Are our Transistion to School Visits increasing the confidence of our NE when they start school?

Scanning: What's going on for our learners?

After a year and a half of having implemented a transition to school program we need to know what effect is it having on the learners when they start school?

Are they more confident when they start school after having participated in a longer transition program that is focused solely on them?

How can we gauge this increase in confidence and therefore the effectiveness of the program?

My pedagogical focus is.... What makes a strong and rigorous transition to school program and how can we gauge the success of our own Tamahere Tupu program?

I am focusing on this because I need to ensure that our school starters are coming to school prepared as  best they can be for starting.

Developing a hunch/ My learning/ Taking action.

Look at other schools within the COL and visit their transition to school programs. Engage in dialogue with colleagues from Tamahere and beyond to ascertain their ideas and beliefs on what makes a strong program.

• Visit to Silverdale Normal School with syndicate leader to observe Jump Start program. This provided the basis on which our program was developed with ideas about content, connections to be made, length of visits and points of interest when starting our own program. I also visited Silverdale with my own children's kindy and formed ideas about what made their NE environment welcoming and a place where children beginning school could connect and feel secure as they continue on their education journey.
• Attend a COL education session on play based learning in the NE setting. Notes from play based ed session

Professional development related to transition.

See below reflection on 2017 course related to this.

. Building connetions and making links between ECE and NE setting

My learning....A large part of my learning will come from a lit review of articles about what builds strong transition programs. A collection of research essays from the students in the course  'Transition to School' 

Collegial dialogue will play a big part in my learning about what makes for a strong and successful program for our NE visitors. Frequent discussions about what they feel their NE's need prior to starting school will guide me in designing the program.

Taking action......

Sliding scale poster for parents and children to complete from both their perspectives about how ready the child is for school. This is to be completed in week one and in week 8 to track changes in their perception of how they feel about school before and after visits have been completed. (term 2) 

Talking to our tamariki and their parents about what they believe will help them to feel comfortable at TMCS when they start. What will make it feel like its 'their place'? Posters that they complete/ add to over the weeks with their whanau about what they are enjoying during visits and what else they would like to do so the program can be more specifically tailored to their needs. Parents to add their own suggestions here too.(term three)

Tamsin

027 8691848