Transition from Nursery/Pre-school to Reception

The process of transition from Nursery/Pre-school to Reception is extremely important. We want to ensure the move is as stress free as possible for all, especially for the children. We aim to visit all feeder Nursery schools where we observe the children, introduce ourselves to them, and have a chance to discuss the individual needs of the children with their key worker. We learn about their friendships and ability to socialise, their attainment and readiness for school so that we can be ready to support any needs they have. We also use the parent information booklets to learn further about each child. Children are invited to visit the setting with their parents to explore the Reception area and see Reception in action with the current children. We have a parent welcome meeting, followed by a visit for all the new children on transition day. The summer is a long time in a young child’s world. For this reason, parents are asked to accompany their child for an hours visit on the first day of term. This allows the child to feel more comfortable at school; it reminds them of the activities available and hopefully makes starting school easier. We also send home videos of the teaching staff and photographs of the areas in Reception so that Crabtree becomes a familiar place.

In September, the children build up the days over one week, staying initially until lunchtime and then after lunch (1.30) and finally until 3.15.

If your child has any additional needs or requires extra support with transition, we will have further discussions and meetings with parents and the child will have more settling opportunities. The Senco may also be involved in transition along with any external agencies involved in supporting your child.

In the first term, our focus is very much on ‘social and emotional wellbeing’, and ‘communication, and language’. We start with the topic ‘Magical me’.

What to expect:

At Crabtree, we want to ensure the children feel nurtured and happy. If children are happy and settled, they will learn. The timetable in Reception changes as the children become more independent and able to focus for longer periods. We try to make the routine simple so that it becomes familiar quickly. A large chunk of the morning and some of the afternoon is time spent in continuous provision (we call this ChIL- child initiated learning). The children are encouraged to develop creativity, critical thinking and investigation skills during this time. During ChIL the children lead their own learning and the adults in the setting help to further this learning, by playing with them, moving their learning on and developing vocabulary within their play. During this time, the children also have the chance to consolidate adult directed learning previously taught.

Once settled the children will come in to Finger strong activities, these are fine motor activities such as scissor skills, writing their name, playdough and threading. Each day we teach Phonics to the whole class and maths fluency (10 minutes quick fire maths). The children have four maths sessions a week in addition to the fluency sessions, some of these are taught in groups of 15. The children will also have guided reading three times a week, which is matched to their secure phonic knowledge. We follow the phonics scheme ‘Little Wandle which the Collins Big Cat reading books are linked to. We cover Understanding of the World (including Woodland Learning) and Expressive Art and Design in the afternoons. We split the children into groups of 20 to complete these activities.

Each term we include either workshops, have visitors and special days.