Imagine the scene. You are crouched in the middle of the nursery playroom, all 2ft 11in of you crumpled in a heap, rolling a train across the carpet. You peer up to see a shining light bouncing off the train. You zoom out and your vision stops at the door to the garden. It is open. You have been waiting your whole life for this moment. (By whole life, I mean the past 15 minutes, while all the children arrive and Jimmy agrees to hang his coat on the peg and Sally stops crying for her mummy.) And finally, here it is: the open door.

What awaits you out there? Your mind begins to reel through a frenzied tape of memories of the adventures that loom: bikes, mud, water, trees, sand, noise. Freedom. The future. You stand up on your tippy toes, making your strategic road map of escape to the nursery garden. First, you must clamber over the train set and, just as you’re almost clear of the crash at Haymarket Junction that you’ve witnessed, Mrs Jones reminds you to tidy up before you go. “The responsibility for tidying up our toys is on all of us,” you chime, as she helps you stack the trains in the box.

Finally clear, you make for the door. Round the number table, you spot James using the iPad. You hesitate. Can you make it past without him noticing? He is faster. He could get to the bike first. You slow down, tiptoe past. He doesn’t hear you. Round the sand table, up the step into the cloakroom. Now, the tricky bit. Which name is yours? It has to be the green label; good, narrowed it down. Yours is the one with the blue and yellow bag. OK, got it. Look at the name label, big letter L at the start. Must be it. Take jumper, put on. Go.

Now for the final stretch of the treacherous journey to the garden. Back to the playroom, tiptoe past James again. There’s a group surrounding the path; how do you get around Amy and her hospital of nurses and patients waiting to be seen? Quick! On your knees and crawl. Slowly, you edge round the group as Mr Smith reminds you to keep your fingers in so they don’t get stepped on. Just one more hurdle in the way: to get into the garden sans coat, before you have to debate Miss Donald about the necessity of wearing one in March.

You make it! The land of the free. The place of happy children, screams and shouts and laughter. This is the life.

The scenario above will resonate with every early-years practitioner in Scotland - the stampede of children who go through the dangerous and life-altering journey of discovering the nursery garden. The situation, encountered every day by most of Scotland’s under-fives, is one of the transitions they face: from one area of the playroom to another; from one play experience to another; from one adult to another. And the resilience to manage these transitions has developed in each child uniquely through a range of carefully and strategically offered experiences, from birth through to pre-school.

These are horizontal transitions - ones that occur throughout the day within a known environment, as Education Scotland recently encapsulated it. The emotional and physical development that happens as a result of managing the transition from playroom to garden is an example of growth, maturity, determination and cognitive skill in action. It is the ultimate experience of independence in the playroom: the culmination of months of relationship building, support and encouragement - all observable in the adventurous expedition to the garden. Young children hone these transition skills over many weeks, months and years. They are refined and upskilled in preparation for the biggest adventure of all - that big leap into the unknown that is further than the playroom, further than the garden door, beyond the fence and into that big, looming building across the playground: Big School.

Primary 1 is a milestone for children and families across Scotland, and an example of a vertical transition - one that involves a significant change, such as from nursery to school, and also includes important changes in the relationships we have. The transition from nursery into P1 is one of beginnings and of endings. It is a shift in the cultural experience of the child and each child coming into P1 brings baggage too heavy for their backpacks. These unseen experiences will directly impact how that child will manage in their new school environment. Add in the uncertain mix of Covid-related restrictions and there is much to think about when planning the transition from your nursery setting into P1.

Preparing young learners

Early-years staff across Scotland are no strangers to transitions. Preparing our youngest learners for the next big stage of their life is the bedrock of our work.

Transitions in nurseries across Scotland are unique to each setting, usually founded on trusting relationships between practitioner, child and family. They are built on practitioner knowledge of the development of a child and a strategic, yet trusting, relationship with the destination of the transition, be that nursery class, home or new staff member.

Covid-19 safety restrictions have meant that schools cannot offer the same physical transitions to the school as was previously experienced by children. Regular visits to what would be their new classroom, attendance at school assemblies and opportunities for parents to visit the school cannot happen this summer term.

However, lessons learned from last year have shown us that Scotland’s national practice guidance on early-year transitions, Realising the Ambition, can still be implemented, resulting in positive transition experiences for our little people as they make that giant leap up to Big School.

