awesome, thanks Kelly and definitely this presentation is focused in on helping to support those connections between early childhood in schools, so hopefully everyone will get a bit of benefit out of both. In this course we've got, we've split it into two parts, which the first ones talking about broadly about transition, the importance of transition to support a successful start to school, talking about how the transition to school statement supports transition practices, particularly around continuity of learning. If we share some information as educators and teachers from one setting to the next, we are really setting children up to experience success, particularly when we share information about what works for them in that teaching and learning practices. So, we're including some information in this as to how the Early Year’s Learning Framework and Early Stage One syllabus documents align. So, unpacking what, what's the connection there and showing that making the learning visible across the continuum of education and looking at that importance of collaboration to support each child's transition to school. Again, children benefit greatly from a positive transition and we are all important players in making sure that happens. The second part of the course focuses more on using the transition to school statement. So, for early childhood educators, what sort of information is rich and meaningful to put in there and what sort of information? How is that information going to be used by the school teachers and supporting transition as a school teacher, how to use that information to get the best information out of it and how to make sure that it’s informing teaching and learning from the first days and weeks and that full year of starting school.

Kelly Birket

Thanks Jacqui and also for your information, after you finish this presentation and you close it, you'll return to MyPL and then you'll be able to launch a copy of the PDF of this presentation. You'll find that handy because there's hyperlinks throughout the presentation, as well as the two email addresses we just showed you. You will be able to select on them to send a message easily and you'll also notice in MyPL there's a few support documents, for example the, a copy of the template of the statement, the educator’s guide. So, yes, after you finish the, this presentation, you'll be able to see what you, what documents you are able to launch.

Jacqui Ward

OK, so setting the scene for those who are new to the transition to school statement, so maybe you've never looked at it before, or perhaps it's been a while since you've engaged with it. We thought we'd unpack a little bit, it's purpose and background, and the point of filling in that information because obviously it does take time, for both audiences to early childhood educators to fill it in and for teachers to look at it. And when we do provide that information in a meaningful way, it is a key piece of the puzzle in effective transition practices. So, the transition to school statement is a written document which scaffolds and facilitates the sharing information, sorry, about a child moving from early childhood education service into Kindergarten. The statement is soon to be digital and online, so that will be facilitated, really easy way of sharing that information directly with schools. The statement complements other transition practices, so it's not the only thing that you're going to be doing to support a strong start to school for children, but it's a great piece of the puzzle. The statement facilitates that strong successful start to school, specifically by facilitating and supporting that continuity of learning. And again, I think continuity of learning is one of those statements that we sort of gloss over and not necessarily understand, but if we think about it from the point of view of, if I'm starting school with some information from my early childhood educators who know me so well and know what practices work to support my wellbeing and social and emotional development, they know where I'm up to in terms of my literacy and numeracy skill development because that's happening prior to school, they know all sorts of information that I know about my cultural and identity, my cultural understanding and identity. They know information about what I know about things like, areas of interest, sustainability, or, you know, dinosaurs or other interests that, that children have. And most importantly, there's a section in there that talks about the teaching strategies that were effective in that early childhood space, and they could be used in that school setting, therefore facilitating that child to feel like they're known, valued and cared for. And also, you know, supporting teachers in schools to know what works for that child to minimise behaviour issues and to support, you know an awareness I guess of any areas where a child might need some additional support, so that early intervention of any challenges or anything like that, so it's a really important piece.

So, how that transition to school statement works is that early childhood educators complete the statement, summarising a child’s strengths, interests and approaches to learning. And as I said, the teaching strategies that were effective and there isn't a set time to do that, and I would really encourage early childhood educators to have a think about when's the best and optimal time to do that. I think if we fill it in too early, we might be, you know, not allowing the child to fully develop in that, you know, last period of time before they go to school. If we fill it in too late, schools may have already, you know, used other statements to do that, so it's important I think for us to connect with schools to know what's happening in our local area and how they're using the statements and when's the best time for them to receive them. Really important in that middle box there that we have parent consent to share the information in the statement to the school. Where they’ll be attending, and that's not a conversation that happens just at the end when you're ready to share the statement. It's a conversation that needs to start really early I think in that year when that child is in the year prior to attending school, that conversations are had with families about the importance of the statement and why the information that is shared with the school is so pivotal. So, again, there's lots of conversations around that, and I think you know best practice would be that you'd share the information with families first, before you shared it with the schools. But that's kind of a nice important step in the middle and then school staff will receive that information to identify children who might require some additional support to inform their transition practices, particularly some differentiated approaches for different children and families, and to plan curriculum, design, delivery and design. So, using that information and hopefully there's an opportunity on both sides as I said to connect. So, the early childhood connect with schools to say, when is the best time to find this information? You know, when, when is the best helpful and again with schools you know there's an opportunity to connect even once the child's actually started school if there's information in there that a teacher finds, you know it would be great to unpack a little bit more. There's an opportunity to reach out and connect with the early childhood service. So, it's really about you know, those strong collaborative partnerships with early childhood and schools as well.

Kelly Birket

Yes, and Jacqui some schools have already got relationships with their local early childhood services and there's already a system in place whether you know their statements are emailed or posted or passed on via the child's parent or carer, and the school has a system for receiving those and then ensuring the people who need to read one, particularly, you know, a child's Kindergarten teacher, receives a statement in a timely manner to be able to use the information.

Jacqui Ward

Definitely and again it makes Sense if a local school you know is thinking about when they when they best use those statements to, to receive them collectively in the one group from local early childhood services as well, that makes it a little bit easier as well.

Kelly Birket

Yes, for sure, so we'll talk a little bit more about that towards the end of the presentation just about that collaboration to ensure that the statements are used as well as possible.

Jacqui Ward

So, then we've also got the resources to support the transition to school statement, so there's currently a version that you can fill in electronically and we're moving towards a digital version of that which will be automatically shared with schools. But there's also the educators guide, so that's for both audiences for early childhood educators and school audiences, got some really good information in there as to why use this statement? What sort of content is important to put in there and for the school audiences it’s got some great links to show how the information in there links to the school curriculum as well. And of course, there's the important authorisation there as well to seek that permission to share information with family, sorry from families, to share information with the school.

Kelly Birket

Yes, and the URL at the bottom of the screen there is the link to the section on the department's website where you could download these three documents as well as read a little bit more information about them. The actual statement itself, the template, so the image on the left that's in the form of an editable PDF. I do know that some services will print the hard copies and then fill them in by hand, and while other services will choose to type the information in and save it as an electronic copy.

Jacqui Ward

And the statement is actually going digital as well, so you'll be able to complete it all online.

Kelly Birket

Yeah, absolutely. And then, like you said Jacqui, then with a simple submit button, so the early childhood service would select the school that the child will be attending and they just click the button and the statement will go automatically to the school.

Jacqui Ward

Which will be very efficient.

Kelly Birket

It will be, OK.

