Transitions Research

[SueJ]

Hi to anyone picking up on this thread.

 

I am at the very early stages of an action research project working within the Five Bridges of Transitions framework. My interest is particularly with the Curriculum Bridge in respect of the transition of young children from pre-school / nursery settings into mainstream school settings (usually reception classes so still within the remit of the EYFS).

 

This "bridge" is trying to develop a sense of the continuous nature of learning and for my project I would like to get a general sense of what the EYFS curriculum looks like in terms of curriculum experiences rather than specifics within the pre-school / nursery setting sector and then the mainstream reception sector. The idea would be to try to determine what key experiences children are getting in pre-schools and nurseries and what key experiences they are getting in reception classes and how the two do/don't marry up. An example could be for instance cookery in that within a pre-school type setting children are perhaps cooking and making cakes, muffins, bread etc. What are they then doing in reception classes and is it acknowleding their prior key experiences and extending on them or is it back tracking e.g, backtracking - making sandwiches using pre-sliced bread or extending making bread, making butter/jam then making sandwiches. (Sorry if that's not a particularly great example but hopefully you get what I mean).

 

My next step is to try pin down a sort of top twenty of early years pre-school / nursery experiences - a bit like twenty things children should do before aged 11 only in this case aged 5 if you get my drift and to what type of experience level - as this place is the font of all known early years knowledge would anyone like to share their ideas on what they believe are their top five key experiences pre-school / nursery children should enjoy.

 

Many thanks for your help

[Guest]

Thats tricky. . . . . .

1. socialise at a party with traditional party games such as pass the parcel and musical mats/ chairs

2. HAve the opportunity to move freely between indoors and outdoors.....

3. Dress up

4. Access creative materials freely

5. Access mark making materials freely

 

Is that the idea you were after?

[SueJ]

That's brilliant Scarlettangel - thanks for that.

[finleysmaid]

i'm really intigued by this idea it reminded me of two things...firstly the developmental checks that health visitors used to do (like stacking a tower of bricks and making a bridge with them) and secondly a conversation i had some time ago about the fact our group (at the time) were a dab hand at IT and i was unsure whether to push this further as the school they were going to was not set up to follow this up. I felt that the group might get frustrated if they were unable to persue their interest. So i might be totally off track (i often am!)

top five key experiences ...hummm

1 being part of a group

2 start to care for yourself

3 experience life through your available senses

4 communicate with others

5 scaffold an idea

 

gosh that was tricky ...especially if you consider all children including those with eal or sen...dont know that i've done the question justice

[Inge]

this also reminded me of a time when we sent a group to children on to school, quite independent and capable of doing lots of things, particularly managing aprons for painting and other activities and coats etc.. when they got to school they had all this done for them in the classroom.. one came back to us for a day , cannot remember why , but when she wanted to paint she came to us and told us she wanted to paint so we had to put her apron on.. having done this herself for almost a year before leaving us.. same happened with her coat and other small things she had been able to do before when with us.

 

 

 

having some independence and able to make own choices

allowed and able to take some risks

playing games with friends , making them up as you go

freedom to learn at own pace and take time to do things..

space to run

have fun with lots of laughter

 

sorry had to give 6 could not choose 5... but they may not bee what you are looking for anyway!

[Guest]

I'm finding this a very interesting idea. Are 'The Five Bridges of Transition' an existing concept, if so I have not heard about it and would love to read more if you have any links to more info regarding the 'curriculum bridge'.

 

In settings I have worked in, only very occasionally have reception/nursery school teachers visited the setting before the child joins the school to see the child in their current environment, and I have to admit that I have never been to visit the receiving school, to see for myself what is going to be expected of the children that are moving on (We do, of course, compile detailed 'learning journey's' that are given to the parents to share with the receiving school, how well these are received, if at all, I'm not aware). So I do not know how well (or otherwise) that transition happens, this is the point of your research I suppose?

 

My personal feelings are that within an effective pre-school/nursery setting, children are encouraged to make choices about what they do, how they do it and whether they do it at all. I suspect that once they join nursery school/reception a lot of the time there are a lot more 'things' they must do, at specific times and activities that have been selected for them. I think it's hard to think of five specific scenarios, as there must be so many, for me I'm going to focus mainly on reduced freedom of decision making.

 

Being able to choose whether to be inside or outside

Being able to self select activities

Helping to prepare snack and eat it when choose to

Freedom to engage in lengthy role play

Praise for mark making in whatever form

 

Sorry to ramble on, and I may have completely the 'wrong end of the stick'.

[Inge]

I'm finding this a very interesting idea. Are 'The Five Bridges of Transition' an existing concept, if so I have not heard about it and would love to read more if you have any links to more info regarding the 'curriculum bridge'.

