Findings

Having knowledge of our Froebelian principles and the Realising the Ambition document, our practitioners had awareness of the importance of positive horizontal and vertical transitions within the setting. The setting already had a transition policy in place however through my research and professional dialogue with colleagues we were able to make the following findings and set about making positive changes to the way our setting handles transitions and how we include our children and family’s perspectives.

The questionnaires completed by practitioners highlighted that although most transitions worked well, some children struggled with the length of visits being extended and staff did not always feel confident in reducing the times of visits if the pace was not suited to individual children. Practitioners felt that these conversations could often be sensitive especially when reducing the hours as parents were often keen to have the children stay in nursery longer and they did not have a shared understanding that transition was a slow process which would support their child to settle confidently into this new routine.  Practitioners expressed that building good positive relationships right from the first visit to the setting and a home visit was important to help everyone involved feel comfortable and confident. During these conversations they wanted children and families to understand that they had their best interests at centre of all decisions. Most of the practitioners also agreed that transitional objects were beneficial during transitions especially for our younger children. However, it was highlighted that we needed to help our parents understand that transitional objects are something the child would use at home for comfort, so therefore helping the child feel safe and secure in the setting as they had something familiar with them till their confidence grew.

The parents and children interviewed felt that their child’s transition had gone well and that through discussions with their child’s keyworker they had been included in the decisions being made for their children. They also felt that our setting was allowing their child to feel valued and respected.    Only one of the children we had permission to be interviewed had engaged in answering the questions and he was able to discuss how his nursery lady had come to visit his house and as he recalled this event he was giggling and said, “she played with toys at my house”.

Upon reflection If I was to do this project again, I would re-think my research method for the children as I felt the children didn’t understand my questions.

Conclusion

The practitioner enquiry has provided us with evidence that although staff and parents feel that our transitions work well, practitioners felt they should be able to slow down the process if a child is not settling well.  Staff felt it was important to have positive relationship with families, so they felt comfortable whilst discussing strategies to adapt the settling visits for shorter/longer periods to enable our children to feel safe, secure and comfortable. We also found that having the knowledge of a transitional object and how it is used can be beneficial for the child to feel happy and confident in their new environment.  Our findings will also impact our future transition policies and settings transitions.  We also propose to share our findings with practitioners and families on our family gatherings sessions in the future to ensure our shared knowledge has more positive outcomes for our children and families.