Introducing an exciting project!
Essex County Council are working with Early Years professionals to strengthen a child’s transition from their Early Years setting to Primary School.
We are starting a very exciting project called The Worrysaurus campaign, where every school and setting will receive the story book The Worrysaurus which explores emotions!
The idea is your child will become familiar with the story The Worrysaurus in their Early Years setting and they will plan exciting activities around the book.
When your child starts school, the Reception Teacher will have the same book and they will share it together – this will create familiarity for your child.
Change can be challenging, but if we are confident as adults with that change, we can help your child to make the adjustment from their established Early Years setting to their new Reception Class.
Mini case studies from childcare providers:
Bright Stars Pre-School, Ongar
“The children who will soon be leaving us to move onto school have each decorated a tin. The dinosaur in the story ‘The Worrysaurus’ had a tin which he filled with things that made him feel safe and happy! The children will be encouraged to take their tin, which they can fill over the Summer holidays, to share with their Reception Class teacher to aid their transition.“
Yellow Brick Road Nursery, Colchester
“After attending the Making It REAL training, we made some home learning sacks which contained a story with story spoons. After seeing what a hit this was by how it helped children take part in reading stories and recalling some of the main events that had happened in the book, we decided we needed to make some more for the setting. ‘The Worrysaurus’ is a popular book in our setting at story time, so we thought why not make visual props to go with it? It’s so easy and effective to make these on your own!“
Top tips and resources:
- Get involved: you can be involved with this project by borrowing the book from your local Essex Library
- Follow our ‘Starting Reception’ campaign: keep an eye out on social media over the summer months where we will be sharing top tips and ideas around the story
- Essex Libraries are also on hand to help: they host a ‘School Readiness’ campaign which includes ‘Big School Meet Up’ sessions and starting school borrow bags; each one contains 6 specially chosen stories/information books to help support you and your child: School Readiness Campaign 2025 | News | Essex Library Service