Guest MaryEMac Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 Hi, everyone, I've just got home after going on a course called 'effective transitions'. It was about the transition from pre-school to school. It was really good and I have come home all fired up and want to get started immediately but I've got to wait til tomorrow. Our reception teacher came too and although we already have a good link we have got loads of new ideas. The course is in three parts and we have had to say what we hope to have achieved by the time we meet again in June. Then the next meeting is in September which will be where we discuss what we have learnt and hopefully will be able to produce a booklet which all settings can access. It is not often that I go on courses and come home raring to get stuck in so I had to tell someone and my husband wasn't that interested. Thanks for listening, Mary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 That sounds great Mary! My friend went on a course not disimilar to that and she raved about it for weeks after! She came back with some really good ideas for preparing children for school. So much so that I nicked half of them! If only all courses could be like that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 We have been looking at transition at our setting too. I would love to know some of the best ideas you learnt from your course! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 Me too! Deb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 I went on the same course last week in Chatteris! I feel the same! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 Its sounds good but I've not seen anything like that offered round here. Any ideas to share? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 Its sounds good but I've not seen anything like that offered round here. Any ideas to share? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 Yes, come on Mary and pandamonium ... no good telling us how inspired you were and then giving us the TINIEST insight into why or what ideas you've picked up. PLEEEEEEEEEEASE ... tell us more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marion Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 Our LEA is running a single transition course next month with limited placed so I will have to wait for feedback from the nursery teacher............. not very helpful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marion Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 Our LEA is running a single transition course next month with limited places so I will have to wait for feedback from the nursery teacher............. not very helpful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 The trainer said she ran the sessions countrywide... this has come via our local Care and Education Partnership (or whatever they are called today ) We shared what we do already which ranged from the local school teacher visiting once and the children visiting school once to children spending time at the school every week - joining playtime, lunchtime etc... We are fortunate that our preschool happens to be on a school site but there are 2 other feeder preschools that aren't. I think it's much harder for them to forge really close links like the latter example as they would spend the whole session walking to and from! It's late now and I have to be alert for Ofsted tomorrow but promise I will share properly tomorrow if Mary doesn't first Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MaryEMac Posted May 18, 2006 Share Posted May 18, 2006 I went on the course with one of my assistants and the reception teacher and we hope to produce a Transition Policy between the two settings. The Head teacher is very supportive which is half the battle. Our children already visit the reception class with us in the summer term and have two afternoons on their own. It is lucky that we are on the school site and are linked by an enclosed courtyard. On the course we looked at transition from the point of view of the children, the parents and both settings. Some ideas were to invite some year 5 children into the playgroup for a short time each week so that whenour children go into reception those older children will be in year 6 and our children won't find them so threatening. Also one thing that I hadn't thought of was lunchtime. Some of our children find it hard to carry a beaker to a table so how are they going to manage a tray with main course, dessert,cutleryand a cup? So we are going to approach the school cook and ask if she has any spare trays so that we can set up the role play area as a school canteen. Another idea was to borrow some uniforms from lost property for the dressing up area. Our reception teacher is going to let us have some photo's of activities in her classroom and also when we have our rising 5's afternoon we are going to open our doors onto the courtyard and so is she so that all the children can have free flow between our two areas. She has also asked if we can get together to produce a user friendly achievement report for her with minimal words. We are hoping to have achieved these things by the time we meet againin June. Sorry for the long post but it is the first time for ages that I have been so fired up about anything to do with playgroup. Went into school this morning and the head said that she wished everyone came from courses like we had. I think that the idea is for our groups results and ideas will be linked with Pandamonium's group to produce a booklet for the Fenland area. I think I've finally run out of steam but I will keep you posted as to how we get on. Mary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 18, 2006 Share Posted May 18, 2006 Hi Our LEA is running transition courses in June/July (Durham), so for the moment I am going with Year 1 teacher. It looks very interesting and you've mentioned some lovely ideas already Mary. Many thanks I will leave feedback of my course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 18, 2006 Share Posted May 18, 2006 I was talking to my friend today and she mentioned using puppets during circle time. I think I've written this before somewhere else, but the idea is that you have 2 puppets - one is excited about going to school and the other is shy and nervous. Basically they are used to ask and answer important questions that the children may have relating to their transition from nursery to school. I thought it was a brilliant idea and it was part of our plans for the later part of the summer term Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 19, 2006 Share Posted May 19, 2006 Sorry I never came back - other events took over.... Ofsted! I didn't know a booklet was coming from our courses - that's good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Hi Mary and Tracey Its me Jenny, I delivered