Five Tips for Transition into Primary School

We want to give you a helping hand, so we’ve had a browse and found five tips we think might help you with creating a smooth transition for your little ones.

Ask the parents 

An option might be to get the parents’ opinion and ask them what they wish they had known before starting, and collate that into information for parents whose children will be starting school. 

You could put it on your website and make it clear about what and where it is. Use the more important tips, or the ones that parents need first, to create handouts for new parents.

Make some lists

Create a list of things that children will need to be able to do or know before starting school, ensuring it’s easily accessible to parents, so they can take a read in their own time too.

Build relationships

Another way of opening conversations could be to have a poster with pictures of staff and their pets in the entryway of the school – it can create immediate links with families. Leave space around the pictures so families can add comments – or perhaps ask for photos from families to add to the montage.

Stay and Play sessions

Plan for Stay and Play sessions where children spend time settling in to their class with their parents there, and then gradually, once they are ready, parents won’t need to go in. This is a brilliant way of slowly encouraging independence.

And remember…

Families are likely to be as anxious about the first days of school as their children are – it marks a very big milestone in children’s lives. Anything you can do to ease that transition will make it better for everyone!

We’d love to hear how you’re preparing for your students’ transition to your class. Get in touch with @EducationCity to let us know.