How early years practitioners can support children from various backgrounds with their transition to school

The transition for children in early years through to primary school is an area that is often discussed as there are a number of varying and highly debated approaches utilised with the intention to support this phase.

 

For many educators, it is a fine balance between play-based learning and formal teaching strategies as they aim to provide the best possible bridge between the year groups.  Throughout this article, I will share areas to consider, strategies to implement and how continuous provision can be used effectively with play-based learning in early years to support a transition to Year One through a careful and supportive process. 

 

Additionally, it is worthwhile to discuss the changes and preparations that can be made in the Year One classroom to help all students when they arrive.

 

According to Clegg (2024), ‘transition is not about getting children ready for Year One. It’s about making Year One ready for the children. It’s about creating an environment where all children can thrive, regardless of whether they achieved their good level of development at the end of ‘Reception’.

 

To effectively support children as they prepare for school, early years practitioners can focus on several key strategies that foster school readiness. Understanding the diverse developmental areas and implementing targeted interventions to help all students with the overall transition and then the support after arrival into school.

 

Transition and Readiness

 

Throughout this transition the students are supported across a wide range of developmental areas of cognitive, social, emotional, and physical competencies that children are expected to show progress in before joining Year One. 

 

Readiness not only includes evidence at these milestones but is also influenced by many elements outside of the classroom and school, including family dynamics, economy, environment and community. 

 

Therefore readiness relies on a wide range of aspects that early years teams are often aware of out of their control before they start to plan for the pedagogical, physical and philosophical changes in school. 

 

As mentioned above, these changes could be considered from the other end of the transition to prepare the Year One climate for the students and families. 

 

• Can continuous provision be used in Year One with play-based learning activities?
• Could the Year One classroom environment or approach be tailored to fit early years children to support a transition? 
• What else could be personalised during this transition?

 

The Impact of Early Years Teachers

 

Providing a rich, engaging and inclusive environment for all students in the class requires an Early Years teacher to possess excellent skills in adapting teaching, being flexible and demonstrating patience.  During play-based learning, there are frequent observations and interactions, enabling strong relationships being built in the classroom.

 

Communication as mentioned above is a major element of a daily routine and an important aspect of the learning journey of a student in the class supported by the teacher.   These interactions have an impact on future behaviours and social skills throughout school.

 

Teachers build an excellent relationship with families to ensure that children enjoy a plethora of learning experiences, which are needed for their adjustment to early years and beyond (Wildenger and Mcintyre, 2012).

 

Teachers create a connection between children’s home environments and school settings. This includes encouraging parent involvement in transition activities and events. It has been found that increased parental participation, often facilitated by early years teachers, is associated with better socio-behavioural and academic outcomes in children.

 

This joint approach ensures that the expectations from home and school are aligned, therefore easing potential worries about the transition.  Sharing any expectations from the classroom, routines or transitions with parents can solidify these processes for individuals and support the child so that everyone is aligned.

 

By integrating these strategies below, early years practitioners can effectively support the diverse developmental needs of children from various backgrounds (previous experiences, schooling or pedagogical approaches followed), providing an inclusive and supportive educational environment.

 

I recommend six areas that should be addressed as the team work together planning and preparing for this transition:

 

Creating a Supportive Learning Environment

 

Firstly, a supportive learning environment can include a range of stimulation that can promote holistic development, such as an array of diverse materials.

 

Daily exposure to a range of stimuli including music, art and movement is beneficial as these activities enhance creativity and encourage physical coordination and contribute to a further holistic approach. 

 

Key elements during these activities include positive interactions, reinforcement and acknowledgment of children’s efforts, which help build confidence and motivation (Boelter, 2025).

 

When educators actively recognise individual achievements, they cultivate a positive learning atmosphere where children feel valued and more likely to explore and to be curious. 

 

This process continues and helps educators adapt, modify tasks and resources, as mentioned by Davies (2023), ‘As the educators will have built up strong relationships with the children in their care, they will understand children’s interests and development.  This knowledge will underpin the provision of resources within the environment, which enable children to think critically in their play‘.

 

A carefully designed physical learning space can boost engagement and curiosity among early years children, further encouraging an interest in exploring and learning.  

