Blackfriars embraces Transition to School Digital Statement to start 2023 off well

Educators from New South Wales based Blackfriars Children’s Centre have been using the Transition to School Digital Statement to connect with families and support children who are exiting the service to start school in 2023, ensuring via the statement that they are placed “at the centre of their new learning environment.”

The continuous improvement of the transition to school process has been a focus for the Blackfriars team, with educational leader and early childhood teacher Alissa Haddad sharing her thoughts with the NSW Department of Education, an extract of which appears below. 

Blackfriars first encountered the Transition to School Digital Statement during the program trial in 2021 and again in 2022, with Ms Haddad describing the process as “simple and smooth.”

“The digital statement helps us communicate valuable insights into the child’s learning and development strengths, supports, and preferences,” she said. “Our educators have had many years to build up knowledge of a child’s learning dispositions – this information is like gold for Kindergarten teachers.”

“It is now part of our documentation repertoire, built into our Curriculum Practice Guidelines.” 

The use of the digital statement is also supporting primary school teachers and families as well, demonstrating links between both the early years learning framework and the Early Stage 1 Syllabus used in schools. 

“We identify what communication is needed for families to understand the value of smooth transitions between learning environments, and we play a significant part in supporting this process,” Ms Haddad said. 

The Transition to School Digital Statement is available for all Department of Education preschools, community preschools and long day care centres. Other service types will continue to use the PDF tool but will be given access to the digital statement in future years.

Professional learning, case studies, and other resources on getting the most out of the Transition to School Digital Statement are available on the Department of Education website.