Children moving to school first of all need teachers and nursery practitioners who understand them as a unique person, as a child with their own anxieties and confidences. They need their teacher to know them - and love them - before they’ve even arrived. What easier way to do this than to meet the child? This can be done while following Covid restrictions, in nursery gardens or via video call.

Children coming into P1 need to see continuity from their nursery experience. This means that they need the same opportunities to play, with the same or similar resources. Children should know that their classroom will have Play-Doh, paints, Lego and books. This can be done, even with safety restrictions, by offering children a photobook of their new classroom. A video tour can be created using one of your current P1 children to film from their height - showing the new pupil what the space looks like from a child’s point of view and while the room is filled with children. Teachers can visit the nursery and take note of which play resources are used.

In nursery, the children will have experienced autonomy over their learning - they will have planned their experiences, recorded these experiences and evaluated them while being fully involved in the process. Children arriving in P1 in August should have the same opportunities.

A floor book or learning map, with photographs of the children playing in the first week of school, could be used to engage the child in what they are doing and how it can be extended.

Careful observation in the first week by the teacher is necessary to get to know each child. Forget phonics in week one - all you should be planning is for play and fun.

Children feel safe in environments that are familiar to them. Even though children may not be able to visit their new classroom yet, there are ways that you can bring the classroom to the child. Using photobooks that can stay in the nursery and be sent home will help children to talk about school with all of the different grown-ups in their lives.

There will also be spaces in the school that the children can access, perhaps a playground or a courtyard. Set up weekly visits as soon as possible so that the children become familiar with spaces where they will spend lots of time.

Most of all, children in nursery settings are accustomed to feeling loved and cared for by the grown-ups who look after them.

They get cuddles on demand; someone to help with nose wiping and coat zipping; somebody who says “I love you, too” when the wee one tells you they really, really love you - “like, to the Moon and back”. Children coming to P1 need to know that you will love them, that you already do.

One thing I do in my preparation for P1 is to ask all parents to send a photograph of their child alone and one with their family. I print these out and have some in a basket in the story corner and others displayed on the wall. This means that the child will arrive on day one in August and see themselves and their family in their classroom; this is their space.

There is only one other person who is more anxious about P1 than the child themselves: the grown-up. When parents and carers feel informed, valued and are treated as collaborative partners in the transition process, they are able to communicate that, verbally and otherwise, with their wee ones. Covid-19 has meant that we cannot invite grown-ups into school but we can still offer them the same experiences. I asked five parents from my nursery setting what they would need to know from school to feel calm and confident about P1, and they overwhelmingly agreed on this:

• What is the teacher like - are they lovely? Do they smile lots? Are they caring?
• What are the values of the school?
• Will their child be with their friends?

These are all things that can be confidently communicated before the children and their families even leave nursery. Despite Covid, you can still introduce parents to the teacher via a video meet. Send the families a video of the P1 teacher welcoming them, reading a story or touring the classroom. Share the school values by having the headteacher present them to the children and the families.

And finally, always, always have somebody from the senior leadership team call the families to ask about the child’s anxieties and friendship groups. There is no reason why every school cannot strive to have children in a class with a friend they already know.

Familiarity, trust and care are the key ingredients of successfully supporting children to take that big leap from the playroom to the nursery garden.

These ingredients are the same when that leap becomes a big dive across the playground into Big School. Primary schools, nursery settings and families must work together to ensure that, even through a global crisis, we are still able to get it right for every child.

Welcome to the jungle

Imagine the scene. You are crouched in the mud kitchen, reaching for the worm that just squirmed out of your hands. A loud noise distracts you as you hear the big bell ringing from the building across the playground.

Slowly, you walk over to the fence. You peer over your shoulder, nervously looking at Mrs Hilton as she comes towards you. She crouches down next to you and says: “It’s alright, you’ve got this.” She takes your hand, opens the gate to the playground and, together, you walk - shoulders back, head up, confident - ready to explore the jungle beyond the nursery fence.

Anita Le Tissier is a principal and nursery teacher in Edinburgh. She tweets @TissierPt

This article originally appeared in the 14 May 2021 issue under the headline “A big deal, not an ordeal”