A Good Transition into Year One - Dr Alistair Bryce-Clegg
A Developmentally Appropriate Approach by Dr Alistair Bryce-Clegg
Transitioning into Year One can be a daunting prospect for both children and educators alike. The shift from the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) to Key Stage One often brings about significant changes in structure, expectation, and pedagogy. However, research and practical experience demonstrate that an effective transition is one that prioritises play, well-being, and high levels of engagement. This article will explore how to create a developmentally appropriate transition into Year One, ensuring children continue to thrive as they progress through their early education journey.
The Importance of Play in Transition
One of the most crucial elements of a successful transition is understanding that play is not merely a preparatory phase for learning; it is the vehicle for learning. Historically, play has often been phased out towards the end of Reception in preparation for the formal demands of Year One. However, evidence from numerous transition projects shows that play-based approaches not only sustain engagement but also foster deep learning, creativity, and problem-solving skills.
Play-based learning is not about children being left to their own devices while adults take a back seat. It is about carefully planned, structured environments that allow children to explore, experiment, and consolidate knowledge. High levels of engagement, driven by well-resourced continuous provision, lead to high levels of attainment.
A play-based Year One environment should allow children to engage in meaningful learning experiences both with and without direct adult input. The role of the adult shifts from being a deliverer of knowledge to a facilitator of exploration and inquiry. By creating an environment that invites curiosity and challenges thinking, educators can ensure that learning is purposeful and deeply embedded.
Prioritising Well-being
Transition is not about ‘academic readiness’; it is fundamentally about emotional security. The well-being of children must be at the heart of any transition approach. When children feel safe, valued, and understood, they are far more likely to engage in learning.
Children moving into Year One face a host of new experiences – new spaces, new adults, new routines, and often new expectations. By making the unfamiliar familiar, we can reduce anxiety and increase confidence. I have achieved this really successfully through strategies such as:
Gradual introductions: Allowing children to spend time in their new environment before the summer break.
Maintaining familiar elements: Using familiar resources, routines, and even language from the EYFS to create continuity in Year One classrooms.
Focusing on emotional literacy: Providing opportunities for children to express their feelings, explore their emotions through play, and engage in discussions about their new experiences.
Research in neuroscience shows that stress can significantly inhibit cognitive function, meaning that children who feel anxious or overwhelmed will struggle to retain information. A focus on well-being, therefore, is not just about happiness but about creating an optimal environment for learning.
Continuous Provision in Year One
A well-structured Year One classroom should mirror elements of an EYFS setting while also scaffolding learning towards more formalised approaches. The term continuous provision refers to the resources and spaces that remain available to children throughout the day, allowing them to revisit and extend their learning over time.
However, it is crucial to move beyond the concept of ‘four corners’ – designated play areas that children visit only when their ‘real work’ is done. Continuous provision should be the backbone of independent learning, supporting the curriculum and reinforcing concepts in an engaging and exploratory way.
For example, rather than having a ‘maths table’, mathematical concepts should be woven into all areas of provision. Measuring ingredients in the home corner, constructing symmetrical patterns in the block area, or estimating quantities in the sand tray all offer opportunities for meaningful mathematical learning. Similarly, writing should not be confined to a ‘writing table’ but should be encouraged across the provision through purposeful mark-making opportunities linked to children’s interests.
The Role of Assessment
One of the biggest concerns for educators when implementing a more play-based approach in Year One is how to ensure curriculum coverage and assess progress. Traditional models of assessment, which rely heavily on written work, are often ill-suited to young children who are still developing their fine motor skills and writing stamina.
Alternative methods of assessment include:
Observational assessment: Noting children’s interactions, conversations, and problem-solving strategies within their play.
Photographic and video evidence: Capturing moments of learning in action.
Journals and learning stories: Encouraging children to document their learning journey in a format that suits them, whether through drawing, mark-making, or dictated storytelling.
Leuven Scales for Well-being and Involvement: Using these scales to assess children’s levels of engagement and emotional well-being, providing a valuable measure of their readiness to learn.
Assessment in a play-based environment is about capturing what children know and how they are applying their knowledge, rather than simply what they can record in a book.
Embedding Challenge in Play-Based Learning
One of the most common misconceptions about play-based learning is that it lacks rigour. However, when provision is carefully planned and scaffolded, play offers more opportunities for deep thinking and problem-solving than many traditional worksheet-based tasks.
Challenge can be embedded through:
Skill progression: Ensuring that resources offer opportunities for children to extend and refine their skills over time.
Adult interactions: Using questioning and modelling to extend thinking within play.
Explicit challenges: Introducing ‘provocations’ within provision that encourage children to apply their knowledge in new and exciting ways.
Open-ended resources: Avoiding over-theming provision so that children have the freedom to explore concepts in a way that makes sense to them.
For example, rather than setting up a small world area with only fire engines during a Great Fire of London topic, providing a range of materials and characters allows children to explore historical concepts through their own narratives and interpretations.
The Outdoor Environment
The outdoors offers an invaluable extension to the indoor learning environment. However, outdoor learning should not simply be about taking indoor activities outside. Instead, it should provide opportunities for large-scale, open-ended exploration that encourages risk-taking, collaboration, and physical development.
Whether it’s constructing dens, navigating obstacle courses, or exploring natural materials, outdoor play allows children to develop resilience, coordination, and problem-solving skills in ways that are difficult to replicate indoors.
A Flexible Approach to Timetabling
Finally, an effective Year One transition must allow for flexibility. Rigid timetables that pack in phonics, writing, and maths from the outset can quickly lead to disengagement and frustration. Instead, starting with a more fluid structure and gradually increasing the amount of direct teaching time as children settle ensures that learning remains enjoyable and meaningful.
Rather than viewing transition as a process of getting children ‘ready’ for more formal learning, we should instead focus on creating an environment that is ready for the children. By respecting their developmental needs and building upon their natural curiosity, we can ensure that Year One is not a sudden jolt into structure, but a seamless and joyful continuation of their learning journey.
Keeping it Developmentally Appropriate
Transition to Year One is not about abandoning structure or rigour, but about ensuring that learning continues to be engaging, meaningful, and developmentally appropriate. By prioritising play, well-being, and high-quality continuous provision, we can create an environment where children are motivated, challenged, and ultimately set up for long-term success.
Change takes time, and it is important to remember that transition is a process, not an event. But by taking small steps towards a more child-led, inquiry-based approach, we can create classrooms that foster not just academic success, but a lifelong love of learning.
If you want to find out more about Effective Transition into Year One with lots of photos and examples of Year One practice, you can access my online training by clicking the button below.
Also the button below links to my book Effective Transition into Key Stage One. If you buy directly from Bloomsbury and use the code ABC25 you will get 25% off. Applies to all my books until 31/5/25.
References
Department for Education (2017). Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. London: DfE.
Nutbrown, C. (2011). Threads of Thinking: Young Children Learning and the Role of Early Education. London: SAGE.
Whitebread, D. (2012). Developmental Psychology and Early Childhood Education: A Guide for Students and Practitioners. London: SAGE.
Pascal, C. & Bertram, T. (2012). The Impact of Early Education as a Strategy in Countering Socioeconomic Disadvantage. London: DfE.
Laevers, F. (1994). The Leuven Involvement Scale for Young Children. Leuven: Centre for Experiential Education.
