Time for School: How Birmingham is Leading the Way in Supporting Children's Transition to School
A City-Wide Collaborative Effort
Across Birmingham, there are 12,900 children currently in early years settings who will be transitioning into school in September.
During the summer term, BEYN Cluster Teams across Birmingham have facilitated 10 district transition events, creating dedicated spaces for meaningful professional dialogue.
Those events provided a powerful opportunity to bring together practitioners, schools, and other professionals with one shared goal: ensuring every child experiences a positive and successful start to school.
At the heart of BEYN's work to improve outcomes for young children, transition events play a vital role in supporting smooth, well-planned transitions into Reception.
They align with the wider BEYN offer, which prioritises effective transition, inclusive practice, and strong communication and language development. They also support the ambitions of the government's Best Start in Life agenda, which recognises the importance of coordinated early support, strong partnerships, and positive early experiences in helping children thrive and reach their full potential.
Our Birmingham transition events have been running for a number of years, gradually building momentum, with this year being the most successful yet in terms of attendance.
The average number of settings attending each event across all districts went from 59% in 2025 to 71% in 2026, with some districts reaching as much as 85% setting attendance.
As the events grow, so does their value and effectiveness, bringing together reception teachers and early years practitioners from feeder settings to share vital information about children ahead of September.
The Power of Professional Dialogue
These face-to-face sessions provide a valuable opportunity to:
Share key information about children’s needs, strengths, and experiences
Discuss transition approaches and expectations
Build relationships between settings and schools
Arrange visits and ongoing communication
At the heart of every conversation is a shared commitment to keeping the child central to all transition planning.
Also attending the events were many of the other services that support children across the city, such as Early Years Consultants, Area SENCos from Birmingham and beyond, SALT teams, Occupational Therapy Teams, HEART Midlands Early Years Stronger Practice Hub and Startwell.
Schools and settings were able to find out about the support available to them and the children they serve, as well as seek advice from professionals.
A Shared Story to Support Transition
The events were also an opportunity to distribute our city-wide transition book.
We are delighted to be working with Laura Henry-Allain MBE, using her newly published book, Maya & Marley and the New Friend.
This shared narrative helps practitioners open up conversations about belonging, confidence and what it means to be a “new friend,” supporting children to articulate their feelings and understand the feelings of others.
Because all nurseries and schools use the same text, children arrive in reception with a familiar anchor — characters, language and ideas they already know — strengthening continuity, reducing anxiety and creating a consistent, relational bridge across the transition.
If you are a Birmingham school or early years setting and have not yet received your copy of Maya and Marley, please contact us at info@birminghamearlyyearsnetworks.org.
Impact on Practice
Feedback from across the city suggests that:
Transition events are becoming increasingly useful as attendance builds
There is growing consistency in transition expectations and approaches
Events are supporting improved understanding of children’s starting points
An increased focus on inclusive practice and SEND transitions is evident
Professionals have also recognised the value of combining:
Data-informed conversations
Practitioner voice
Practical, usable resources
A nursery in the Hodge Hill & Solihull North district said: “It is so useful to be able to meet all my schools in one place and saves a lot of time contacting individual settings to arrange visits and meetings.”
A reception teacher in the Moseley & Hall Green district said: "It is so valuable to have time dedicated to transition conversations."
A reception teacher in the Sutton Coldfield district said: “I love the idea of the shared book; we will be using it to inform planning in September as well as sharing it with our families at the new intake open evening.”
Blossoms on the Reservoir Nursery shared on their Facebook page that, “This was a fantastic opportunity to network with a range of professionals, including local schools, SEND services, and other organisations that support children and families within our community. By building these connections and keeping informed, we can continue to provide the very best support, advice, and opportunities for our children and their families as they transition through their early years journey.”
Seesaws Chester Road have been sharing our city-wide transition text with the children during their Garden Club activities: “Today at Garden Club we introduced Maya & Marley and the New Friend book, which was kindly gifted to us by the Birmingham Early Years Network. This wonderful story helps children explore friendships and supports them with the transition to school. Copies of the book were also given to all the schools that attended the recent Transition Event. We linked the story to our gardening activities, encouraging discussions about kindness, feelings, helping others and growing new friendships—just like we grow our plants in the garden!”
The event organisation was also praised by many schools and settings, saying that BEYN staff were there to help and support during the event and the information provided was also very useful.
The events felt purposeful, positive and brought together people who share a common goal: ensuring the best possible outcomes for Birmingham's children.
Looking Ahead
As these events continue to go from strength to strength, the aim is to encourage greater use of shared transition approaches with growing alignment in transition timelines, information sharing formats and family engagement strategies.
Therefore, the next phase of BEYN's work will focus on:
Sustaining and strengthening cluster collaboration
Further embedding inclusive transition practices for children with SEND
Expanding opportunities for shared professional development
Continuing to listen carefully to and respond to practitioner and family voice
The success of transition events lies not only in attendance, but in the quality of the conversations, the strength of the relationships, and the shared commitment to getting it right for every child.
Final Reflections
Transition is not a one-off event; it is a carefully supported journey, one where BEYN team members will always be there to support.
We plan to provide clear communication, offered in a timely manner, to give all stakeholders time to prepare for high-quality, meaningful conversations.
What stands out most from this year’s work is the willingness of practitioners, schools, and partners to come together, share openly, and work collectively.
Through these ongoing conversations, we are building a more connected, informed and inclusive early years system; one where every child is welcomed into school feeling known, supported, and ready to thrive in the next chapter of their educational journey.
