July is a big month in all forms of education, commonly known as ‘transition month’. Schools and parents are looking at how to prepare their children for the next stage of their education, whether it is starting nursery, primary, or secondary.
Depending on the age of the children will depend on the type of support.
Nursery – starting nursery, at any age, involves a lot of preparation. Usually, the nursery staff will visit the child in their home, at which time a detailed ‘About Me’ history is taken. Visits to the nursery will involve a slow introduction with their keyworker, the other staff and children. Parents are usually encouraged to stay for the first visit, and as necessary, as often afterwards. Completing the About Me means the nursery staff have a list of the child’s likes and dislikes, favourite toys, allergies etc. All this information means the child will feel secure in their new environment.
Both primary school and secondary school have a similar, although less intensive, system.
So, this month there are a lot of changes for a lot of children!
If you ask someone, they will think of transitions as the moving from one setting to another – or starting their first setting. But transitions are so much more. The Oxford Dictionary says that ‘transition is the process or a period from one state or condition to another.’
If you think of transitions in this way, then early years, children and young people go through many transitions in their lives.
The very first transition would be childbirth. Imagine being somewhere warm, dark, and quiet – to suddenly being in a loud, bright environment – so traumatic!
The first few years of a child’s life is one long transition – eyesight clearing – bottle to beaker – laying to rolling to crawling to walking – milk to solids – birth of a sibling – the list is endless. And then when a child enters puberty their body goes through a whole host of changes – more transitions.
We need to be mindful of the impact these transitions have on a baby, child or young person. As an adult we would struggle with so many changes with the understanding of why they are happening. To be going through these as a baby, with no comprehension, may well impact on their behaviour. The same could be said of adolescents, even though they know why they are changing, doesn’t mean that they will not be emotionally struggling with everything.
If you would like to know more about how we support employers and training providers, please visit our website on www.sseducationalservices.co.uk