the training! Thanks so much for your comments, it is so lovely to read that people have been inspired from training you've delivered Just to say I have just delivered this training in Cambridgeshire, but I do deliver training country wide. I think Mary summed up pretty well all that we covered. Mary I look forward to hearing how you have got on next week Jenny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MaryEMac Posted June 16, 2006 Share Posted June 16, 2006 Hi Jenny, Nice to hear from you again. Looking forward to Wednesday. Can I just ask if there is a model policy or pro-forma for Transition as our school headteacher is keen to get one set up between our two establishments. Obviously it would make our lives easier if we could just modify one. Thanks Jenny, see you Weds. Mary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 MaryEmac .... what fantastic and yet simple ideas! Children are so clever and as adults we often miss (or take for granted) the obvious. I will mention some of the role-play ideas to nurseries (I'm a frustrated NQT Reception teacher). There are 2 SEN children on the autistic spectrum who would really benefit from the familiarity of uniform & changes etc. This would link in brillantly with the photo/ socail diaries of expected routines etc. It's lovely to hear of great courses ..... but so much beneficail when one can actually do something with that knowledge! Big thankyou Skylight p.s pardon spelling - late! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 19, 2006 Share Posted June 19, 2006 Hi Its great to hear of so many positive ideas to aid transistion. My only concern is you need contact with the school in the first place. I have 20 children going to school, they are feeding into 3 different schools but because we are not connected to a school we have had no contact at all. When we contacted them we were just told to send a small written report, they don't even want the transistion records that we have spent so long preparing, They do not want to come in to the pre-school to see the children or even a phone call to discuss any concerns we may have. It makes you feel you are not important. Its like banging your head against a brick wall. One child has behavioural issues but the school are not interested. Sorry for going on about it but it makes me so angry!!! Sorry course sounds fantastic!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 19, 2006 Share Posted June 19, 2006 HiIts great to hear of so many positive ideas to aid transistion. My only concern is you need contact with the school in the first place. I have 20 children going to school, they are feeding into 3 different schools but because we are not connected to a school we have had no contact at all. When we contacted them we were just told to send a small written report, they don't even want the transistion records that we have spent so long preparing, They do not want to come in to the pre-school to see the children or even a phone call to discuss any concerns we may have. It makes you feel you are not important. Its like banging your head against a brick wall. One child has behavioural issues but the school are not interested. Sorry for going on about it but it makes me so angry!!! Sorry course sounds fantastic!!! That is tricky, my advice would be in each school to approach the reception class teacher and it no luck go via the headteacher. Keep persisting and try each year, especially if you hear of staff changes as they may have a different attitude. You could still do the role play and also working with the parents on how to support their children during the transition. There is an Ofsted requirement for schools ot show they have links with pre school providers, so keep trying It is frustrating as you are reliant on the school meeting you half way. Jenny Hi Jenny,Nice to hear from you again. Looking forward to Wednesday. Can I just ask if there is a model policy or pro-forma for Transition as our school headteacher is keen to get one set up between our two establishments. Obviously it would make our lives easier if we could just modify one. Thanks Jenny, see you Weds. Mary Hi Mary I'm afraid I don't have one, but I'll see what I can do before Wednesday. See you then Jenny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 Hi Jenny, glad you made it! I came on to rave about the second part of the course to find my subscription had expired! I couldn't work out if Cambs have renewed so ended up paying as I think it's so worth it! Mary, I hope you didn't mind me telling Jenny we had discussed her course here but it is always nice to get feedback isn't it? I felt that as this was proper feedback that nobody had expected Jenny to read it was very honest and more valid than those sheets we fill in on the hop as we really want to go home! Anyway, we have ended up with a closer link than we had so I'm happy and so (hopefully) will the parents be! PS, Last year YR teacher said an issue was children coming to her unable to change for PE... This year I've asked all my school leavers to bring a PE kit to practise with and half of them keep disappearing to do it to show us!! Don't think there'll be many problems with that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marion Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 Sounds as if your training has been much more thorough than ours Which will consist of 1 days input! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MaryEMac Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Hi, Pandamonium, not a problem with telling Jenny although I must admit that I was surprised to hear from her. I agree that the feedback sheets are a pain and you can't really say what you want. When we met on weds, unfortunately there were no Reception teachers there so it was more difficult to discuss, but we managed it. One good thing was that everyone had made some progress with transition even those of us who already had good links. It just remains to be seen if all these things have made any difference when we meet again after the children have started school. Mary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 Whoops - Hi panda. Just spotted this. Happily, Cambridgeshire have re-subscribed. I'll arrange to have your subscription refunded! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 Oh wow, thanks for that Steve, that would be much appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 MaryEmac - good to hear the ethusiasm! I also heard from a special school how they prepared their children for mainstream (think these strategies apply to most at that age) was to get a visual calender with school logos adapted to significant pre-school visit dates etc. All the rest of what you say makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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