Jacqui Ward

So, some information coming up next which is directly from the Educators Guide, again, it's the idea that there's, we know that the learning, the curriculum and pedagogy is quite different in the preschool programs or early childhood programs to the Early Stage One curriculum. So, broadly in the early childhood it's, you know, focused in on that experiential learning, play based learning, investigations, project work, all sorts of different things that show subject areas in a more integrated way. And in school there's a more of a focus on delineating the difference between those content areas or key learning areas, so maths, you know, content is considered separate to English and you know not always, but there's integration as well, but there's quite a difference I guess in the way that those, you know, the program is viewed and the way that it's shaped more child centred in the early childhood service and content centred in the school space and so obviously there's an opportunity there to sort of share information across when there is a connection. So, the intent of the statement is to make that, that it is immediate practical value to Kindergarten teachers capturing the experiences and expertise of early childhood educators in a way that they can use to provide continuity of learning for each child. So, this is where it's really, really important and again, I guess, the impetus for an early childhood teacher is to make sure they're sharing the information that expertise that they have in the school space. In the transition to school period early childhood educators and Kindergarten teachers need to be able to understand where the child is coming from and where, where they're likely to enter the school curriculum. So, that idea that school teachers also recognise the funds of knowledge that children bring with them. So, that's what the transition to school statement is intended to support. Again, not meant to be all, and end all of all of those connections, but an important key piece.

So, what opportunities does this the statement offer? So, we've got, you know, on the right hand side, it's an opportunity for that a little bit of I guess you know, push up curriculum into that school space for educators completing this statement to celebrate the child's learning and development, that distance travelled while attending the service, share their expertise and knowledge to support the child’s smooth start to Kindergarten, and again, strategies that worked for that child, and the process of information sharing between family, school and service. So, it's a great way to connect all the stakeholders in that space to show that we're not only supporting children in their journey of continuity of learning, but we're also demonstrating to families that we’re connected and we're supporting their child. So, it's a great opportunity to do that. For school teachers, using the statement is an opportunity to receive supplementary information about a child, you know, early assessments are done on children in Kindergarten, and this is an opportunity to have a fuller, richer picture of children from that early Stage and knowing that knowledge and skills that the child brings to school. Children are not blank slates when they come to school. They've done a lot of prior learning, both at home and possibly in an early childhood service. And it also supports them to draw an effective strategies for individualised support, so that differentiated approach in teaching in Kindergarten, which will make all the difference. Also for children to feel like they belong in that space because they are known and they are challenged because there is a recognition that they already know quite a bit of information about different things and they already have quite a lot of skills. So, it's a real time saver I think for school teachers as well.

And if we think about what works best, which is, you know, evidence-based practice of what works best, mainly focused in the school space but we can see some strong connections to the Early Years Learning Framework there as well in terms of high expectations and collaboration, all sorts of things are focusing on wellbeing. There's lots of connections there and it's also specifically, from a school's point of view, that we're using, that schools are using, data to inform practice. So, this is one of the sources of data that's really important for schools to consider. And again, if we think about it from the early childhood space, it's also, you know, a great record I guess of, you know, the progress that a child is made in terms of the learning outcomes as well. So, it's kind of meeting off on requirements in both spaces as we’ll talk about a little bit further.

Kelly Birket

Yes, OK, thanks Jacqui. So, well just briefly now look at the evidence base for transition generally, as well as, the use of a statement to collaborate and to pass on information.

OK, so the importance of a positive transition to school experience has been consistently emphasised in research around the world. In 2016, the department published a review, so it was through the Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation, and it was a review of the research related to transition, and these are three of the key points that the review noted. Like I just mentioned, that there's a large body of national, and international evidence that supports the critical importance of a positive start to school for all children. Research positions a positive start to school as an element of future social, educational and economic success with the benefits of a quality transition persisting overtime. And finally, while the emphasis on a positive start to school holds for all children, it has been advocated as particularly important for children described as marginalised or disadvantages. So, if you want to read that whole report, just follow the link there under the snip of the document and you will be able to access it. So, we know that transition is absolutely critical for these kids as they start school and what we're advocating is that the transition to school statement is a really highly effective practice to support that transition.

OK, so this report, The Starting Strong Five report was published by the International Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, in relation to transition. It makes these statements, quality transitions should be well prepared and child centred, managed by trained staff collaborating with one another. So, you probably picked up, collaboration is a huge part of the transition to school statement and we'll talk about that again a little bit later. Alignment and balance between what and how children learn in early childhood education and care, and primary school. So, that's the curriculum and pedagogical practices should be prioritised. So, the statement is letting the early childhood educators and school staff know a little bit more about the curriculum and pedagogy in one another’s settings and finally, collaborative practices between preschool and primary school teachers, such as sharing written information on child development and children's experiences supports transition so and that is what the transition to school statement basically is, you know, written information shared and written information which provides a bit of a springboard or a scaffold for subsequent conversations and following up on particular things that might be mentioned.

Jacqui Ward

And that starting strong, Kell, is an international report too that summarises what's happening and what are the successful strategies across the world. So, it's good to know, I guess, that that's, you know, a great strong evidence base of what's happening and what's working in countries across the world.

Kelly Birket

Yes, absolutely, and it lets us know that, this, a tool such as the transition to school statement has been proven to be effective. OK, and finally the report of the review to achieve educational excellence in Australian schools, I believe this is a 2018 document. It notes that when learning occurs over the early, pardon me, when learning that occurs over the early years is well supported, strengths-based and linked between the two settings all children will have the best chance for the best start in life, so essentially that, it's not very plain English, but what it's saying is supporting the children moving from the preschool setting, or from the home setting, into the school gives them the best chance of a successful education. Early childhood education makes a significant contribution to school outcomes. Transition between preschool and school education should be seamless. And I guess that's a challenge for everybody as educators and teachers to ensure that it is seamless. Strong foundations in early years learning are essential to ensure all children have the best start in life and will close the learning differential between advantaged and disadvantaged students.

OK, so that's our, the base, the research, what we're working from to be, to know and to be able to speak so strongly about the importance of the transition to school statement.

OK, so also the department has recognised the importance of transition. It's a priority for the Department. Goal one, as you probably are very aware, is that all children make a strong start in life and in learning and make a successful transition to school. Goal two is, every student is known valued and cared for in our schools. So, that really encapsulates transition best practice. Jacqui's already mentioned it, every student is known, valued and cared for, because using the transition to school statement is a way that the school can get to know the student, and will actually value, and put things in place to ensure that their transition is smooth.

The department has released in 2020 updated transition guidelines, so these guidelines and accompanying resources provide New South Wales schools with policy advice and practical support to ensure all children experience a strong and successful start to school. The guidelines have been developed to support principals, leadership teams and Early Stage One teachers to inform improvement, planning and evaluation, collaboration, community engagement and networking and teaching and learning to meet the needs of all children. So, the URL under the image of the front cover of the guidelines there, can be accessed, that's publicly available. If you want to have a look at the guidelines to support your work. Whether you're in an early childhood service or school, definitely worth a read.

Jacqui Ward

So, the main audience for those guidelines, however, is schools, and there are a range of resources is available on the early childhood section of the website as well, and some resources about to be published as well, so there's a range of supports for both audiences available on the department's website.

Kelly Birket

Yes, thanks, Jacqui. OK, still looking at the policy drivers. So, in the school sector, within the department, the School Excellence Framework outlines what excellence looks like in terms of transition to school. Where as in the early childhood education sector, it is the National Quality Framework that sets the standard for quality care and education. So, both documents note the highest standards of educational excellence and each shapes the other calling all Stages, on all Stages of schooling to continuous improvement for the benefit of all children. So, well just have a little bit of a look in detail at the documents now.

OK, so transition is a priority at the school level. As mentioned, the School Excellence Framework identifies transition and continuity of learning under the domain of learning culture and it outlines the receiving schools responsibility to support a successful transition to school for every child in the theme of transitions and continuity of learning. So, at the excelling level, the document notes that the school engages in strong collaborations between parents, students and the community that inform and support continuity of learning for all students at transition points, including highly mobile students and students with atypical enrolment.

