Early Childhood Australia has many print and online resources to assist parents, carers and educators in helping children make the transition from child care to preschool, and from preschool to school.

These links and resources on school readiness and transitions are quality-assured by Early Childhood Australia.

School readiness links in ECA's Supporting Best Practice web directory

• School readiness
  A great selection of links to fact sheets and websites. For carers to understand and support parents and children in getting ready to start school.

• About preschoolers
  A more general topic providing connections to sites that discuss the growth, learning and support of preschool-age children.

Best-selling Early Childhood Australia parent resource

Your child's first year at school: A book for parents

Only available to primary school principals.
Parents: ask your principal to get this book!

A successful first year of school is the foundation for:

• children's successful learning
• a strong school–parent relationship.

Written by the Australian Primary Principals Association and Early Childhood Australia to make the first year of school a good experience for everyone. It talks about what parents want to know as their child starts school.

Free sample chapter available

'This book was a tremendous help to me personally. I could not think of a better way for a parent to prepare for primary school.'
—Camille, parent, St Mary's School, Vic

'The orientation process was helpful but at the time it was almost "information overload". Not all the questions and concerns arise in the first week of school. A book like Your child's first year at school is great.'
—Christine, parent, Fulham Gardens Primary School, SA

School readiness links for parents

• Tip Sheet - How to choose a school with confidence
  This tip sheet from the Australian Scholarships Group breaks the task of selecting the right school into 16 categories and provides a handy checklist.

• BBC parenting: Starting school
  Practical tips to make the transition to school less stressful for both parents and children.

• Going to school: Starting school
  Handy step-by-step advice for parents, from preparation and the first days of school, to settling in and dealing with parental-separation pangs.

• School readiness
  A practical analysis of what school readiness means, including examples of children's social and emotional maturity.

• NSW Department of Community Services parenting site
  Advice and guidelines for parents and carers on a huge range of topics.

• Starting school with a smile (PDF)
  Important things children, parents and teachers can do together to prepare for school.

• Starting school
  A helpful list of things for parents to do with their children just prior to starting school and during the first few weeks.

More quality-assured resources from Early Childhood Australia

Journals and free scholarly articles online:

• Australian Journal of Early Childhood - Transitions - Volume 30 No. 3 September 2005
  A themed issue considering a range of different educational transitions with many different destinations - child care, school and the early childhood education profession.
  
  View these free full-text articles:
  • Starting school—a Singapore story told by children
  • Editorial

• 'Children talk about their early experiences at school' (Australian Journal of Early Childhood - Volume 28 No. 3 September 2003
  Original research exploring children's experiences of beginning school.

Quality-assured books from our catalogue:

• Our family is starting school: A handbook for parents and carers is the result of extensive research with families, highlighting the many things they can do to support their child's transition to school.

• Successful kindergarten transition: Your guide to connecting children, families and schools is a step-by-step practical handbook for early childhood professionals to develop and implement a solid kindergarten transition plan.

• Starting school: How to help your child be prepared is an excellent resource for all parents dealing with the social and emotional issues associated with children starting school.

• A parent's guide to preschool is an easy-to-read guide for parents about what to expect from their child's preschool experiences - what and how they will learn and the things families can do to continue this learning at home.

Support for educators and carers

• Where we stand on school readiness
  A document setting out what school readiness means in terms of early childhood policy and practice. This was written by the US National Association for the Education of Young Children but is an important resource for Australian educators as well.

• Starting school: Effective transitions
  Drawing on the University of Western Sydney's 1999 Starting School Research Project, this paper provides examples of effective transition strategies and programs.