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Year Transitions

Reception to Year 1 Transition Pack

The single biggest transition in primary — from play-based EYFS to a more structured Year 1 classroom. Activities, parent letter, classroom routines, and EYFS-to-KS1 staff handover sheet for the gentlest possible move.

Activity Pack Kindergarten Grade 1 Free

Preview

First page preview of Reception to Year 1 Transition Pack 📄 Open full PDF →

Page count: 8. Print-ready PDF — letter / A4 friendly. Click image to see all pages.

Learning objective

Support Reception children, families and Year 1 staff through the transition into KS1 with practical materials for each audience.

About this resource

  • Subject: Year Transitions
  • Type: Activity Pack
  • Grade levels: Kindergarten (ages 4-6, ≈ Reception / Y1), Grade 1 (ages 6-7, ≈ Year 2)
  • Pages: 8
  • Date added: 2026-10-23
  • Credit: Qualified primary teacher

Books for the Reception → Year 1 transition

Books for children, plus practitioner reading for staff.

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Read more about this

Articles that go deeper on the topic this resource covers.

EYFS & early years · 8 min read

Play-Based Learning Isn't Lower Expectations — It's Different Expectations

Walk into a Reception classroom and you'll see children playing. Walk into a Year 3 classroom and you'll see children working. The mistake most adults make is assuming the second is more rigorous than the first.

Teaching strategy · 8 min read

The Handover Most Schools Skip

Every July, the children move up a year. The data tracking system shows reading levels and maths attainment. The handover meeting (if it happens) lasts twenty minutes. And the new teacher spends most of the autumn term re-learning what the previous teacher already knew.

Teaching strategy · 6 min read

The Transition to Secondary School (And How to Support It)

Year 7 is the most academically vulnerable year in many children's school careers. Here's what Year 6 teachers can do to make it easier — and what gets it wrong.

EYFS & early years · 5 min read

The Reception-to-Year-1 Jump

Children who thrived in Reception sometimes wobble badly in Year 1. The drop from play-based to sit-down learning is bigger than the curriculum suggests.

EYFS & early years · 6 min read

What Reception Teachers Know That the Rest of the School Should

Reception teachers operate with a different framework from the rest of primary — one that the rest of the school could learn a great deal from.

EYFS & early years · 6 min read

What Reception Teachers Know That the Rest of the School Should

Reception teachers operate with a different framework from the rest of primary — one the whole school could learn from.

EYFS & early years · 6 min read

The Reception to Year 1 Transition: What Children Need

The move from Reception to Year 1 is one of the most significant transitions in a child's school life — and one of the most under-supported. Here's what the research says about getting it right.

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