School Readiness and Transitions

 

School readiness 'gives children the broad range of knowledge and skills that provide the right foundation for future progress through school life'. 

 

At St Vincent's Nursery, we are continually providing children with the skills to be school ready. Our Early Years Teacher, Mrs Robinson, greatly focuses on school readiness mainly in the Pre-school room, with regular interventions in the Early Learners room to ensure that the children are ready for transition to Pre-school.

The Pre-school room offers exciting learning opportunities including focus on reading, writing and maths. Emotional well-being is key to becoming school ready; supporting the children's confidence and self-esteem results in them becoming critical thinkers and active learners who show curiosity to learn. When starting school, it is important the children are independent; we support their confidence with their self-care skills and their ability to independently dress themselves which is enhanced by PE lessons which take place during the summer term. 

 

Communication and language skills are vital; during our daily routine the children are given never-ending opportunities to enrich their skills. Various physical activities support the children in gaining greater control with their fine motor skills and before heading off to school we aim to ensure that the children are able to independently write their name and use scissors securely.

 

Transition to ‘big school’ is exciting but also can be very daunting not only for the children but their parents too. To support each child’s transition to school we have put into place many transitional activities throughout the summer term. These include, for example:

  • Stay and Play visits in the Reception classes, which allow the children to explore the environment inside and out
  • Packed lunch in the school hall
  • Joined play with Reception in the school playground
  • Teachers and teaching assistants come in to read a story to the children in the Pre-school room 

 

We work tirelessly towards achieving a smooth transition for our children into the next exciting phase of their education.

 

 

In September 2023 we sent out a survey to all parents whose child transitioned to a primary school in September to gather feedback on how they felt the transition went, despite the very challenging year. This is how parents would rate the quality of preparation for transition to school:

 

'I couldn't have expected any more from you and so thankful my child attended here. He wouldn't have had the same start in school without you all.'

 

'The transition couldn't have been any smoother. The days my daughter spent at the school and the extra time she got really helped her with the transition to school.'

 

'I don't think the transition couldn't have been any better. My child has transitioned well and I believe this is from the plans and support you all provided. She refers to the nursery time with positivity but without feeling like she should be back there.'

 

'An outstanding nursery, so blessed that we were able to get a place and to see all the growth that happened as a person there.'

 

'No better place for a child to attend.'

 

100% of parents thought that the quality of preparation for their child's transition to school was 'outstanding'.

85% of parents felt that now their child has started school, the way that our team prepared both them and their child for school physically and emotionally was 'outstanding', whilst the remaining 15% thought it was 'good'.

100% of parents rated the quality of care and learning opportunities that we offered to support their child's well-being and development as 'outstanding'.

100% of parents would recommend St Vincent's Nursery to others.