 

To reduce the barriers between the classroom and the outside areas, and provide more opportunities to interact with the environment both in and out of the class, natural materials can be used to boost sensory experiences.

 

As mentioned by Sharp (2020), ‘involving children in rich, multi-sensory activities opens up more brain pathways’. Placing tables in communal learning spaces, grouping desks/seats to provide group interactions and collaborative spaces all will help build social skills. 

 

The classroom wall decor can create a sense of belonging and representation amongst the students and their families.  This could be achieved by displaying photographs of children, with their families, representing cultural backgrounds, enhancing inclusivity and a community minded approach.  Other examples of this include a family wall, memories, holidays or experiences together.  

 

Secondly, teachers can provide a positive emotional atmosphere, which encourages engagement, learning and social development.

 

With positive interactions from teachers and peers like warm greetings, active listening, feedback, reinforcement, questions and compassion, students receive emotional support within the classroom that can directly enhance attention and activity levels, which in turn influences their learning outcomes. 

 

This has shown to predict cognitive growth, particularly in preschool settings where child-centred programmes are commonly used. 

 

Safety is the number one priority in the classroom and this can be further supported by a common, clear and simple set of expectations shared with all learners. Implementing clear classroom rules alongside consistent behavioural expectations creates a predictable setting where children can thrive (NAEYC, 2022). Such practices not only enhance social-emotional health but also contribute to holistic development by providing stability for young students.

 

Creating a strong sense of community among children, families, and educators can be very effective in supporting this transition. This involves establishing collaborative relationships that promote open communication and mutual respect (Hancock et al., 2022).

 

By engaging families in the educational process and encouraging their participation in classroom activities, early years teachers can optimise the supportive network surrounding each child.  Teachers can incorporate a culturally rich and inclusive classroom by adapting the teaching, curriculum, content, examples and resources.

 

This involves understanding and valuing the cultural backgrounds of all students and integrating this awareness into teaching practices. As mentioned by Powell (2011), ‘Know your learners first’.  By doing so, educators can better understand student starting points, preferences, help close achievement gaps and foster a sense of belonging.

 

Finally, a great quote to finish by Mulholland (2022) on inclusive teaching, through a holistic approach for each child and adopting detective inquiry as a skill:

 

‘Great teachers have empathy, a sense of efficacy and equity. What are the dispositions or characteristics we should foster to help them think more confidently like detectives? Number one is to be curious about a child and how they learn.’

 

Student-led and Formal Instruction

 

Formal teaching focuses on teacher-led instruction and cognitive outcomes, student-led approaches highlight holistic development through play as essential to cognitive and emotional growth. 

 

Throughout these six areas we are striving to create a student-led environment as it can be transformative, supporting students as they prepare for Year One. 

 

Student-led learning, often associated with play-based or exploration-based approaches, emphasises active engagement and creativity. This method allows children to explore and learn through play, and it is linked with the development of imagination and realistic thinking as per Vygotsky’s (1978) theories.

 

It involves learning as an outcome of play and exploration rather than direct teaching.  In order for continuous play to be effective, opportunities should be created for everyone to learn and develop skills without the need for an adult.  Then, this needs a collective approach from the team to build the student-led approaches and for the students to use these effectively to reach the objectives you are aiming for.  

 

• Start with a short lesson or introduction
• Opportunities to apply what they have learned through engaging activities, ‘hands on’
• Observation and provide support by educators
• Use lesson to then link further exploration in play-based learning 

 

By using continuous provision, teachers can create a dynamic, exciting and engaging environment that supports the needs for all children and includes play-based learning.  It is a very effective vehicle for learning, not something to keep students busy, it creates a high-level of engagement which in turn is linked to a high level of progress and attainment.

 

Development Areas

 

There are many development areas to consider in early years to promote readiness for Year One such as physical, social, emotional, cognitive and language.  School readiness is not only about cognitive abilities but also about sensory processing, motor, and visual perceptual skills. These physical skills are highly predictive of a child’s readiness for school. According to Swailes (2020), children aged 3-4 should have at least 180 minutes of active play each day.

