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When to start transition documents?


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Just wondered when pre-schools/day nursery/childminders start preparing the transition paperwork for children who are leaving to go to school nursery & reception.

I always end up in a mad rush at the end of term and I'm determined not to do it this year - but I feel it's still too early, or is it?

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Hi thumper - mine are 'done' - yay!!!

 

They have gone home to parents for their comment - should be returned next week and the I will photocopy - one for school, one for Learning Journey folders and one for my records :1b

 

They are dated June - so I think that's fine.......

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Yep, I've told staff to get on a do them, not much will change in the next couple of weeks so they may as well get going. Thought it could be good if we do get any of our teachers visiting that we could share that information then -

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We are writing them now. I'm never brave enough to let them go home though once they are done, I might never see them again! We share them with parents at Pre-school and get them to comment and sign there and then. We then photocopy them and send a copy home.

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We held our transition meeting with schools a couple of weeks ago now. Some teachers are also due to visit us in the next couple of weeks.

 

Do you actually do transition reports? We've stopped as the schools told us not to bother (in a nice way I should add :rolleyes: )

 

We do have visits and staff talk about the children (with parental consent) Children with specific needs get more paperwork though.

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We have started them as we have to hand over to schools week beginning 11th July. TBH, most of the schools seem to only want the age bands and aren't interested in all the stuff we write, they tend to visit or at least speak to us on the phone and prefer the information they get that way but the local LA insist we send the full document and get signatures to prove we have sent them. It does sometimes feel as though we spend a lot of time writing these for no reason!

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Our feeder school are not that interested -sadly- in our 'reports' so this year we are sending out a Summary Report via Tapestry to parents - printing out a snapshot assessment for school (box ticking - she won't be interested) and then Manager will chat with her on first accompanied visit.

 

Will PDF a couple as evidence (in case!)

 

Was rather taken with the simplicity of the Anna Ephgrave version - short, sweet and individual so will try to emulate that!

Edited by Rafa
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We take a summary of each child to our transition meeting. The types of things the teachers say they are mainly interested in are:

Self care.

Friendship groups,

SEN

Multi-agency support.

Phobias.

Medical conditions.

A general idea of child's interests.

Behavioural concerns.

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We work very closely with the F2 teachers as we are in the school building so they know the children well before they begin main school. We pass on a copy of each child's final report (first week in July) to school (which includes the age banding) and have meetings to discuss friendship groups and individual needs. Each child with SEND has a separate transition meeting which involves myself, the setting SENCO, school SENCO, F2 teacher and parents to ensure that everything is covered and the school are fully aware of the child's areas of need. No wonder the final half term goes by in a flash!!

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We write a summary for the parents to show them that we know their child well and that he or she learnt much whilst with us. The child's future teacher receive it too, because it's written; there may be someone finding it useful. However, any valuable information is passed on verbally, during a visit or over the phone. Over the years, there have been teachers who haven't bothered to make contact, which I've found really upsetting.

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im sending to 10 schools again this year...have only heard from one of them so far.

Yes, it's getting less for us too - it feels like the 'working in partnership' is taking a downwards path at the moment.

I do appreciate though that schools are very busy (as are we) but when Ofsted are asking about partnership working, they don't always want to hear that you've 'tried'

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I contact the schools and tell them that I will send a summary via email. to be forwarded to the teacher. Over the phone and in the mail, I invite the teacher to discuss in person or over the phone. Perhaps I should ask the school office to ask the teacher to call me, before I send anything. That way they may be more likely to contact me so I can pass on that important information which I may not want to put in a written report.

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We gain permission to share information from parents/carers at the start of the summer term so that we can begin to book the teachers in to see the children in the setting.

 

We then ask each feeder teacher what information will be the most helpful to them. Generally it's a verbal discussion about each child, any particular interests they have, particular support needed and the tracking sheet indicating the age and stage plotting whilst at the setting. It's usually quite painless to be honest!

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We decided to start earlier this year and all transition reports were written by half term. It appears to have actually taken some of the stress and panic away from staff. It may just be me??? :unsure: If there is some amazing progression we can always amend the documents.

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Do you not find that if you do reports too early that the staff just 'turn off'. Little point in writing obs/planning or taking photos if the children are going to school and you've finished their documents?

Absolutely not! :o :lol:

 

We still prepare the 'old fashioned' Learning Journey folders - we will all continue to add to these weekly

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Absolutely not! :o :lol:

 

We still prepare the 'old fashioned' Learning Journey folders - we will all continue to add to these weekly

;)

 

Ah this is where my confusion lies! we only have learning stories (journeys) as transition documents...from which we write our reports

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We are visiting and talking with our feeder pre-schools at present, but have asked for paperwork to come - or we'll collect - in September as we are having major work done in school over the holidays. This seems to have gone down very well to my surprise!

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Do you not find that if you do reports too early that the staff just 'turn off'. Little point in writing obs/planning or taking photos if the children are going to school and you've finished their documents?

No, its had the opposite effect - so far. If I was being honest, I find staff were so stressed trying to get everything finished that they got to the point that they couldn't wait until the end of the term and for everything to be over. I feel that those last few weeks for the children were almost 'wasted' (maybe not the right word). At the moment I see them enjoying those last few weeks and better able to support the children through the transition process, managing the challenging behaviour that sometimes comes with transition time and having fun! ::1a ​They are still completing observations and photos for those last few next steps.

 

The transition documents are written but stored on the computer. They are ready to have any final 'tweaks', share with parents and off to schools as and when required.

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We take a summary of each child to our transition meeting. The types of things the teachers say they are mainly interested in are:

Self care.

Friendship groups,

SEN

Multi-agency support.

Phobias.

Medical conditions.

A general idea of child's interests.

Behavioural concerns.

Fredbear - do the parents come to the transition meetings as well or is this just between you and the teacher. I have a couple of children who will need an eye keeping on them but can't really put those details into anything the parent sees. The know the child has issues but are keen to keep it to themselves which I feel is unfair. I could forsee that if I wrote this on their report then the report would magically get lost between the parent and school.

 

We just do a summative assessment on the children and put in the age bands that we know they are working at. Have now got Tapestry so will attempt to do these on there instead of hand writing them. We give this to the parent with the learning journey but photocopy it and either pass it onto the school or put it in a envelope and drop it off. We are very lucky that most of the children go to one or two of the local schools. Haven't started them yet - am hoping to do so this weekend when husband at work and youngest on her D of E weekend.

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No parents do not come. This is for all the schools and early years settings. We gain permission to share on our registration forms from parent/carers so this is already in place.

Any children with additional support will also be discussed to enable as much help as possible from the beginning of this next stage.

Some of the teachers may also come to visit us, but not so many now, due to time constraints.

Have to say this meeting is a great way to network with all the schools too.

By having a verbal discussion allows you to also share any children you feel might need an extra eye on as you put it.?

Edited by Fredbear
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  • 3 weeks later...

Would anyone be willing to share a copy of their Transition document please? I knew staff were spending a lot of time doing them but then I saw one!!! Oh gods, its so involved :o

 

The old manager said it came form Birmingham Council and we were told we HAVE to do it.

As far as I can tell its about 6 years old, so possibly way out of date and irrelevant but I cant find proof (Birmingham web site isnt at all friendly) and without that..... :huh:

 

I realise its too late for this year but it might help me. Also if anyone from Birmingham would like to tell me what they use that would be great :1b

 

Thank you :1b :1b

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