"Everyone remembers their first day at school". Exploring the use of phased starts as a primary school transition practice for pupils in Northern Ireland.

Transition to formal schooling is a significant milestone in children’s lives. Effective management of this is important as successful transitions are a stable predictor of later school success (Rimm-Kaufmann & Pianta, 2000). Northern Ireland (NI) has one of the lowest compulsory school starting ages in Europe (McMurray, 2021), potentially increasing the significance of this transition. Anecdotal evidence suggests that phased starts are a commonly implemented Primary One (P1) transition practice in NI. However, previous research has queried their contribution to successful transitions. This is the first study to explore primary school transition processes and the use of phased starts in NI. This sequential explanatory mixed-methods study comprised two elements; a quantitative online survey and qualitative semi-structured interviews. 48 P1 teachers completed a survey investigating schools’ transition practices while a census-style measure of practices was obtained from 350 schools. 77.71% of schools reported using phased starts. 86.03% implemented induction periods of between one and four weeks. A combination of shortened days and small group induction emerged as schools’ preferred transition structure (49.63%). All survey participants rated their practices as beneficial while phased starts were found to comprise just one element of transition activities. Eight P1 teachers participated in individual, semi-structured interviews exploring schools’ rationale for their transition practices and teachers’ experiences of these. Interview data were analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA; Braun & Clarke, 2022b). Five themes were generated: “time well spent”, “space and place for transitions”, “context is key”, “transition is a family experience” and “collaboration”. Findings are discussed in relation to ecological theoretical frameworks (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006; Epstein, 1995; Rimm-Kaufmann & Pianta, 2000) alongside implications for practice and recommendations for future research.