The Department for Education Position Paper on Transition to School states, “Transition to school from prior-to-school settings is a critical time in the lives of all children. We know that a young person’s future wellbeing is highly influenced by their success in completing school. It is also clear from research that a child’s ‘adjustment to the first year of school and the patterns of behaviour and achievement established during this period, have important implications for the trajectories of future academic and social success’. Current research views transition itself as a far more complex and long-term process that involves a child’s identity, the internalisation of leaving one setting and then developing a sense of belonging within the new setting.”

Black Forest Primary School employs a range of strategies to support your child’s transition to school prior to and following your child commencing in Reception. These include:

• Interviews between school staff and families to develop an understanding of your child as a person
• Orientation visits prior to starting Reception
• Junior Primary staff visiting local kindergartens to meet with kindy staff and to meet and observe your child
• An Orientation to School Family Evening to allow you to explore the school and what we offer with your child

Additional information about transition is issued to all families following enrolment.