- Teachers from the child's new school meet them in the familiar environment of the nursery and key workers write a learning plan
- A school readiness pack gives parents information about the child's new school and ways they can support school readiness
- Data shows children at Trafford Park outperform national averages across a range of school readiness measures
ACTION
The Village Nursery in the Trafford Park area of Manchester is one of six run by the family-owned The Village Nursery Group.
The setting has 131 places for children from birth to five, and is rated "outstanding" by Ofsted, which has identified it as an example of good practice in ensuring a smooth transition to school.
This is something staff think about and plan for very carefully, explains Claire Oxley, assistant manager and lead on school transitions.
The nursery ensures it knows which school each child will be going to. Children post letters or drawings to their new nursery school or reception teacher and teachers are invited to come and meet them.
"Ideally we want teachers to come and visit the children in the setting to see them in their own environment," says Oxley. "We do home visits for children who join us so it is the same sort of ethos - the children are comfortable with familiar people close by."
The nursery compiles a learning and development summary for each child - covering the key areas of learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), which is shared and discussed with parents before being given to the child's new teacher.
"It gives the teachers a really good overview of where the children sit developmentally within the EYFS," says Oxley.
The summary includes information about a child's interests and "next steps", so that "the learning they are doing can be carried on into school", says Oxley.
"If a child has any particular needs, such as more support, we can discuss those with the teacher."
If teachers cannot attend, nursery staff will go and visit schools to discuss children.
When it comes to school readiness more generally, the nursery's key person system has a major role to play in ensuring children are confident, happy, curious and eager to learn.
A child comes under the wing of a key person throughout their time in each room at the nursery and this relationship is central.
"They have that intimate knowledge of what makes that child tick, what their interests are and how they are best supported," says Oxley.
The focus is on children being "independent, confident and resilient" - qualities that will help them thrive at school and in life more generally.
When teachers come in, they are asked to complete questionnaires on their perceptions of school readiness and what they feel early years practitioners can do to support that.
"Year on year the information we get back from teachers informs what we do to support children," says Oxley.
Staff in the pre-school room do school readiness activities with the older children such as working on letters and sounds.
There is a classroom role-play area - children can dress up in school uniforms and get used to using pencils and exercise books as well as borrowing books from the pre-school library.
Key workers also have one-to-one discussions about going to school. "They encourage the children to talk about how they are feeling, what they are looking forward to, or if they have any concerns. We can pass this information to parents when we do our daily handovers so parents know what they need to focus on to help support the child."
The nursery runs an informal school readiness workshop for parents and provides each family with an individual school readiness pack, which includes information about the school, such as term dates and uniform order forms, a parents' guide to school readiness and guide to supporting school readiness. Oxley admits this is a "mammoth task" with 41 school packs covering about 25 schools to prepare this time round.
IMPACT
The work the setting does on transition "means children are confident and very well-prepared when they move on to the next stage in their learning", according to the nursery's latest Ofsted inspection report from October 2013. This is confirmed by feedback from the schools they go to, the report says.
Analysis of the data the setting collects on children's progress shows they outstrip the national average in key areas.
For example, on average about 90 per cent of children nationally meet goals for self-confidence and self-awareness but that is 95 per cent among those who attend The Village Nursery.
Ninety per cent meet goals for writing compared with a national average of around 70 per cent. The national average for listening and attention is about 90 per cent but that is just short of 100 per cent at The Village Nursery.
"One of the biggest struggles for teachers is children being able to sit still on a carpet," adds Oxley. "Our children can sit for half an hour to 45 minutes, happily engaging."