 

Opportunities for students to demonstrate progress in physical development can take many forms (crawling, walking, dancing, climbing, motor skills etc.) and having adequate provision in the physical environment as mentioned above can facilitate these opportunities.  With play-based opportunities a focus of the layout of the early years setting, this will include further learning spaces for co-operative and independent play.

 

A balance of problem-solving and critical thinking exercises can create a wide berth of opportunities to develop skills.  Supporting the development of children’s executive function (EF) skills, such as working memory, flexible thinking, and self-control, is crucial. Interventions designed to improve EF can also enhance children’s adaptive classroom behaviours and cognitive skills, thereby promoting overall school readiness. 

 

Classroom routines and decision making learning experiences will further aid the independence and self-regulation of a child.

 

Engaging children in active vocabulary development can help bridge the gap in literacy skills, especially for those from low socio-economic or non-English-speaking backgrounds.

 

Teaching strategies like meaningful repetition, interactive learning modes, and dialogic reading are successful in vocabulary acquisition (Jalongo and Sobolak, 2010). 

 

Creating shared book reading activities can improve language and literacy skills, especially for children with autism.

 

Such learning activities should boost social communication, collaboration and literacy skills like vocabulary and language comprehension, which are fundamental for literacy development. 

 

Early Years teachers can utilise strategies that help ELL (English Language Learners) with language and content gaps.

 

These include emphasising communication, encouraging social interactions, and creating connections between languages. Narrative skills are important for early childhood development and can be improved by using verbal scaffolding combined with nonverbal strategies (visual cues and actions).

 

These strategies can enable students to tell stories and understand narratives, positively impacting their expression and comprehension abilities. Inspiring learners through storytelling with props or enacting stories can significantly improve these skills. 

 

Assessment and Observation

 

The environment created in early years is based on assessment and observation to engage all children in play and discovery-based learning. 

 

Students should feel a sense of curiosity, wonder and be inquisitive of the activities around them to keep them in the moment. 

 

An observation schedule with milestones can be implemented that can be used to document a child’s routines and the level of initiative during these activities and moments. 

 

Levels of choice for children can be included, ranging from no choice to complete freedom, along with an assessment of the group interactions.  This helps the teachers understand the children’s preferences and social dynamics with varying groups in the class and across a range of contexts.  It also feeds into a broader vision of how to help the team to create personalised educational strategies to best meet the needs of the child.  

 

Developmental checklists can be used as an essential tool in assessment and observation to track various aspects of a child’s growth and readiness at standardised milestones. 

 

Many early years checklists are available that can be used to identify potential functional challenges in children aged 3-6 years old (CHECK, ACECQA, EYALT, Kid Sense etc.). 

 

These checklists can be used in conjunction with parents as the school works together to help meet the needs of the child.  The ability to measure a child’s executive functioning and progress in relation to their peers aligns with evidence-based practices in early childhood.

 

Observation should be context-sensitive, understanding that the children and their behaviour are intrinsically linked to their learning environment.  Notes, key phrases and movements can be recorded to give an authentic representation of their interactions and experiences. 

 

Using digital applications, may offer opportunities for the early years team to enhance the level of evidence collected, plus giving the teachers an opportunity to be focused on the nuances of a child’s behaviour in various situations and environments.  This observation enables the educators to measure development, gain understanding and prepare the children for the next step of their learning journey.    

 

Communication and Family Engagement

 

Communication with families and throughout the team are key and it is important to create a sense of alignment with the teachers, students and parents.

 

Engaging families in their children’s education from an early stage and promoting activities that parents can do at home creates transparency and trust.

 

Parental involvement in home learning activities and their beliefs about school readiness can significantly influence children’s attitudes and achievements in early educational settings (Jung, 2016). 

 

A set routine for home communication including access or updates on the progress of the child through discussion, checklists, evidence against levels, a portfolio of evidence, framework, digital tools and other means will create a strong link with everyone working together. 

 

Opportunities to visit the classroom through meetings, open mornings and time slots to see their children interact and learn will further strengthen this relationship.  Additionally, a quick conversation or brief update at drop off when school starts, pick up and weekly emails can also help to avoid the build up of any issues and will avoid surprises if any challenges build over time. 

 

Reflection and Improvement

 

Reflection as an early years team can be very powerful on the impact of individual students as meetings solely dedicated to discussing the progress of individual students can help feed into future planning, resourcing and adapting teaching and learning. 