OK, and here, the National Quality Standard which is applied in all early childhood education and care services. This document notes the importance of transition in quality area six, under 6.2 Collaborative Partnerships. The standards require early childhood education services to collaborate with service providers and families to achieve quality outcomes for children. The document also recognises that continuity of learning is supported by the sharing of information and the clarifying of responsibilities. So, you can see that in element 6.2.1 Continuity of learning and transitions are supported by sharing information and clarifying responsibilities. So, the transition to school statement provides you with the tool to share that information. The clarifying responsibilities, I think, refers to the relationship that the two sectors have and talking about, you know, planning things together and for transition practices and, you know, really working together to support the children to transition successfully.

OK, transition is also a priority at the teacher level, so these standards apply to teachers working in the prior to school settings as well, as the school settings. Excellence and equity in transition to school supports achievement against all seven standards, but particularly standards one and seven. So, standard one, know students and how they learn and standard seven, engage professionally with colleagues, parents, carers and the community.

Jacqui Ward

Moving on now, we're going to unpack a little bit about that idea of, you know, knowing and understanding each others space in terms of curriculum and pedagogy. That's an important part of knowing, being able to share information and interpreting information well because we know a little bit about each others spaces. The curriculum, is not, they are two separate sort of processes in the school space and in the early childhood space, so the mandated curriculum framework in the early childhood space is the Early Years Learning Framework, belonging, being and becoming and it's broken down into principles, five principles there, secure, respectful and reciprocal relationships, partnerships, high expectations and equity, respect for diversity and ongoing learning and reflective practice. So, those are principles that guide all of our interactions, our pedagogy and our curriculum and the way that we connect with families, communities, schools, all of those things. Practices refer to our pedagogy, or how we, how we teach children, or how we engage children. That we have holistic approaches, what I was referring to before about that integrated approach. That we're responsive to children, so children very much have a strong and active role in their own learning. That they learn through play, so play, investigation, projects. All of the things that I mentioned before that we have an approach that we refer to as intentional teaching when we're teaching children. That we work on those teachable moments, we have, you know, planned experiences with integrated learning intentions, all those sorts of things, and that we might use many opportunities to achieve goals and outcomes for children in our intentional teachings. We refer to the importance of learning environments so that the learning environment is recognised as an important teacher, so the way we set out our experiences, our learning centres, our investigations, our opportunities for children to transfer and adapt learning is really important. We recognise indoor and outdoor learning as valuable learning opportunities. That we have a priority to ensure continuity of learning and transitions, so again, another impetus in that early childhood space to support, you know, sharing information in the transition to school statement. That we are culturally competent educators and that we have an awareness of differences and that we honour those differences and value diversity in our settings and then we recognise the cultural knowledge and identity that children and families bring to the learning and that we focus in on assessment for learning so that there's a real planning cycle of knowing where children are at and furthering their development and their learning as we assess their learning and use that information to plan for future learning. The five learning outcomes, again, not key learning area centred, but more focused in on learning dispositions and how children view themselves. So, children have a strong sense of identity, they connected to, and contribute to their world. They have a strong sense of wellbeing and they're confident, involved learners and effective communicators. So, those five learning outcomes encapsulating from that child's point of view all of the key learning areas, which will unpack a little bit more as we progress.

Key features of the Early Years Learning Framework. The framework is child centred, has an emphasis on individual needs, interests, and strengths. It is supported by research that's shown how young children learn best through planned and purposeful play. Again, that idea that children see themselves as active participants in their learning and actually have quite a lot of information, skills, and knowledge that they bring to that learning experience. Children are viewed as decision makers and active participants. The teaching and learning cycles are implemented for groups and individuals. Indoor and outdoor learning environments are viewed as equally important for learning and relationships are prioritised. The pedagogy in early childhood, which really extends right through to when children are eight years old, recognises that children learn best when they are in a relationship that is positive and supportive. I think that's probably the same for our lifelong learning. When relationships are positive, children, children and adults experience positive learning and more effective learning.

In the curriculum in the school Stages, it's broken up into key learning areas, so English, maths, science and technology, human society and its environment, which is history and geography, personal development, health and physical education and creative arts. There are a number of cross curriculum priorities, so they run across all of those key learning areas and they are that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures are valued and important components, Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia is an important component that needs to be integrated across all those key learning areas and, of course, sustainability is really important. The general capabilities that children are progressing as they move through the content in the key learning areas, are that they are encouraged to be critical and creative thinkers, have ethical understandings, use information and communication technology to build their capacity. Intercultural understanding, literacy, numeracy, and personal and social capabilities. So, those are important integrated learning capabilities or dispositions, across all the key learning areas as well.

Kelly Birket

I think Jacqui, one key difference between the Early Years Learning Framework and the Early Stage One curriculum is the flexibility in Early Stage One is not as great as in the EYLF document. It's actually prescribed the amount of time that teachers devote to each of the key learning areas, whereas in the Early Years Learning Framework, it's very much a holistic approach, and wherever the child's need is, or their strength, you know, the bulk of the time can be devoted to that particular area, whereas, Kindergarten teachers don't have that same flexibility.

Jacqui Ward

And I think too from the, you know, from a Kindergarten teacher's point of view, when we look at the outcomes in the Early Years Learning Framework, you can't obviously make a connection with those names to the key learning areas, but in fact, I guess you know in learning outcome five English and maths are very much prioritised, literacy and numeracy skills are happening when children are engaging with being effective communicators, and there's also, you know, that opportunity across all of the learning outcomes for all of those subject areas, but particularly in learning outcome number five for information and communication technology as well. If we think about human society and its environment, there's lots of connections with learning outcome number two, that children are connected to and contribute to their world. PDHPE there, the personal health and physical development - lots of strong connections with learning outcome number three, that children have this strong sense of wellbeing, and the creative arts are really also scattered across all different outcomes, so there's lots of opportunities to unpack those connections in both spaces, even though they are quite different.

Kelly Birket

Yes, you're right. And well, the Early Years Learning Framework talks about responsiveness to children, the Kindergarten curriculum talks about differentiating, support for individual students, as well as making adjustments for those who need it. So, Early Stage One actually calls out groups of children who may need additional support in particular areas, so Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, children from a non-English speaking background, gifted and high potential children as well as children with disability. So, there is that flexibility in making adjustments, differentiating, absolutely it's noted in the syllabus document. And if you're not familiar, if you're from an early childhood service and you want to learn more about the Early Stage One curriculum, if you follow the link at the bottom of the screen there, you will come to the digital version. Each of the key learning areas is in a separate syllabus document and includes information on, I guess, all those adjustments that you can make and I'll just skip to the next slide and you'll see that each syllabus document is organised into these sections.

Jacqui Ward

Yes, and there's also, is a reference to the Early Years Learning Framework, and the same for, you know, teachers in the school space, we do really recommend that each audience dives into the each other’s curriculum documents so that they can find out a little bit more about what each other is doing.

If we move to the next slide, there's that recognition of prior to school learning. So, in each key learning area, there's an opportunity for teachers to recognise and value that, the continuum of learning there as well.

Kelly Birket

And it's a recognition that the EYLF establishes the foundations for effective learning in school and throughout life, and that the Early Stage One is very much building on the EYLF and when I say EYLF I'm meaning, Early Years Learning Framework. I guess, this image shows that the two syllabus curriculum documents are complementary and it's an articulated pathway from early childhood into school and beyond.

