Introduction I am currently a teacher and Additional Learning Needs Coordinator (ALNCO) of a Primary school in Port Talbot, Wales. The role involves identifying monitoring and supporting pupils with a range of Additional Learning Needs (ALN). I am also the teacher of the Early Years class in the school which also involves coordinating pre-school pupils’ transition into school. The school has a significantly high percentage of ALN pupils with a variety of needs ranging from General Learning Difficulties (GLD) to complex Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). The percentage of ALN pupils is 37% which has increased over recently years with ever more children with Speech and language difficulties being identified early on entry to school. Additionally, the community in which the school is set is one of high deprivation. 37% of our pupils have access to free school meals (FSM) due to their low socio-economic backgrounds. Local social services have also reported that a large number of pupils come from families where mental health, alcohol abuse, domestic violence and poverty is an issue which I have also witnessed from working closely with families. It is due to my role that I have decided to base this assignment on the transition of ALN pupils into Early Years settings. Transition from one setting to another can be potentially disruptive and therefore can have a negative effect on children due to the wide range of factors that will change for them during this process (Crutchley, 2018). Some changes which might be considered minor, can have a huge impact on individual children, especially those who may have additional learning needs. Recent research regarding effects of transition into early years settings on children with ALN found that transitions often ended with a range of behaviours including withdrawal and aggression (McDermott et al 2013). I believe this would be beneficial to both school and myself professionally, and the research I undertake will support the school in providing the best possible transition plan for future pupils. I have carried out a forcefield analysis in order to identify the challenging areas around my chosen topic. In order to select the issues that are the most significant, I visited a number of local childcare facilities that feed into my school to discuss various issues faced by staff. I will then go onto critically reflect on the most significant points made in the forcefield analysis. Forcefield Analysis Lack of communication between creche and School 4 Excellent Transition for ALN pupils into Early Years Settings Good communication between school and parents 5 Pre-school settings and school have different versions of important paperwork 3 Transition into new setting is smoother for parents/carers 4 No opportunity for practitioners to meet 4 Strategies for behaviour management are passed over to Early Years staff from pre-school settings 5 If the child is not in creche there is no opportunity for early transition 4 Medical information is passed over to Early Years staff 5 Working parents are not able to attend coffee mornings or meetings 3 Early Years staff know the child’s individual next step 3 Lack of communication between parents and school 4 Important documents such as Ruth Griffiths reports are shared with staff well in advance 5 Parent’s low literacy levels 4 Information for parents are given well in advance 3 I will now critically reflect on the issues that scored the highest during the forcefield analysis. These were; Lack of communication and engagement between parents and school, Lack of communication and engagement between preschool settings and school and parent’s low levels of literacy. I may briefly mention the other points made however these three will be my main discussion points. Lack of communication between parents and school and why it is important This is a topic that is often discussed throughout school as one of the key issues that arise for teachers, particularly when involving children on the additional learning needs register. Good communication between parents and school is essential for all pupils with ALN but this type of effective partnership is particularly important when the child is transitioning from a preschool setting to an Early Years class in school. During the Warnock report, it was emphasised that there was a larger need for an equal partnership between school and families of children with ALN (Warnock, 1978; 152). Even though the Warnock report was written more than 40 years ago, many of its values and principles have been reiterated in more recent documents such as the new ALN code of practice. Partnerships between staff and parents should be an equal balance, with both working together to achieve appropriate outcomes in order to support a child reach their full potential (Wall, 2012). During the Lamb Enquiry (DCSF, 2009h) which explored parental confidence in school systems involving children with ALN, it was highlighted that parents wanted good, honest and open communication that treated parents like equal partners, and that school felt that parents had expertise in their children’s needs. The Lamb Enquiry also found that the most successful schools were ones who had excellent parent-school engagement and this had a huge impact on the children’s confidence and progress (DCSF, 2009h). This shows that this effective engagement between school and parents is crucial to the child’s development and that parents feel strongly that they want to be heavily involved when making decisions about their child’s education. However, this is a very idealistic view of the partnership between staff and parents and whilst all teaching staff would welcome this type of relationship, realistically it is unmanageable for many. Building this type of relationship is particularly difficult whilst working in a deprived area where not all parents see the importance of education. Rawstone (2019) claims that the three way partnership between child, parents and staff is expected to last for up to seven years and it has been proven to be most successful if positive relationships and strong links are forged from school entry at Nursery. Positive relationships such as these are more likely to exist in a situation where there are home visits previous to the child entering the school, information and welcome letters sent home for parents even before the child starts school, encouraging parents to bring their child into the classroom to register them and most importantly providing relaxed opportunities for the parents to talk with the staff during coffee mornings (Rawstone, 2019). This is also quite idealistic and would be difficult for schools to manage, especially if there are large form entry for Nursery. This would take a lot of time for teacher or the liaison officer and this would be expensive, time consuming and this is valuable time that the staff can use to prepare learning opportunities and experiences for the children. Arrangements such as this would need to be agreed by the headteacher and they would need to agree the release members of staff for these meetings. Why does this communication fail? The introduction to school can be traumatic for some parents, particularly if their child has additional learning needs. Parents can experience a wide range of emotions as their child is beginning school, not least because it can seem they are no longer needed in quite the same way, to care for their child the way they had in years gone by. (Wall, 2012). There is a strong attachment between parent and child formed in the early years before school; parents who face attachment Difficulties themselves can experience a great deal of stress ‘letting go.’ I have found that this is particularly evident if the child has additional learning needs; during their infant years the parent is needed to a greater extent due to the child’s difficulties. Rawstone (2019) claims that it is usually parents of children who haven’t spent a great amount of time in early childcare who are more uneasy during the transition period. Therefore, transition into school for these pupils needs to be done in a sensitive way in order to diminish any anxieties parents may experience. After all, the parent has become an expert in their child’s needs, their dislikes and what helps sooth them when they are emotional. This knowledge is key to a successful transition and to be able to gain insight into this expert knowledge is essential for Early Years practitioners working to create a welcoming, safe and honest line of communication with the parent. During the Lamb inquiry (2009h) it was found that parents felt that they had to ‘fight’ for what their child was entitled to and that early years practitioners were not inclusive of parents when discussing the appropriate support for their child. Following on from this, the SEND Code of Practice: 0-25 years (DfE and DoH, 2015) has made significant changes putting the family at the heart of the process for securing provision and support for early years children with ALN. These principles have also been reflected in the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice for Wales (2004) and a more recent version of the code of practise is currently being written which will again strengthen the need for parental involvement. This is something supported by a great deal of research in this field. Another issue which may lead to the breakdown in communication between school and parent is working parents who struggle to find time to visit the school as much as they would like. Therefore, parents who fail to attend meetings at the school should not be assumed to have a lack of interest or care in their child’s development and transition (Wall, 2012). It is crucial that as practitioners we provide opportunities for these working parents to be fully involved in their child’s transition and education in a way that suits their working life as much as feasibly possible. However, Harcombe (2019) claims that many white working class families do not see education as a priority due to being tired from battling against the odds to simply get by in a world which appears to be set up for them to fail. He claims that this is why many of these families fail to attend parents evening meetings and are therefore not informed of their child’s progress or lack of in many cases (Harcombe, 2019). If this was to be true, schools must fight to raise children’s aspirations and highlight to parents how important and life changing gaining a good education can be, even if they don’t want to listen. However, Crutchley (2018) claims that parents who are working, have family commitments or who have their own health concerns should not be taken as a reluctancy to be involved and that special arrangements should be made for these parents. Another difficulty that parents may face when engaging with school is the anxiety they may feel due to a negative experience they may have had during their own education (Rawstone, 2019). This would have brought on a level of low self-esteem in their own ability to educate or care for their child. They may feel nervous engaging in conversations with school staff due to their insecurities and this can cause a barrier to an effective home-school partnership. This is very common with parents of children with additional learning needs and breaking down these barriers can be challenging. This is another example of why early transition for these pupils is key and will eliminate these anxieties and build a positive relationship between parent and teacher. Crutchley (2018) agrees and claims that by working with parents in this way, it can raise their self-confidence by increasing their own knowledge and awareness of the child’s development. As the parent’s involvement in their child’s education increased, the child’s achievements also follow in this pattern (see Figure 1). However, parental anxiety can be a difficult obstacle to overcome due to them perhaps having a negative experience in school themselves. It can be difficult to get parents in through the door into schools and many of the parents that do come in to speak to teachers, it is usually to comment on something negative or complain. So again, the idea of parental involvement is something that all school staff would welcome, however, it is very idealistic and in reality, would be hard to maintain. Shape Text BoxText Box Shape Figure 1 The increase of parental participation positively effects the achievements of the child (adapted from Ward, 2013) Lack of communication between Pre-school settings and School and why it is important One of the major difficulties faced by Early Year practitioners at present is the lack of communication between themselves and pre-school settings. This is something that is often discussed in meetings between teachers and advisors that work for local authorities. The need for good communication between the two settings is critical for a smooth transition and for the child to receive the best support throughout their early education Crutchley (2018). Miller et al (2005) has said that children will benefit most from effective partnership between school and home and therefore they will feel part of a supportive network that is based around them. It is essential for all practitioners to work together to ensure that the child feels at ease when starting school as this is one of the major changes in their lives. Atkinson et al (2007) carried out research into the impact and challenges faced when multi-agencies work together to support children. They found that there was an increased understanding