 

In settings I have worked in, only very occasionally have reception/nursery school teachers visited the setting before the child joins the school to see the child in their current environment, and I have to admit that I have never been to visit the receiving school, to see for myself what is going to be expected of the children that are moving on (We do, of course, compile detailed 'learning journey's' that are given to the parents to share with the receiving school, how well these are received, if at all, I'm not aware). So I do not know how well (or otherwise) that transition happens, this is the point of your research I suppose?

 

While I have had the complete opposite experience from local schools the children went to (all but one!). Reception teachers came and visited and saw all the children on the next intake to them. Sometimes we had them stay all day with us and they saw in detail how we worked and what the children were capable of doing, joining in often commenting that is was fun to be able to do this without the pressures set upon them once the children started the school..

One local school used to send all reception staff for a day.... and they went away saying why don't we do xxxx and I had them come back later asking where we sourced some things so they could buy the same as it had worked so well... they came every year .

We had teachers even with just one child moving to their school come to visit for at least an hour to meet them and play with them.. Only one local school did not do this, the one closest to us even though we invited/asked and they never came... pity so much was missed by not doing so.

 

We also used to visit the reception class of the one school who was really enthusiastic about this . They invited all feeder preschools during the Easter term to see the children and what they were doing... we were the only ones who ever visited... but we had a fun afternoon, joining in and the children really enjoyed seeing us and showing us what they were doing.

 

This was as good for us as the children...not sure if this still happens but it really worked well for all

 

now back to the 5 top experiences.

[catma]

This "bridge" is trying to develop a sense of the continuous nature of learning and for my project I would like to get a general sense of what the EYFS curriculum looks like in terms of curriculum experiences rather than specifics within the pre-school / nursery setting sector and then the mainstream reception sector. The idea would be to try to determine what key experiences children are getting in pre-schools and nurseries and what key experiences they are getting in reception classes and how the two do/don't marry up. An example could be for instance cookery in that within a pre-school type setting children are perhaps cooking and making cakes, muffins, bread etc. What are they then doing in reception classes and is it acknowledging their prior key experiences and extending on them or is it back tracking e.g, backtracking - making sandwiches using pre-sliced bread or extending making bread, making butter/jam then making sandwiches. (Sorry if that's not a particularly great example but hopefully you get what I mean).

 

I know this may not have described what you are after but it made me think though that the idea of experiences seems to determine that once a child has made sandwiches somewhere in their first 5 years they shouldn't do it again because to do so would be back tracking..............this relates to a curriculum model rather than the outcomes in terms of competencies needed to be able to make a successful transition into a new arena, recognising that it will have different drivers and expectations as the children are generally older and more capable of managing those structures, e.g. less reliance on a key person or 1 key person for the whole group.

 

If we talk about skills then it is more of a continuum.

However transition also depends on having the right information in the right format for the person receiving it. e.g. when a child goes to yr1, the yr1 teacher doesn't need thousands of observations, they just need the summary outcomes of the EYFSP. Their professional knowledge should enable them to interpret and use the info to ensure progression in learning

 

From the perspective of a reception class I think I would be looking for:

 

Managing their own basic needs - toileting (essential if they are outside the classroom), snacks, drinks, using aprons etc. Being able to make decisions about when they need to do any of these things.

 

Self Confidence to try new things

 

To be able to work as part of a group - social skills

 

High levels of engagement - self motivation

 

Adaptability - routines etc may not spring entirely from their individual needs but the needs of the group.

 

Cx

Edited May 8, 2011 by catma

[SueJ]

Thank you all for your responses I am keeping a note of them all.

 

In response to your query Sam the 5 bridges came from some research done into transitions for an older age range - the Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum section 4.67 page 97 mentions a bit about it. The link to that report is below

 

Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum

 

I have a meeting towards the end of May where I shall be trying to bring together ideas to help formulate an early years version of the curriculum bridge. Inge and Sam's very different experiences of early years setting's liaisons with mainstream school are sort of typical - my setting has very good relationships with some schools but others are a bit "standoff" no matter how often they are approached. In the case of the school that most children leaving my setting go on to attend the head of reception/foundation phase visits the two/three early years settings who "send" them the most children. A significant number of reception teachers I speak to say that can't have the time out to visit every setting that is "sending" them a child as they receive children from over 10/20/30 pre-schools, nurseries etc.

 

The transitions project that I am on is trying to find an approach that helps the process so it is very much a case of watch this space.

 

Thanks again for your replies.

[Guest]

this also reminded me of a time when we sent a group to children on to school, quite independent and capable of doing lots of things, particularly managing aprons for painting and other activities and coats etc

 

We have a rolling programme for a while now where the Nursery nurse follows through from nursery to the end of reception with each year group. However independant the children are when they leave the nursery when they walk through the reception door some sort of regression happens. I think its a retreat to a comfortable place emotionally. It takes at least a term for them to recover their inpendance and take a step forward again.

 

I think we should have a 5 bridges of transition for parents!