Jacqui Ward

There's another nice summary document coming up next developed by ACARA and Early Childhood Australia some time ago which talks about the connections between the Early Years Learning Framework in the Australian curriculum, which is what the New South Wales curriculum is based on. So, shows some nice strong links in there to the learning outcomes in that early childhood space and the school space.

Kelly Birket

Yes, they're broad brush connections, yhat are shown here, but it gives you a really good idea of how the outcomes do relate to the Early Stage One outcomes.

Jacqui Ward

There's also some great information in the Educator Guide there, so if you're interested to have a little look further too, in relation to the specific connections within the transition to school statement, there's some links in there that unpack those links a little bit more for you as well, so that's really important background information I believe in order to effectively use the transition to school statement both in putting information in and drawing information out. We need to know a little bit more about those spaces.

Kelly Birket

Just be cautious if you are looking at these tables in the Educators Guide, the document was published in 2018 and since then the school science and technology syllabus has been updated, so it's not quite, very similar, but just a little bit of the wording has changed and possibly also the personal development, health and PE syllabus, you might notice that the wording from the current documents a little bit different, but very minor changes.

Jacqui Ward

So, if we then go onto the next slide which actually shows the statement itself and looking at those connections there, so in the left-hand column we've got learning outcome number three, children's wellbeing. We've got some key points that are summarising the key components underneath that outcome. So, self-regulates emotions has a nice strong link to the PDHPE syllabus which is talking about practicing self-management skills in familiar and unfamiliar scenarios. So, there's a strong connection there. demonstrates physical ability, again these practices in the syllabus so that's the early childhood one and in the syllabus document it talks about practices and demonstrates movement, skills and sequences using different body parts. And the final one there is manages personal hygiene and self-care, which again has a link to the syllabus, identifies actions that promote healthy, health, safety wellbeing in physical, physically active spaces so that's an opportunity to show you where that information sort of funnels in, I guess, to inform teaching and learning in that school space.

Kelly Birket

So, the next section we’ll look at will focus on continuity of learning and how the statement supports continuity. OK, so we've already talked about continuity of learning supporting successful transitions, and that continuity is crucial for optimising improved outcomes for children. When we’re talking about continuity of learning here, we're making reference to continuity from the early childhood service into the Kindergarten. Continuity of learning in terms of transition is all about a seamless transition. If a child hasn't attended, is not currently attending, an early childhood service and continuity of learning is being discussed, well that would be talking about the continuity from the home into the school. The key thing with continuity is that it's all about the school building on a child's previous learning and acknowledging that they’re starting school with funds of knowledge and have already begun their educational journey. Continuity of learning refers to the school, particularly the Kindergarten classroom, providing continuity in experiences, pedagogy and curriculum the child has experienced prior to commencing school. So, the reason that this is important is because if there is discontinuity and that the setting and the approaches, in school, are completely different, you know, say, for instance if it's a play based early childhood program and the child has agency and they are able to select the learning activities they want to engage with, and then they move into a school which is more formal and it's more pencil and paper and they have less agency, they'll experience discontinuity and that will actually hinder their transition. For continuity to occur, the school must build upon the knowledge, skills and learning dispositions the child has developed in the home and/or the early childhood education service. When continuity of learning exists, children are able to transfer and adapt, previously gained skills and knowledge to the new learning environment. So, discontinuity will actually hinder a successful transition. So, then the greater the discontinuity, the more there will be a culture shock into, in the school environment, or the child may be left feeling alienated and that they don't belong because nothings familiar to them. The ways of being and acting and the expectations are so different to what they’ve experienced previously. They just don't feel that, that space, you know, that they're part of the school culture.

OK, so to confirm what was, we’ve just talked about on the previous screen, there's two quotes here. The first is from the Early Years Learning Framework, which again is the mandatory curriculum for early childhood education services. And this document notes that building on children's prior and current experiences helps them to feel secure, confident and connected. So, as educators, we all know that learning won't take place if the children don't feel secure, confident and connected. That's the baseline. You've got to really start with that before the child will, you know, feel able to take risks and engage with the learning. The quote on the left is from the School Excellence Framework and it notes that every child brings a different set of experiences, knowledge, and skills with them to school and understanding these is essential to planning individual learning paths. So, no matter which sector you're working in, the key documents that you are guided by are really, you know, calling out the importance of recognising continuity of learning and planning to support it.

OK, so another way to consider the continuity between the prior to school and school settings is to look at these, at the teaching and learning cycles. So, on the left here we've got the planning cycle that is shown in the National Quality Framework and on the right, the teaching and learning cycle developed by the Department of Education. So, just take a little moment to have a look at the text on the cycles there. So, you would have noticed that the process represented in each is very similar and that the any differences are in the terminology, not the actual concepts. So, if you look on the left there, you'll see it in the green, the reflecting, evaluating Stage. So, for early childhood educators, that's the point in a child’s cycle that you would develop the transition to school statement. It is summative assessment and then that piece of summative assessment feeds over to the right. If you follow the arrows into the teaching and learning cycle in Kindergarten, where the Kindergarten teacher is looking to gather data on where the students are now. So, where, where are they beginning Kindergarten at? The transition to school statement is going to provide that information.

So, just to conclude looking, at this image here shows that there's a continuous teaching and learning cycle between the two settings and if this exists, if the early childhood setting develops the statement summarising where the students at, what they've learned, what they can do, what teaching strategies they respond to, and then the Kindergarten teacher uses that information to begin the start of Kindergarten, there will be a continuity of learning.

OK, so this next section we will look at is collaborating to support transition. So, we've already alluded to this and how important it is. We can't really talk about the statement without talking about collaboration because it is, it is a document that supports the collaboration between professionals as well as a collaboration between the professionals and the family.

OK, so we looked at this image earlier. It's from the What Works Best in Practice document and again you could select the link at the bottom there if you want to read the entire document. So, this, this image calls out a set of eight themes that support effective teaching and learning. So, two of the other themes are collaboration and high expectations. So, these two themes are going to be addressed in this section now in our presentation.

OK, so you can see the child in the centre there, as you know what we do has to be child-centred and with the child's best interests as the priority and the focus of what we're doing. Transition to school provides a unique opportunity for educators and teachers to work together across the prior to school and the school setting and to involve the family as well. In some of those discussions and in supporting the child. OK, so some of those discussions, we’ll have a look at it in a minute, can be initiated through the transition to school statement and the transition to school statement also provides a nice opportunity to scaffold, initiate conversations between both early childhood service and the school, and the family. We’ll look at that now.

OK, interestingly the What Works Best in Practice document actually also notes. that research has shown that contact between colleagues actually has more benefit than attending professional learning, which I found really interesting. Some of these collaborations and connections between professionals develop through formal transition networks, and others are more informal. So, when I say informal, it might be telephone calls, sort of spontaneous telephone calls, or things like that. I won't go into transition networks at the moment, but just to say that they often they’re a formal organised meeting time where prior to school and school staff come together.

Jacqui Ward

Can I just jump in there too, Kelly, just to say as well that it's an opportunity I think to build an awareness and understanding of each other’s area and therefore for each, each part of the sector to feel valued, as well have their work acknowledged, you know. So, that there is that importance of schoolteachers knowing you know, the important work of early childhood and then there is also early childhood teachers knowing where is the next, you know, knowing more about where children are going to and what they're learning looks like in that other space. So, there's a real opportunity for professional collegiality there as well.

