NSW creates unique way to preserve the knowledge of early childhood as children move to school

Early childhood is a unique period in a child’s life of rapid and transformative learning. No matter when children enter the early childhood space to be educated and cared for, the insights and information that their teachers and educators hold is invaluable, particularly when children make the move to primary school. 

 

In New South Wales, around 100,000 children transition to school from early childhood settings each year, and in using a manual information sharing process much of the knowledge held by their first teachers and educators that supports children from the start can be lost. 

To ensure this knowledge is passed onto  schools in an efficient and user friendly way, the NSW Department of Education has digitised  the Transition to School Statement.

 

It is highly recommended that every child in early childhood education and care settings has a Transition to School Statement completed by their teacher or educator before they start school. 

 

The Transition to School Statement gives a snapshot of a child’s development, outlining their strengths, emerging skills, interests and learning styles, which is passed on to their kindergarten teacher.

 

Service directors and nominated supervisors can begin the process by creating a Department of Education account and accessing the Transition to School Digital Statement. Once access is granted, service leaders or nominated supervisors will be able to register a service, or services, and add teachers and educators, so that they can start creating and managing statements for children. 

 

Currently all Department of Education preschools, community preschools and long day care services are able to use the statement, with other service types, such as family day care, to be invited to use the digital statement in future years.

 

Built on feedback, designed with busy professionals in mind

 

The statement enables early childhood education and care services to share information directly with a child’s school, to support continuity of learning. A trial of the platform has been undertaken, and feedback from services has already been used to make important changes, such as improving the inclusivity of the statement questions and streamlining the login process. 

 

Intuitive, easy to use, and developed with early childhood teachers and educators in mind, those involved in the trial at both early childhood and school level have said that the system definitely makes the transition process easier, for children, families and schools alike.

 

A kindergarten coordinator involved in last year’s trial said ‘’it [the Transition to School Digital Statement] is often the first port of call for us to know where students are coming from.’

 

Family feedback essential for success

 

Families are integral to the authenticity of the statement, which serves as a bridge between early learning settings and school. The process is collaborative, with families encouraged to share information in the statement, to shape the statement alongside a child’s teacher or educator, and to ensure who the child is, is represented. 

 

Sometimes services can find it challenging to get families to provide information, input and support. Sometimes services can find it challenging to get families to provide information, input and support. These resources, from ACECQA’s website, offer guidance about engaging with families to support their child’s education and care. 

 

Getting support 

 

Resources for early childhood services and families can be found here. 

 

Answers about how to register, log into, or use the Transition to School Digital Statement can be found in the Transition to School Digital Statement User Guide. 

 

More information on both the digital and PDF versions of the Transition to School Statement is found in the Guide to completing the Transition to School Statement.

 

For further support, the Department’s Information and Enquiries team can be reached on 1800 619 113 (toll free) or email [email protected] 

 

A dedicated email address is available to support services to provide feedback on the Digital Statement once they have accessed it: [email protected]

 

To get started with the Transition to School Digital Statement, service leaders or nominated supervisors should login online, create an account and provide access to educators and teachers. 

 

Register to join the Department’s Roadshow session to look at the new Digital Transition to School Statement, and listen to a service share their experience using it here.

 

For more information, visit the Department of Education website, here.