Further information for families

Effective transition to school is about the whole school engaging with children and families to make sure children are well supported through the process. It involves collaborative partnerships with early childhood services, families, and other professionals, including the transfer of information from one setting to another through open and honest conversations.

Talking about starting school in a positive way and encouraging your child to talk about going to school can help your child feel settled about the upcoming changes.

• NESA's transition to school
• Early childhood education and care directorate – Transition to school resources for parents and carers
  
• Starting school with additional needs – information and options for families to make decisions and support their child's transition to school

Professional learning and resources

The Early learning professional learning catalogue offers a range of professional learning for teachers and leaders to support a strong and successful transition to school for all children, including:

• Partnering for a strong start to school
• Beginning school strong and successfully
• Conversations on transition with Sue Dockett and Bob Perry
• Transition to school statement

Transition to school literature review

The Transition to school literature review updates the 2016 Transition to school literature review by the NSW Department of Education’s Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation (CESE). It examines the existing literature on the transition to primary school from home and/ or ECEC settings, including:

• What constitutes a successful transition to school.
• How the concept of school readiness is defined and what school readiness incorporates.
• The key factors which support a successful transition to school for children, their families and educators.

Transition to school case studies

The Transition to school case studies form part of a series to support the NSW Department of Education’s strategic goal of ‘All children make a strong start in life and learning and make a successful transition to school’. A successful transition to school is about laying strong foundations for year-on-year improvement by ensuring that our students are engaged and ready for challenge. The case studies refer to and draw on the department’s new Strong and successful start to school transition guidelines.

Note: Fieldwork for the case studies was undertaken after the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak, but before the 2021 Delta outbreak.

• Early childhood education and care directorate – Transition to school resources for educators
• Resources for families
• Early learning and schools statewide staff room

External resources

• Australian Council for Educational Research (2012) Starting school: a strength-based approach towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, ACER website, accessed 11 August 2023
• SNAICC (n.d.) From early years through to school transition SNAICC website accessed 11 August 2023