Kelly Birket

Absolutely and I'm actually aware of some situations where the early childhood staff actually follow up on the children after they've started Kindergarten, because they've got that relationship with the school that, you know, they're able to visit and sometimes even the school will take the children back to the early childhood service, but it, but it really supports the relationship as well as the child's transition. So, if there's no existing relationship, so what I'm talking about is, between the early childhood service and the schools that the children generally will attend the statement is an opportunity to actually initiate that contact and conversation. It's a reason to call. Schools might see it use it as an opportunity to seek clarification about a statement. They might ask for additional detail or inquire as to if a service actually completes the statements, and maybe you know, talk about what's hindering that process. Or you know what, what can be done to support. So, the front of the statement has the contact details of the service so that that gives the school a really good opportunity to make that contact, and the early childhood service might initiate the contact, so they might inquire if the statements were received by the relevant Kindergarten teacher. They might follow up and ask if there's any additional questions about a particular child, or you know, even just say how is so and so settling in, you know, do you need anymore information and have that conversation.

Jacqui Ward

Kelly, I'm just mindful of the time, we're sort of been going on for a while, so perhaps we just need to wrap up the last couple of slides quickly.

Kelly Birket

Yes, of course. OK, so if there is already an ongoing relationship between the school and early childhood service that will enable discussion or discussions of things like Jacqui mentioned, logistics of passing on the statements, and the best time. It also allows robust conversations about what is the most useful information to be included in the statement. Because we want the statements to be used by the Kindergarten teachers, and for them to be useful, we need to sometimes have the conversations about, you know, what is the best information. Visits to one another's settings to deepen understandings of the relevant learning environment, curriculum, and pedagogy. So, that's all about knowing where the child has come from and where they're going to. As just mentioned, opportunities to clarify or follow up on the information, formal and informal conversations focused on planning for children who will require additional transition or classroom support or adjustments can be made. And high expectations of a child when they commence Kindergarten, so this is one of the themes of best practice. So, when we talk about high expectations, if the Kindergarten teacher already knows a bit about the child, their skills, their learning ability, their background that they’ll immediately have expectations of where that child's learning will go, where it will continue.

OK, so connections with families. This statement provides an opportunity to connect with families. The statement should be complementing the formative assessment completed throughout the preschool year. It's a really good idea to actually, for the early childhood educators, to ask the family for input about the type of information or what they, you know their perspective, of what should be included in their child statement. Sort of you know, what do you see as the child strengths? The statement can be used as a tool to share summative assessment of a child's learning and development with families potentially also serving the purpose of an end of year report. So, that's just about talking about not doubling up on documentation. Maybe as a discussion to have at your service that if you're preparing both the statement and an end of year report, why couldn't the one document serve both purposes? But you know that's something for, to be discussed at the service level. Just a point, if there's any concerns raised in the statement about the child's learning and development, that shouldn't be a shock to the family. That, they should have already been raised and discussed during the preschool years. So, if the child is having a particular challenge with something, perhaps that's already been raised, and being the focus of the learning goal also, then the statement would talk about what was put in place for the child around that challenge and how they're progressing. And finally, school staff might identify information in the completed statement to follow up on with the child's family. So, after receiving the statement, there might be something in there that warrants a phone call to the family saying, hey, you know, why don't you come in? Let's talk about this. I want to know more about this and how can we support your child?

OK, and the last part of this connection section is connecting with children, so visits to early childhood services by school staff provide an opportunity for staff to meet and have informal interactions with the children as their familiarity builds these discussions might include talking about the school and transition and then in the Kindergarten year, those relationships can be built upon.

So, that's that section we’ll wrap it up now. So, thanks for joining us. Just a reminder, if you've got questions or queries, our email is at the top there. The second URL there next to the star is the webpage, the department's web page that our team looks after. There's information there related to transition and then the bottom URL, that web page is also part of the Department and it's the webpage that the Early Childhood Education Directorate maintains. They've got a lot of information there as well about transition, so we'll leave it there. Thanks Jacqui.

Jacqui Ward

Thanks everyone and we look forward to seeing you in part two.

Kelly Birket

OK, thank you.

[End of transcript]

Kelly Birket [Early Learning Advisor]

Hello and welcome to the Transition to School Statement, part 2, Supporting a Continuity of Learning. My name is Kelly Birkett, one of the Early Learning Advisors in the Department, and I'm joined by my colleague Jacqui Ward.

Jacqui Ward [Early Learning Coordinator]

Hi everybody, welcome to the second session. Looking forward to talking with you more about how useful the Transition to School Statement is.

Kelly Birket

Before we commence, I want to acknowledge and pay my respects to the Ku ring gai people. The traditional custodians of the land I'm on here today. I'd also like to pay respects to the traditional custodians of the land you are on today as you access this presentation. I acknowledge the Ku ring gai Peoples continuing in connection to land, water and community. I'd also like to pay my respects to the Elders past present, and emerging and acknowledge any aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders viewing this presentation.

We mentioned these email addresses in part one. Jacqui and I can be reached by the first one, so please reach out if you have any questions or queries regarding this professional learning. Again, Jacqui read these in part one the same outcomes are addressed through Part two. Learners will develop a shared understanding of the links between the early years learning framework and the school curriculum. Learners will analyse how sharing information across the early childhood and school sectors supports continuity of learning, and learners will reflect on how the Transition to School Statement informs teaching and learning, and again, will be referring to people who work in the prior to school sector as early childhood educators and those that work in the school sector's school staff or school teachers.

Jacqui Ward

So, the next section we're going to be talking about is completing the Transition to School Statement so you know early childhood teacher, focus or educator are focus in this section, but really useful for school teachers to know and understand the background of informing or filling in the information in this part of the statement as well. So, kind of a bit of this presentation is split into sort of two sections. One the information going in and the second part with their information is going out and how it will be used.

So, first of all, just wanted to sort of unpack and basically looking at this Statement itself and filling that in and how do we gather that sort of information. So, first of all, the statement is set up for educators to have a think about and look at the learning outcomes, and in particular those points underneath children communicate effectively are a summary of the key components. Within the learning outcomes, so where you'll be gauging this information as to whether children can always usually sometimes or need support in doing this, is the information that you've gathered throughout the year on children to know about how they're progressing towards the learning outcomes of the Early Learning Framework. So, talks and lessons in large and small groups is a derivative of the learning outcome number five children are effective communicators. The next one represents thinking and ideas in creative ways, so that might be things about using language, rhyme, and rhythm. It might be about representing and drawing symbols that might be starting to children might be starting to draw letters and numbers, and represent their ideas again, those awareness of printed letters as well as sound so those beginning literacy skills and working mathematically working with mathematical concepts like numbers, patterns, and shapes. So, this one is specifically being chosen as an example so that it's clear for both audiences to see some strong links between the learning that happens in early childhood and the learning that happens in schools. Again, the learning is there are strong links across all five outcomes and all key learning areas in the syllabus is, but this ones just, I guess a little bit easier to see. So, again, I would encourage educators prior to completing this statement to review and I guess summarise their child's development across the time that they have been in the early childhood service and thinking about you know general behaviours. If we're thinking about categorising because sometimes we can be concerned and troubled by which one do we pick? Have a think about using these as main indicators, so always again, 100 percent of the time or most of the time across a range of different contexts, and without adult or peer directions, so you can choose that as your indicator. If you think you know most of the child time the child does talk and listen in large and small groups as well. If it's usually, it's most of the time in most contexts, but you know there could be times where you feel like that's still a bit of an emerging skill for that child. Sometimes it's maybe it's sort of, you know. Again, it's an emerging skill, more about half of the time the child is doing that and again sometimes without interaction and sometimes not, and the needing support is the idea that that child is not really demonstrating any of those behaviours independently and there's a high level of adult intervention necessary, so when categorising what a child skill development is like or how you know they can engage with this type of learning. These categories give the next audience an idea of whether or not that scenario of focus for future teaching and learning. So, it's really important that we have a think about how we categorise those things.