of the child and a marked improvement to the services and provision delivered by all agencies involved. However, there was debate about the increased workload of the agencies involved and the effect this had on their daily practice (Atkinson, 2007). In addition to this, it is difficult to get all these professionals together due to the high workload and time constraints. Again, this idea is very idealistic and in reality this would be very difficult to o Multi-agencies working together is something that the Welsh Assembly have emphasised in the new Code of Practice, placing it at the heart of the forthcoming changes on the horizon. This multi-agency approach is clearly as important to the professionals involved as it is to the children and their parents and there is evidence that when agencies do not work so closely together, that this can have an adverse effect on the child’s development (Reed and Canning, 2012). Why does this communication fail? There are a number of reasons why this flow of communication may breakdown. Firstly, due to the lack of opportunity for members of staff from both settings to meet to discuss pupils. During the conversations I had with the managers of the preschool settings prior to starting this assignment, this is something that both school and pre-school settings felt was the most difficult to arrange due to conflicting schedules and responsibilities. In order for staff to be present at meetings such as this, they need to be scheduled and planned well in advance to ensure that the meetings take place without fail. When discussing why this was an issue with preschool managers, they noted, “It is always difficult for us to arrange these meetings as we have a variety of schools that our children go to, and would therefore need at least 7 different meetings”. It appears quite evident see that this would be difficult for staff members, the benefits of meeting however, greatly outweigh the difficulties of logistics and so school is quite in agreement that it is something that needs to be put into place more regularly. Another difficulty surrounding the transition for pupils into school from preschool settings is the variety of different paperwork used by each early years setting. Due to the Additional Learning Needs Educational Tribunal Act (ALNET) there is a drive for all settings to be working from a person-centred approach and this will make this easier for all staff members. It is clear from speaking to childcare managers that the majority of children attending their settings have a one-page profile and targets to work on however, these very rarely get passed onto school staff. These documents are highly beneficial to read for anyone who is working with the child. One-page profiles are created to highlight what works best for the child, what they like and dislike and also how best to support them. All ALN pupils have a PSP written with support of school staff in the first term of them being in school. It would be extremely helpful to school staff if this information was shared with them from the previous setting. Pre-school staff know the child extremely well and quickly become experts in managing difficulties and challenging behaviours, their strategies would be a great support for a child’s transition into school. It could be argued that, due the difference in staff, the number of pupils and the environment it is more beneficial for school staff to create their own one page profile whilst getting to know the child, without the presumptions given from the previous settings. This way the school staff are not biased in their views on what works best with the child. Data protection has also been a barrier to the flow of information from one setting to another and this is something which managers of pre-school settings mentioned during the conversations I had with them. Due to the need for settings to have parental consent for staff to discuss children with other agencies, it would be difficult for managers of preschool settings to organise meetings such as the ones discussed previously. Parents low levels of literacy Parents low levels of literacy is also a major factor for the breakdown in communication between parents and staff and therefore a reason why transition into school can be difficult. Hemmerechts et al (2017) found that children who were from a disadvantaged backgrounds would also have a lower reading literacy and reading attitudes than children who were from a higher socio-economic background. In addition to this a positive relation was found between children’s performance and an increased level of parental literacy (Hemmerechts, 2017). The number of parents who feel that they are unable to communicate effectively with staff members is increasing and they feel that they don’t always understand information that is given to them. When a child starts in school there are set forms that the parents are required to fill out for their child to get a place within a school. Parents often find it difficult to fill out these forms due to the length and language of the form. If parents struggle at this stage of the transition period, it can be difficult for them to engage with the staff due to their anxieties and low levels of confidence. It is important for staff to understand these difficulties that parents may have, particularly when working in an area of high deprivation. Additional support needs to be put in place to cater for these parents and help them to engage in their child’s education as best they can. As previously discussed, this can be very difficult to manage daily for school staff. Teachers feel that it is already a huge obstacle to tackle children’s poor literacy skills, without having to support parents' low levels of literacy too. School staff feel that this should be managed by staff that work with infants and preschool children and the support should be put in place much earlier on. This way the issues that parents may face are tackled from when they first become parents. Conclusion In conclusion, after discussing the range of factors that effect transition for ALN pupils into Early Years settings, I feel it is vital to provide a smooth transition for children and parents. When doing this, parents need to be included in all discussions regarding the support that will be provided for their children and the setting up of any intervention required. It is clear from the evidence discussed that suggestions for a smoother transition such as early meetings, home visits and a transition liaison officer will be practices that are going to be reinforced through the new ALN code of practice. Reflecting on this, I will proceed to create an action plan for my current setting on how I will adapt the ideas and suggestions discussed during this assignment and use them in my own practice.