1. Unit 8 Support the needs of the child in preparing for school

2. Learning Outcomes
LO2 Understand how working in partnership with others contributes to children’s school readiness.
AC 2.1 Identify others involved in helping children prepare for school.
AC 2.2 Describe the information required to enable the school to meet the individual needs of the child during transition.

3. 2. Understand how working in partnership with others contributes to children’s school readiness (2.1)
Time: 15 mins
Who was important to you when you were in primary school?
Consider:
Friends
Teachers
Classroom assistants
Dinner ladies
The office staff
Why do these people stick in your memory?
Did you have any relations already at the school and did this help you?

4. Helping children to prepare for school
2. Understand how working in partnership with others contributes to children’s school readiness (2.1)
Helping children to prepare for school
Everyone involved in the care of children can help them to prepare for school.
This can include parents/carers, childminders and practitioners.
Practitioners will know when a child is going to go to school, and they will plan activities and experiences to help them with this transition.
Children may have additional specific needs, and other professionals may be involved in preparing them to be ready for school.
Parents/carers play a vital role in preparing children for school, as they are with them every day and can help develop their school readiness.

5. Information to help meet individual needs
2. Understand how working in partnership with others contributes to children’s school readiness (2.2)
Information to help meet individual needs
There is a range of information about a child that will help a school meet their individual needs during transition.
Some of the information will include their personal details such as name, address and date of birth.
The school will also benefit from knowing about the child’s learning and development so far.
If a child has attended a setting, the setting will be able to give the school information about the child’s abilities.

6. Information on the child
2. Understand how working in partnership with others contributes to children’s school readiness (2.2)
Information on the child
Full name
Preferred name
Date of birth
Position in family
Dietary requirements
Individual needs
Health information
Abilities

7. 2. Understand how working in partnership with others contributes to children’s school readiness (2.2)
Time: 15 mins
Explain how knowing about the personal details of a child will help the school to make the child feel welcome.
Consider:
The correct spelling of the child’s name
The child or family’s preferred name to call the child
How to pronounce the child’s name
Any health issues the child may have
The dietary requirements of the child.
Children may get upset if they are not called by the correct name, or they may ignore the staff because they do not think they are talking to them.
A child may be Katherine on the birth certificate but have always been called Katie.
A child may have health issues that require medication. The school staff will need to be aware of this for health and safety reasons, and the child may be too nervous to tell anyone.
If the child is offered food that they are not allowed to eat, they may become distressed or uncomfortable.

8. Information to help meet individual needs
2. Understand how working in partnership with others contributes to children’s school readiness (2.2)
Information to help meet individual needs
If a child has attended a setting before starting school, the setting will be able to give the school information about the child’s abilities.
The setting will have assessments on the child and will also know their likes, dislikes, strengths and areas for development.
The setting will also be able to tell the school who the child likes to play or work with, and this could be important information if the school is sorting out class groups.

9. 2. Understand how working in partnership with others contributes to children’s school readiness (2.2)
Time: 15 mins
Describe how the information you would share with a school would help them settle a child into school.
Consider:
The 7 areas of the EYFS
Strengths
Areas for development
Friends
Favourite activity
Fears, worries or phobias.
If the school is told that a child is particularly strong in one area of the EYFS and weaker in another, they may choose to focus on the child’s strengths to help the child to settle in. If they focus on the child’s weaknesses, the child may become unsettled and unhappy.
Knowing who the child was friends with in the setting may help if the child becomes upset at any time.
If a child has a fear of a specific thing such as balloons, it would help the school to know this so that they can avoid using balloons until the child is completely settled.
Knowing this information about a child will help the school make a smoother transition for the child.

10. 2. Understand how working in partnership with others contributes to children’s school readiness (2.2)
Information sharing
By sharing information with the child’s new school they will be able to make the child feel welcome, and this will help them with settling.
If someone were to keep a vital piece of information from the school, then this could cause upset for the child.
A child may become very unsettled and worried if no one had told the school that they had one special friend who had gone to another school.
If the school knew this information, then they would make sure that the child did not feel left out and was helped to make new friends.

11. 2. Understand how working in partnership with others contributes to children’s school readiness (2.2)
Time: 15 mins
How has having good background information about a child and family helped you to settle a child into your setting?
Consider:
Getting to know the child
Supporting the child’s individual needs
Responding to a child’s likes and dislikes
The wishes of the parent/carer
Have you ever been in a situation where you did not know something about a new child and this has impacted on your work?
As stated before, knowing the child’s name and how to pronounce it is vital.
Knowing about individual needs is important. For example, if the child has a hearing impairment, then practitioners would know that they may struggle in noisy environments.
If a practitioner knows that a particular toy is a favourite of the child’s, then that would help them to settle and become trusting of the practitioner.
Responding to the wishes of the parent/carer can help with a child’s routine such as nap time, and this will help with settling in.

12. 2. Understand how working in partnership with others contributes to children’s school readiness (2.2)
Time: 15 mins
Reflect on your knowledge of the children in your setting and how this helps you to carry out your role.
Consider:
Do you know how to spell every child’s name?
Do you know about any fears or worries of individual children?
Do you know the dietary needs of the children you work with?
Do you understand any specific individual needs?
Do you know what settles a child if they become upset?
How does this information help you to work effectively with the children?
What do you do if you feel you need more information about an individual child?
Learners should reflect on the children within their group and decide how well they know them.
This then links to how important it is to share relevant information with their school to help them to be school ready.

13. 2. Understand how working in partnership with others contributes to children’s school readiness (2.1)
Time: 15 mins
Look back at your notes for the Starter activity and consider:
Who has helped you to feel settled and welcome when you have gone through a transition such as starting or moving school?
How have they helped you?
How would you have coped without their support?
Why is it important to have adults to help children to feel settled and welcome?
This activity will enable learners to review how they have felt during a successful transition.
Learners could look at difficult or uncomfortable transitions such as moving from one secondary school to another partway through an academic year, and then identify how this transition could have been made more successful.

14. Summary
Everyone has a part to play in helping children to prepare for school.
There is a wide range of information about a child that will help a school to prepare for them and meet their individual needs.
This information will come from the previous setting and the parents/carers.

15. Plenary
Name three pieces of information that a school would need before the child started there.
Who is responsible for helping a child to prepare for school?
What may happen if a school did not have all the relevant information relating to a new child?