Kelly Birket

And also the categories is a good discussion with your team to come to agreement as to you know, what do the educators in your service agree usually looks like. This is a guide here at the bottom of the slide. It's a really good opportunity for those sort of, you know, collaborative conversations and what in the school we call moderation. Yes, there's a great opportunity to discuss what is always what is usually sometimes and need support.

OK, so we'll move on to the next slide. Is that right? Jacqui?

Jacqui Ward

Yeah, that's great. So, this is the section where it's really important for early childhood educators to be aware of how does this specifically linked to the science syllabus document. the English document, creative arts, mathematics and human society and environment? So, have a think about you know, maybe doing some investigation. All of those syllabus documents are available on the NESA website. Have a look in there and have a little you know investigation as to what are some of the. I guess emerging ideas that overlap with science, English, creative arts, math, and history, so it's important I guess if you if you know where to next to be able to make an accurate picture of where children are right now. So, again, having a look at what those documents look like and having a read, particularly in the Early Stage, outcomes and indicators of the syllabus documents, the syllabus documents run from Kindergarten all the way through to year ten. So, the main thing should be focusing in on that is that those starting indicators.

Kelly Birket

And if you want a little summary of, like for instance Early Stage One content for one of these key learning areas just start with this Stage statement because it gives you a really nice summary of what it's expected that child will be able to do at the end of Kindergarten so you know you can see where they're going, what the direction is.

Jacqui Ward

Yes, so I can't. I can't stress enough that its important. It's an important part of our professional work I think to know what the next stages again, if we think about it, you know from a developmental point of view for children in our early childhood settings we know what's the next step is going to be happening so it's similar with the with the development of learning content as well.

Kelly Birket

Absolutely.

Jacqui Ward

So, the next part of the statement, again, that's really important here. And you need to consider the language in this section. It's intentional teaching strategies or recommendations related to this outcome. So, that means that we're sharing some crucial expertise in the from the early childhood space to say these are the things, or the strategies that really work and engage this particular child. And this is also potentially an opportunity to identify high potential and gifted children or components of their development. So, there's an opportunity to highlight you know things that a child does really well as well as areas that you know might need some further support. So, this is a really important point. And again it is about a teacher voice here, so the first bit we're talking about children, what children can and can't do and teacher or educator voice here. So, we're talking about what strategies worked well. So, what were the things that I had planned an intentions that I used in order to generate some successful learning outcomes for this particular child? So, a really important part of that and thinking about the language that you use in this section, so you know. Again, sharing those things that worked well and maybe even at times it might be worthwhile sharing things that you know didn't resonate with that child as well. You know, things that you know you know worked well for them to be settled, engaged and you know, really involved in the learning and really getting a lot out of it.

Kelly Birket

And this is also where if you've got a relationship with the Early Childhood Service where the bulk of your new kindy students are coming from, you can actually have conversations about what, what is this sort of key information regarding the teaching strategies that will be helpful to the kindy teachers? What in particular is it that they really want to know straight up and you could make sure you complete the statement with that information in it and that will increase the usefulness of the document.

Jacqui Ward

Yeah, it's a good. It's a good springboard, I think for conversations. As we said before, it's not the, it's not the end of the journey I guess for supporting effective transitions it's a starting point for conversations.

And as we mentioned before in the Educators Guide, there's some examples for you as well, so it's a good resource to refer back to, to see the kind of language that might be used, and areas of how you might explain those indicators of where you put a child on the spectrum in terms of that areas of sometimes and needing support. There's an opportunity for you to unpack that in the box below in terms of teaching, intentional teaching strategies and recommendations.

This is just a little bit of a sort of an example of when we provide rich and meaningful information of how that supports. You know the teachers in the school space, how early childhood educators provide valuable information that supports the teacher to be able to be well equipped and ready to start working with that child in an informed way. So, again, that bit where we're talking about the effective teaching strategies that facilitates that. Again, I'm going to emphasise it because I think it's really important to acknowledge early childhood. have educators have expertise in this area, and their experience can be in some cases quite long with that particular job. It may be a full year that child may attend a service that they have been in since a much younger age, so there's quite a body of knowledge that they have in order to inform the statement. Again, that idea that there's some particular successes with a strategy or an inclusion adjustment that would be really useful for Kindergarten teachers to hear. Some examples are there that with the support of visual timetable, Ping is more settled, and able to predict the day's routine. How might a Kindergarten teacher used that? They might start the year with the visual timetable in place, and again supporting children's learning in relation to maths around predicting times and events and all of those sorts of things. Saliha particularly enjoys role play, where she demonstrates she can use language for a range of functions, example descriptive, imaginative, procedural. So, that's an example of, you know how you know in terms of the English syllabus, a child is using language for a range of functions, so again, the Kindergarten teacher might say, well, I might use dressups as an option available during orientation sessions in our classroom to help Saliha, to feel comfortable and again to demonstrate her current skills. You know, again, that might be an area where she particularly opens up when she's in that dramatic play. Getting to support her to feel that she is known, valued and cared for as well.

Kelly Birket

And to build on those skills she's developed in the preschool and that will support the continuity. Absolutely.

Jacqui Ward

And then we've got some other examples. Some other appropriate statements that could include details of individual learning goals. That the child is achieved or working towards, suggestions about the next step in the child's learning journey, or recommendations about their future learning. If you remember back top part one we talked about, you know that the translation of Transition of School Statement is sort of like a creating a little bridge across planning cycles between the early childhood space and the school space, so that provides you know that sort of seamless transition into the new cycle in the new setting. And some examples are in the early childhood educator, there are educators and her family have worked with Gina this year on a self-regulation skills and the Kindergarten teachers talks to that. That's a great opportunity to engage with Gina's family on self-regulation skills, how they're progressing, and whether or not they think they need some, plans for some further strategies and further support. Another example there from the early childhood educator is, Amir has really enjoyed learning about Cicada’s and is interested in learning about other insects, so lots of science related learning happening there learning about environment and life cycles and all that sort of stuff. The Kindergarten teacher might use that as an opportunity to start that STEM learning, and I'll point out the insect books to Amir when we first visit the school library and suggest you select some for our classroom. Again that idea that there's a real connection with what children have. Learned about an experienced in their early childhood setting being visualised in the school setting. Again, making the child feel a sense of belonging to the school in small, little, discreet ways.

So, we've got another some other examples from the Educators Guide as well, so some examples of how these things might be written. So, shows an interest in learning some examples of teaching strategies might be providing learning environments that are flexible and open ended. Quite written with the active voice there, but reflecting with children on what and how they've learned in terms of focusing attention and concentrating when challenged. Shows wondering curiosity about their world. The teachers would use strategies such as planning, learning environments at appropriate levels of challenge where the child is encouraged to explore, experiment and take appropriate risks in their learning. So, there's a little example if you're struggling to think of what type of things might you put in that intentional teaching box. You may have already put lots of intentional teaching strategies on your daily, weekly, monthly plans in your early childhood service, so again, it's not about reinventing the wheel for these statements actually looking at what information you've already collected on children, what information you've already documented, documented in terms of your plans for learning, and actually putting them within the statement itself. So, if you'd like to find out some more information there, you can have a look at the Educators Guide on the website.

