From the Early Years

ELC Transition Experiences

The ELC has been buzzing with new children, new families and new experiences over the past few weeks. It is this time of year that we run carefully planned (and carefully timed) transitions right across the ELC.

We welcome new children to Smith Street…

Our Smith Street learners visit their new rooms in Habich ELC…

and our eldest ELC children from Habich, begin their formal transition to Reception.

We meet with all new families before they begin with us at St Andrew’s to ensure that we have as much information as possible so that their transition is successful, with both children and their families feeling confident in the care and the learning they will experience with us. For some children this will mean bringing along a special comfort toy to orientation, for others it may mean negotiating a short visit before a longer stretch. A successful transition might mean ensuring that we have a child’s medical action plan and medication ready to go and for others, it might simply mean making sure that we have dinosaurs, trains or perhaps dress ups at hand. Many of our new children already attend playgroup each Monday morning and we observe children feeling more and more ‘at home’ each week. They are confident in the space, confident with the educators and confident with the resources.

As well as the visits, a formal handover takes place prior to each transition (Smith Street to Habich ELC and Habich ELC to Reception). We set up meetings between teachers so that important information about a child’s social and emotional wellbeing as well as their learning preferences can be communicated from one teacher to another.

Our Smith Street ELC children have had two visits to their intended class in Habich, either Karrambi or Mantiri. Not only does this give us chance to observe children playing within different groups, it also gives them a chance to become more familiar with the space and new experiences on offer in Habich.

Our Habich children transitioning to Reception already demonstrate a sense of belonging to the School. Over the last few weeks, they have taken part in visits to their classroom with their intended Reception teacher. They have played in the Reception playground, eaten from their lunch box and even had some specialist lesson experiences. Visits to various places around the school throughout the ELC years contribute to the informal part of the transition between ELC and Reception, ensuring that children have a strong sense of belonging and already feel comfortable and confident within ‘their’ St Andrew’s School environment.

We look forward to welcoming all of our new families officially next year and feel confident in knowing that our current children have been well prepared for the new learning experiences awaiting them in 2023.

Alicia Flowers
Assistant Director of Early Learning