 

As a collective team together, the staff can reflect and share on the areas above, taking the time to understand the children how these strategies have impacted their learning and their wellbeing. 

 

Encouraging students to talk about their experiences and be provided with the opportunity to explore and investigate through continuous provision and play-based learning inside of this.  All of this can be included in their learning journey, documentation and wider if needed into a department improvement plan.

 

By strategically incorporating these elements into early childhood education programs and a department improvement plan, practitioners can significantly enhance the preparedness of children for the transition to formal schooling.

 

Each strategy addresses a unique aspect of developmental readiness, ensuring a well-rounded and consistent approach to early education. While the focus on various developmental areas and family involvement is crucial.  Overall, a great opportunity for self-evaluation and development as a team.

 

A reflective early years team demonstrating a ‘growth mindset’ (Dweck, 2007), a togetherness and a flexibility to put the wellbeing of children as the number one priority will be better equipped to ease the transition and challenge for all students. 

 

This reflective practice is not seen as another task or exercise but a vital supportive process that informs and transforms teaching approaches, nurtures professional development and enhances the overall quality of early childhood education.

 

Six Areas to to help transition

 

1. Creating a Supportive Learning Environment
2. Student-led and Formal Instruction
3. Development Areas
4. Assessment and Observation
5. Communication and Family Engagement
6. Reflect and Improvement

 

The six areas are a very useful process to follow, giving a framework to follow that includes engaging in feedback and continuous improvement, the team can create a wide understanding of effective practices to best promote children’s readiness for Year One in school for their students in their school.

 

Paul has over 20 years of experience in education, has led schools in the UK and internationally and holds a dual doctorate in Education and Educational Leadership.  He has guided schools through ‘outstanding’ rated inspections, inspired school transformations and designed new state-of-the-art educational campuses.  He is now a Principal of a school in Victoria.

 

References

Clegg, A B. (2024), Transition into Year One: Bridging the Gap Between Play and Formal Learning, https://abcdoes.substack.com/p/transition-into-year-one-bridging

Boelter, J. (2025) How to Promote a Positive Learning Environment in Early Childhood Available at: https://red.mnstate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1791&context=thesis 

Dweck, C S. (2007).  Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2006-08575-000

Davies, E. (2023), offering ‘challenge to children in early years, available at: https://eyfs.info/articles.html/teaching-and-learning/offering-challenge-to-children-in-the-early-years-r416/

Hancock, Christine L. and Carter, Deborah R.. (2016). “Building Environments That Encourage Positive Behavior”. YC: Young Children, 71(1), 66-73.

Jalongo, M. R., and Sobolak, M. J. (2011). Supporting young children’s vocabulary growth: The challenges, the benefits, and evidence-based strategies. Early Childhood Education Journal, 38(6), 421–429. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-010-0433-x

Jung, E. (2016). The Development of Reading Skills in Kindergarten Influence of Parental Beliefs About School Readiness, Family Activities, and Children’s Attitudes to School. Available at:  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13158-016-0156-2 

Mulholland, M (2022) Think like a detective: The vital clue to inclusive teaching!, available at: https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/think-like-a-detective-the-vital-clue-to-inclusive-teaching

NAEYC-(2022) Building Environments That Encourage Positive Behavior. Available at: https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/mar2016/building-environments-encourage-positive-behavior-preschool 

Powell, B (2011) How to Teach Now: Five Keys to Personalized Learning in the Global Classroom.  Available at: https://www.ascd.org/books/how-to-teach-now?chapter=knowing-our-students-as-learners 

Sharp, A (2020), Alice harp on Future-Proofing the Early Years: The Family Interview, available at: https://www.famly.co/blog/alice-sharp-on-future-proofing-the-early-years-the-famly-interview

Swailes, R. (2020), A parent guide to physical development in the early years, available at: https://www.famly.co/blog/parent-guide-physical-development-early-years

 Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

Wildenger, L. K., and Mcintyre, L. L. (2012). Investigating the Relation Between Kindergarten Preparation and Child Socio-Behavioral School Outcomes. Early Childhood Education Journal, available at https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2012-10855-006