And also to making learning visible through strength based statements, we already have a lot of information in our Early Years Learning Framework. So, in other words, how do we decide whether or not a child can do that? We've got the list in each one of the learning outcomes. We've got these tables in every one of them, so we've got an opportunity for examples of how this learning is evident when children do all these things on the left-hand column. And then in terms of our teaching strategies we've also got a list on the right-hand column there to say educators promote this learning when they do these things, so that's another source of information that you might draw on to fill in your Transition to School Statements. When you've used some of these strategies with children in your program and when they've been successful too for that particular child.

A little bit of a summary in terms of strengths-based statements across the five learning outcomes. So, learning outcomes one again is that idea of identity and knowing yourself and that being a crucial part of being able to be a successful learner and achieve positive outcomes in your educational experience.

So, developing confidence to express your feelings and ideas when asked, and showing a strong sense of care, empathy and respect really important when moving into that school space to have those identity components there. Learning outcome number two. Also talking about connectedness and contributing to communities so, often expresses interest in an opinion in matters that affect them so that idea of agency and beginning to be critical thinkers about fair and unfair behaviour. Learning outcome number two also has a strong connection to that general capability which is about sustainability. So, learning to care for the environment and making sure that there's a connection between caring for the environment and being sustainable. Learning outcome number three again is focused in on wellbeing strong connections there with the PDHP curriculum increasingly cooperates and works, collaborating with others that idea of regulating behaviour and personal and social and emotional development, and showing an increasing awareness of healthy lifestyles and good nutrition. So, it's all about movement, and knowing what is healthy for our bodies. Learning outcome number four, confidences, learners lots, and lots of you know. Links and connections here to both maths and science and STEM curriculum here, so follows and extends their own interests with enthusiasm, energy, and concentration. So, that idea that they also experiment, hypothesise, explore, predict all sorts of things happening in there, and persist with difficult tasks without adult encouragement. So, that idea that they are creative and critical thinkers is really expressed in learning outcome number four as well. Learning Outcome number five, again, I think this one is probably the easiest one. Children are effective communicators to see some strong links. Demonstrates an increasing understanding of measurement using vocabulary to describe size, length, volume and capacity and takes on roles of literacy and numeracy in their play. Lots and lots of links in there and also you know, a link in there too using information, communication, technology and a range of media to represent their learning and their understanding.

Kelly Birket

Thanks Jacqui that's a really good summary of some examples of strengths-based statements. We've got a handout that accompanies this professional learning. That has additional statements, and the key thing is that if you're having trouble knowing how to phrase something in a way that is positive, you can have a look and get some ideas.

Jacqui Ward

Yes, I think it's really important again to emphasise that strengths-based approach and why do we do that because it really sort of supports and facilitates our next teachers to be able to then build on capacity building as opposed to working from a deficit model. So, we've got some examples of the other end that we don't want to do some deficit-based statements in the next slide that we then could turn into strengths-based statements. Strength based statements I think give us room to work whereas deficit-based statement is very much about. Yes, thinking of having quite low expectations of children and very limited focus. For example, the first one there, Jane will only settle with the children and an educator she knows. There's not much to go on with that. Whereas if we frame it in the sense of Jane shows a sense of security with familiar people with new educators, we found a gentle encouraging tone and asking Jane about her special interests helps increase her confidence. So, there's room for there to be progression and development and ideas of where to go to when we frame it in a strengths-based statement. On the next one is an example where there's again limitation there. Jake can hop and jump but not skip. Jake and confidently hop and jump, with reminders to concentrate and targeted encouragement during group activities. Jake is learning to skip as well. So, again there's a real embedded component of what to do next and how to facilitate that learning. The last one John speaks Greek, Greek at home but can't speak English at the expected level for Kindergarten. Again doesn't give us a real great bit of information to share with anyone or where to go. Where is John confidently communicates with his family and friends in Greek at preschool, he can also echo English greetings and joins in singing simple repetitive songs. John responds to questions in English through gestures, single words or by pointing to relevant pictures. So, there's lots of opportunities to go to there. In terms of opportunities to find out about what John's current skills are and how to progress those in the alternative strengths-based statements.

Kelly Birket

Great thanks Jacqui, so we'll move on to the next section so this focuses on using the information documented in the Transition to School Statement. So, I mean, this section mostly would be relevant to school staff, but it's really important that early childhood educators are aware of how the statement might be used so that they could tailor their information again to be more useful.

OK, so we've identified three fairly, I guess more prominent ways that the statement might be used. Your school may have many other additional uses, you know people do work very creatively, but these were three that really stood out for me. So, the first is that the statements can be used to identify children who will require additional support and or require follow up and we will go into that a little bit more, in a second. The second is to plan transition practices. And the third way to use a statement is to unpack statements to inform curriculum design and delivery. So, I won't. talk about that anymore because we'll go into detail in the next slides.

OK, so the image on the left is taken from the Transition to School Statement template. I think it's on the cover and the second image on the right is from page two. So, the purpose of these questions here is to immediately alert, identify the school staff if this child is going to require additional support or adjustments, and these this might be support that's required. In the actual transition process, or it might be support when they commence Kindergarten. The reason these have been, I guess these questions are earlier on in the statement so what we looked at before that was in section three. These are earlier, so that if a school is just immediate receives the statement, they might want to flick through and scan for this really critical information to support these children.

Jacqui Ward

And I think that's really important too for us to acknowledge from the early childhood audience what schools do with that information to is to make sure that, all of the forms are filled in and all of the resource is are available and ready to start for that ready for that child to start school in the following year. So, that process takes some time. So, if that information is made available as early as possible, then that helps schools to get ready, to be ready for that child.

Kelly Birket

And so that they could, you know, start learning from day one, be happy and have a positive start not to sort of be left hanging while the school puts adjustments into place. I mean transition is all about the school, knowing how they can be ready for the child, and I’ll read these dot points, so identify children who will require additional support. So, if often a, if the early childhood service in the school actually have a pre-existing relationship, there's already probably been a sort of a verbal heads up that these children are coming, and perhaps putting paperwork into action that needs to be done, like perhaps an access request. If not, if you are receiving this statement so there's an indicator of an additional need, initiate immediate contact with the child's family if not already, and the child service so you will need to clarify the information in this statement and gather additional information so that might be documentation or reports from any other services or professionals working with a child. And as you know, that has to happen with parental consent. I would suggest that if a child is flagged as needing additional support, you ask the service if you can visit the child while they're still in preschool and observe them in the preschool setting, because then you'll be able to see that their behaviours, how they engage in their learning styles in a setting that they're familiar with. And again, that's with approval from the family, and then finally, I would be looking to start developing an individualised transition support plan. So, for instance, the child might require additional guided school visits they might require you know the opportunity to meet with their teacher one on one you know without other children around at that time, it's very individualised and also at this point it would be timely to start thinking as a support team, so perhaps the Kindergarten teacher, school counsellor, or the last teacher about an IEP for when the child commences and getting the families input and collaboration on that as well.

