Transitions

Many primary schools offer an orientation program. This usually means that you and your child will have opportunities to visit the school for shorter periods of time before the beginning of the school year.

If this is not available, consider asking the school if you can visit the school at different times so that your child can explore some of the classrooms, specialist areas (e.g. performance arts centre and gym) and the playgrounds.

Think about the skills your child might need to practise before starting school. Depending on your child’s disability or developmental challenge, this can include locking and unlocking the toilet door, trialling lunchboxes and practising opening them, trying on the school uniform and carrying the school bag. Consider preparing a before and after school schedule for your child if relevant. You can access AllPlay Learn’s home schedule on our parent resources page.

Consider having a count-down calendar (if appropriate) and asking the school for permission to visit the school before the school bell rings during the year prior to your child beginning school so that your child and you can become familiar (or think of suitable ideas) with the morning drop-off crowds and pace.

Parents often feel apprehensive and have mixed feelings about this transition. Reach out to your friends, family and health professionals for advice and support. It is important that you remain enthusiastic and positive when you speak to your child about school. Your positivity will increase your child’s confidence. View key strategies on maintaining open communication with your child during the transition process.

You may also want to aim to have little change in your family’s everyday life apart from this transition to practise a calm and relaxed environment.

You may want to think about how and if you will discuss your child’s disability or developmental challenge with other families and most importantly with your child’s specialist teachers (e.g. sports, music and arts teachers) and other students. You may wish to seek advice from health professionals, your family, your Student Support Group and/or from families who have already had experience doing this. Some ideas to discuss with the school may include:

• Inviting one of your child’s health professionals to come to your child’s classroom to talk about the disability or developmental challenge
• Availability of training or professional development opportunities for teachers about your child’s disability or developmental challenge
• Preparing an information package for the specialist teachers about your child
• Writing a short letter for families about your child

You may prefer not to disclose your child’s diagnosis – there is no right way and teachers should support you in whatever decision you make.

You and your child can also fill in AllPlay Learn’s communication checklist before starting primary school. Find this on our parent resources page.

Children with separation anxiety become upset when separated from family members, such as at morning school drop off. Separation anxiety can be more severe in children with developmental challenges or disabilities. If your child has previously had challenges with separation, early planning for how to manage separation when they start school can help.

Talk with your child’s teachers to come up with suitable solutions for your child. They could consider evidence-based strategies from our teacher’s page about anxiety, including our anxiety resource toolkit to recognise and support child anxiety.

Read AllPlay Learn’s primary stories with your child. These stories show your child what happens at school. This helps them feel confident about new situations they may encounter.