Transitions to school: Moving beyond checklists towards holistic, child-centred pathways

For children and families, the move from early childhood education and care (ECEC) into formal schooling is a highly significant milestone. Yet while orientation sessions, school readiness programs and enrolment paperwork often frame this shift as a defined point in time, the evidence suggests that transition to school is an ongoing, multi-dimensional process, one that requires coordinated, relational and innovative approaches across home, early learning and school environments.

Contemporary frameworks, including Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework and the Queensland Kindergarten Learning Guideline, position transition as an experience shaped by relationships, identity and continuity. Children bring diverse capabilities, dispositions and experiences into the classroom. How those are acknowledged, and how connected children feel across settings, has a measurable impact on their engagement and long-term learning outcomes.

To ensure transitions are not only smooth but also equitable and empowering, services and schools can embed simple yet effective practices that make a meaningful difference:

• Start early and build slowly: Begin transition conversations with families well before the end of the kindergarten year. Gradual, low-pressure exposure to the school environment can reduce anxiety and build familiarity.
• Involve children in the process: Use play-based interviews, drawings or photo books to explore children’s expectations and feelings about school. Include their perspectives in transition planning wherever possible.
• Build relationships across settings: Facilitate informal meetings or classroom visits between kindergarten educators and school teachers. When educators share insights directly, children experience greater continuity and trust.
• Create child-friendly materials: Develop visual transition tools such as photo storybooks of the new school, video tours, or simple social stories that help children understand what to expect.
• Support families with clear, accessible information: Provide translated materials and offer informal Q&A sessions, school tours or community chats where families can ask questions in a relaxed environment.
• Celebrate cultural identity and diversity: Invite families to share cultural practices, languages or stories during transition activities. Representation supports belonging and affirms each child’s identity.
• Nominate a transition champion: Assign a staff member or teacher to take the lead on coordinating transition activities and communication across services and families.
• Check in post-transition: Follow up with children and families in the early weeks of school. A phone call or short visit from a known educator can reassure families and support children’s ongoing adjustment.  Invite the children back to the early childhood centre to share their experiences.

These small but deliberate actions help lay the foundation for confident, connected learners, and stronger partnerships between families, early learning services and schools.

Research confirms that positive transitions are linked to stronger academic, behavioural and emotional outcomes, while poorly supported transitions can contribute to disengagement and anxiety during the early years of schooling. Rather than focusing solely on whether a child is ‘ready’ for school, a more effective lens is to consider how systems and adults are ready for children.

Across Australia, early childhood services and schools are exploring innovative approaches to strengthen children’s transition to school, moving beyond the traditional orientation model. While not yet universal, several promising practices are gaining traction in different jurisdictions:

• Multi-visit transition programs: Increasingly, schools are inviting children to attend multiple short sessions during Term 4, often accompanied by familiar educators from their kindergarten or early learning service. These visits offer opportunities to build familiarity and confidence, supported by trusted adults.
• Shared digital portfolios: Trials are underway in some regions to implement digital transition statements or linked learning profiles that move with the child. These tools help school-based educators access deeper insights into children’s strengths, interests and support strategies, enhancing continuity beyond standard enrolment forms.
• Joint professional learning: Cross-sector professional development, bringing together early childhood educators and foundation-year teachers—is helping to align pedagogical approaches and expectations, fostering more consistent experiences for children across settings.
• Family engagement and peer support: Programs that offer coaching and connection for parents—particularly those from culturally and linguistically diverse communities—are emerging as a key element in successful transitions, especially in areas with lower school participation rates or where families are unfamiliar with formal education systems.

These examples reflect a growing commitment to relational and responsive transition practices. However, consistent implementation and broader evidence are still developing. Further evaluation and cross-sector collaboration will be essential to embed and scale what works.

Many transition programs still focus on preparing children to ‘fit into’ school routines. However, children are not empty vessels to be filled with school readiness, they are active participants with perspectives, fears and aspirations. Listening to children’s voices, including through simple strategies like transition interviews, storytelling or play-based dialogue, ensures their experience is central to the process.

Building belonging also means recognising that not all transitions are equitable. Children with disability, those from refugee or migrant backgrounds, or children in out-of-home care may face additional barriers that require tailored support, flexibility and coordination across services.

While individual services and schools often lead excellent transition initiatives, national consistency remains limited. There are no uniform requirements for transition programs across jurisdictions, and while tools such as Transition to School Statements exist, their uptake varies. A more aligned policy approach, possibly through enhanced guidance within the National Quality Framework, could ensure that high-quality transition practice becomes an embedded expectation, not a discretionary extra.

There is also growing interest in early years-school collaboration frameworks, which could support joint planning, shared transition leadership roles, and even dual-sector pathways for educators.

As the ECEC and school sectors continue to evolve, rethinking transitions as an ongoing, shared and relational journey offers significant potential for improving children’s experience, and outcomes, across the early years. Innovation lies not only in new tools or programs, but in how deeply we listen to children, respect the knowledge of educators, and centre equity in every step of the process.

By embracing a more holistic approach to transition, the sector can better support children not just to arrive at school, but to arrive with confidence, connection and a strong sense of self.