OK, so I mentioned that another really prominent way of using the statements is to plan your transition practices. So, section two of the statement engages the child and get some to consider their transition to the new school. So, on the left there we've got the prompts and then the educators complete the child's responses. So, have you visited your new school? Who did you go with? Is there anything you'd like to know about your new school? So, that second question can actually then be used to know what sort of topics to address in orientation sessions, and would you like me to tell your new schoolteacher anything about you? Gives the schoolteacher really, really good insight into the child and also gives them a connection point so that when they meet the child they are able to actually bring something up that they know the child wants them to know and to ask them more about it, and that will develop their relationship.

Jacqui Ward

And of course, it's a great opportunity for children to have a really active voice in the transition process too.

Kelly Birket

Absolutely, absolutely and looking at, I'm analysing these responses collectively would give a school a really good set of data to inform their subsequent transition practices. I mean one other thing that jumps to mind for me is, if you're receiving this statement in December and the child responded, no, they haven't visited the school. I would actually follow up with the family and you know and do they not know about the sessions that have been offered. Is there a barrier to them coming in and just try to find out what's happening there.

Jacqui Ward

Great opportunity to build some relationships.

Kely: Absolutely, it tells the family and the child that the school, knows and cares about them and, wants to know about them. So, this is section four of the statement. So, the child is asked to draw a picture and talk about what it depicts. It doesn't have to be related to the new school or transition. The idea is that it gives the Kindergarten teacher an understanding of the child's visual and verbal self-expression. It's also a little bit of a heads up before best start because depending on how the child goes here, there might actually be no picture because the child wasn't, you know, wasn't able to do it, or I'm not sure how you know, depending on what is there and what the comments written by the educator are, that may influence how best start is delivered for this particular child. And then on the right there, the early childhood educator notes the child's description of what's happening in the picture and things can be made reference to you such as their grip. Their attention span, or any other insights little bit, again a heads up, and that gives the Kindergarten teacher heads up as to what to expect from the child while working in class. But I would definitely say also, it's not included there, but a heads up as to what to expect in delivering best start to this child. Will adjustments need to be made? Perhaps you know that that will support the child to be comfortable in while doing the best start.

Jacqui Ward

Another opportunity to connect with their child too and talk about it. If you've already got the Transition to School Statement prior to some of you know, or in those early days of Kindergarten as well, you know an opportunity to engage child that might be a little bit withdrawn or reluctant to you know, talk, or discuss anything.

Kelly Birket

Yes, I mean, as a Kindergarten teacher, if I received a statement and perhaps the child hadn't engaged with this task, I wouldn't deliver best start initially to them, I'd probably give them a few weeks too, to settle so that they were feeling familiar and comfortable, feeling comfortable and there was a bit of a familiarity and a relationship between myself and the child, because when I do the best start you want the best data you want authentic data, so you need the child to be feeling comfortable.

OK, and the third point mentioned earlier was that the statements can be used to unpack. Sorry, you can unpack this statements to inform curriculum design and delivery. So, if we read so will start in the first top left corner. So, these are right across the top are comments that might be in the statement. So, the first one to deal with conflict in social situations. Batu needs adult support to share how he is feeling. He is able to select the appropriate visual to communicate his feelings. So, that if you go down, follow the arrow. The Kindergarten teacher or the school might use that information to know that they might want to go and ask the service for a copy of the visuals that supported Batu? They might want to develop their own and they know to prompt Batu use those when communication is needed. If you go to the middle top box, this is perhaps a comment that might be in a statement. Ruby has well developed fine motor skills. She particularly enjoys creative experiences such as painting, collage, and drawing. And following the arrow down, the Kindergarten teacher knows that supporting Ruby with familiar, enjoyable activities such as creative art. A choice of open ended outcome activities will support her and starting school. And finally, top right Aadesh can independently write his name. He is showing increasing interest and ability to write words by copying them from wall displays. So, when he starts Kindergarten. Aadesh might be expected to write his own name, because that's what he's able to do. So, with continuity of learning there be there high expectation that he would continue writing his own name. Environmental print would be displayed and sight boards would be available to support Aadesh to continue learning, to write, so that by providing that information about what Aadesh can already do, the early childhood educator has supported continuity of learning because then their Kindergarten teacher can make sure things are in place that will support him.

Jacqui Ward

So, finally where drawing to a conclusion where we're just wrapping up and summing up and talking about some task to support learners to apply learning. So, key messages from both sessions, part one and part two. Continuity of Learning is evident across the early years learning framework in the early Stage one syllabus documents. So, if you aren’t already convinced of that some further research yourself as learners might be worthwhile reading both documents and seeing where there's some connections for the school audience. Worthwhile dipping into the particularly the learning outcomes, the key components and all the examples of where evidence where children show evidence of this learning and how educators support it and in the school space. Those Early Stage one syllabus outcomes and Stage statements is really helpful as well across all the key learning areas. Quality information sharing supports that continuity of learning, and gives us connection points. If we want more information, reciprocal relationships support engagement with the Transition of School Statement when we know when is the best time to deliver it. What sort of information is really crucial for the audience that it's intended? You know that idea that we're connecting and unpacking how we use the statement and what's the best information. Providing rich and meaningful information that acknowledges the skills and knowledge that children bring to School. Ensures the statement is a valuable tool, so it's a worthwhile investment of time. And again, it's about sharing the information that you, as experts already have in the early childhood space. Using the information document in this Statement supports schools to plan transition practices as well as classroom teaching and learning. So, there's lots of ways that the information can be used and there be opportunities for further connection. So, if you are wanting to complete these courses and get registered hours as a teacher for professional learning, you would have enrolled in our courses online through my PL. And there's some tasks that you need to do to submit to get those registered hours. If you might have done this course online, these tasks will still be relevant. Might be just as a as a way of practicing and applying the learning. So, the first task relates to educator early childhood educators and focusing in on selecting, and providing an example of how you completed this statement. So, again, thinking about ways that you know. Can do that in a way that you are writing for your intended audience, so there's some steps there that you can follow and again upload that to your assessment submission If you wanting those accredited hours. Registered hours, sorry, and the next task two is for the school audience.

And again that's about thinking about for the school staff thinking about of a bit of a plan of action. How you might review your current school processes as the way you currently engaged with Transition to School Statements and what might need to change and how you might I guess, ensure the logistics of the information getting to the right people at the right time is you thinking about, how do we support that. In terms of your deliverable for this professional learning, you put together a bit of a document that talks about that particular action plan, thinking about what it early childhood services your students come from. Again, if there any local service doesn't complete the statement how you might engage with him to get some information about those children, or actively encourage them to do so. And when in Kindergarten classes formed and is this is the Transition to School Statement used in that process, and when do the relevant Kindergarten teachers receive those statements? And what would be the optimal time and process be, and maybe there are many points that you touch base with these Transition to School Statements. You know, maybe they're made available different planning points within the schools transition Kindergarten allocation, class allocation. So, again, once you've completed that to get your registered hours, you just need to upload and submit your plan.

So, finally we value and appreciate your feedback on this course, so we'd love to hear from you in relation to that. So, if you've logged on to the course through our website, the evaluation link will be there. If you've logged on through my PL, there will be information for department school staff, and department preschool staff to fill in a different type of evaluation there, so please share your feedback on whether how you think this course could be improved and whether or not you found the information rich and meaningful.

Last is some contact details. Please reach out if you got any further questions and do look at our website for further resources in professional learning.

Kelly Birket

Thanks Jacqui and thanks everyone for joining us.

Jacqui Ward

Thank you.

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