This blog post is from Zoe Roles, teacher and preschool dean of St Mark’s Church School.
It shares her experience using digital tools to support children’s transitions to school and the exciting results she’s seeing.
“Transitioning into school has always been an aspect of teaching that I have found really frustrating. Children walk into the classroom having had very few connections with their new teacher. How to bridge this gap to support children transitioning has been a really big challenge for me.
Primary teachers don’t have the time to visit every child in their ECE environment or sit down and read all of the their portfolio books.
For the last 18 months we’ve used Storypark to create the bridge and support children every step of the way throughout their transition. By using Storypark in both the ECE setting and the Year One class the communication starts long before the child goes to school. Invite the child’s school or next educator to see their child’s Storypark profile while they’re still at your centre. Read more about how to do this here!
The children develop a relationship with their future teachers in a way that has never been done before.
Primary teachers are involved in the last term of a child’s time in ECE, and we remain part of the first term when the child is in Primary. Teachers can ask questions about a child based on knowledge of what they’ve done in ECE or at home and this helps build trust more easily.
Primary teachers can search and review the child’s previous work from ECE and home – the information is at their fingertips and the families are already more involved in their child’s learning from their time with us.
Transition for our children now works. Children walk into the classroom as confident learners and they have a relationship with their peers and teachers. Parents and families see the learning continue and that the two are connected in so many ways. They feel more at ease and the process is more cohesive for them and their children between two interconnected learning environments. This has given me the answer to something that has always frustrated me and now I feel empowered by what we do.”
Transitions to school are support by Storypark because each child’s profile travels with the child. Parents can choose to invite primary school teachers, even if the school doesn’t use Storypark as an organisation. Teachers can review, easily search and navigate children’s learning from ECE – enabling more thoughtful, responsive teaching with far greater continuity.
Share this: