There are many different types of transitions during life between the ages of 0 -19. Some are common, happening to most, if not all children. Others are less common, happening to fewer (a minority) children. All changes can affect children and young people in some way. If children are able to be given the opportunity to ask questions, and discuss changes and events then this could help lessen any anxieties and negative effects on their development.
Four main types of transitions are below.

1. Emotional Transitions.
Obviously children’s emotions are affected by their relationships and personal experiences, if their main relationships are unsettled then they will be wary of forming future trusting relationships with adults, e.g. if
The children have 3 mornings before the summer holiday when they go to their new classes and meet their new teacher and TA. We ensure that each child is with other, known, friendship groups. Most children know all the children within their year groups anyway! We also have a home visit policy, and play and learn mornings for children due to start school. When in year 5 there are 2 days at the end of the school year that they visit our secondary school, and this happens again in year 6. However we have such strong links with our local secondary school, so that throughout the school year there are various events e.g. Music concerts, sporting events, KS2 sports day that the children attend, so when they actually move up to secondary school it is reasonably familiar.

4. Physiological Transitions.
These could be said to be physical changes, as they happen to the body i.e. puberty, which happens to all children, or long term medical conditions such as a severe illness or a disability. Children and young people may not actually want to talk about these things, i.e. girls are often embarrassed when they start puberty. If they are suffering from a long illness such as glandular fever, they may be unaware of some of the physical effects this could have (recurrences at a later age). Obviously openness and honest answers or explanations to questions is very important to ensure that young people don’t dwell on anxieties about these