Questions For Pre-school Staff Regarding Transition To School

[Guest]

hi all pre-school, nursery staff have a few questions would you like to answer them?

 

 

how important do you feel partnership with parents is?

 

how do you share information with parents?

 

what do you think of the record of transfer to primary school?

 

Do you have a grid sytem to send to schools? this has areas of learning and stages of development to tick when we think the child is!

 

in Kent we send this grid to the school and actively encourage parents share children's learning journals (unique learning story) with the reception teacher. What do you do?

[Gezabel]

hi all pre-school, nursery staff have a few questions would you like to answer them?

 

 

how important do you feel partnership with parents is?

VERY!! and I think it takes time and effort on both sides to achieve a real partnership - I also think it is an ongoing and continually developing partnership if that makes sense!

 

how do you share information with parents?

Verbally at drop off/collection times, daily home/preschool diaries, formal parents evening once a term and all parents know they can make an appointment to see us at any time

 

what do you think of the record of transfer to primary school?

We provide a written summary (split into areas of learning) and encourage parents to share the children's learning journies with the school

 

Do you have a grid sytem to send to schools? this has areas of learning and stages of development to tick when we think the child is!

This is kind of what we do (as replied to the previous question) but we don't tick any boxes!

 

in Kent we send this grid to the school and actively encourage parents share children's learning journals (unique learning story) with the reception teacher. What do you do?

Sounds as though what we do is similar it's just not in grid form and doesn't involve tick boxes

Edited February 7, 2010 by Geraldine

[thumperrabbit]

1) Very important, although it is sometimes very hard to achieve no matter how hard you try

 

2) Drop off/Collection times, diary for those who work, 1/2 termly meeting with the parent

 

3) For the 1st time last year our school came to visit us!!! we were able to have a discussion with the teacher and go through the child's learning journey, this is given to the school before end of term and then school give it back to the parent around October time.

 

4) Our LEA have just shortened our transition report to an A4 sheet where we colour which age band for each area of learning is relevant, this isn't broken down into CLL Lang for Comm, thinking etc it's just CLL which I find a little strange. and then we write a small summary on the child, there is a parent comment section also

 

5) Think I answered that above!

[Guest]

4) Our LEA have just shortened our transition report to an A4 sheet where we colour which age band for each area of learning is relevant, this isn't broken down into CLL Lang for Comm, thinking etc it's just CLL which I find a little strange. and then we write a small summary on the child, there is a parent comment section also

if you don't mind which LEA do you come from

 

its great you are able to share learning journeys with the school. my nursery last year had children goig to 14 different schools its really hard to get the teachers to come to the nursery

 

bumblbee

[sam2368]

how important do you feel partnership with parents is?

essential - we're committee run

how do you share information with parents?

conversation at start end of session, jotters in drawers, email and paper newsletters, children's files go home for parents to look at and comment on, when parent is in as helper we try to find time for their key person to sit down and discuss their child/look at file

what do you think of the record of transfer to primary school?

It's very long and depending on who does it can be a waste of time. At a recent cluster meeting, reception teachers were saying they're fed up of receiving so many different formats, it's a lot to get through when you have 90 children coming in.

Do you have a grid sytem to send to schools? this has areas of learning and stages of development to tick when we think the child is! Nope - would be easier and quicker but to be honest the reception teachers need to do their own assessment anyway because what a child is doing in June/july in one environment could be very different to what they can or can't acheive in a much larger, busier, new environment 2 or 3 months later.

in Kent we send this grid to the school and actively encourage parents share children's learning journals (unique learning story) with the reception teacher. What do you do?

We send a copy of the childs learning and devt file which is basically a synopsis of the observations and photos we've taken throughout the childs time with us - each area is broken down and we do an overall judgement for each to ascertain whether they are at 30-50mths etc. This is new this year (yet another new government imposed, you must do this as part of the local agreement type of thing)

I have to say, the reception teachers I have contact with have found a short paragraph on each child breifly outlining extreme needs, querks, behaviour and psed levels have been deemed the most helpful. Haven't told my staff who spend sooo much time on their beautiful files this, it would tip them over the edge!

Sam

Edited February 9, 2010 by sam2368

[eyfs1966]

I would concurr with most points raised by other posters, particularly partnership with parents, and the importance of sharing info. My only concern regarding sending over full learning journeys is that I don't feel they are very user friendly. They are just so full of information, I can't see how a year r teacher can possibly have the time to trawl through all of them in sufficient detail as to get a balanced picture of the child. therefore I also send over the end of year report, which is a short document that I feel more easily describes the child, their interests and stage(s) of development. I would love to see a copy of both Thumper rabbits transition sheet and the Kent grid sheet.

Edited February 9, 2010 by eyfs1966

[Guest]

Kent grid sheet.

 

dear eyfs 1966

here is website address

 

www.kenttrustweb.org.uk

 

 

type in at search my unique story and pdf will come up for my unique story and grid etc

 

bumblbee

[Guest MaryEMac]

My answers are very similar to those already posted. We do the same learning and development record as Sam but I have been told by teachers that it will be a lot of work for them to take on board. All they need is an A4 sheet which tells them where the child is at for all six areas.

As regards transition, this year I will be having pre-entry meetings with the rec teacher and head.

 

Mary

[Guest]

My answers are very similar to those already posted. We do the same learning and development record as Sam but I have been told by teachers that it will be a lot of work for them to take on board. All they need is an A4 sheet which tells them where the child is at for all six areas.

As regards transition, this year I will be having pre-entry meetings with the rec teacher and head.

 

Mary

thanks for your replies

 

i will send out a post to teachers to see what they think about transition docs later