Supporting transitions to special school: Co-constructing virtual tours to share important knowledge about school sites and practices

Transitions between stages of schooling present well-known challenges for children with special educational needs and disabilities, including navigating new sites, people, practices, timetables and expectations. Site visits are often recommended for helping with transition, and yet such visits can be difficult to achieve for practical and logistical reasons. This study piloted the development of virtual tours that were co- created with two special schools to support the transitions of children with complex communication and learning needs. We were interested in what the co- creation process revealed about the practices and site features that schools felt were important to share with others to help them understand what to expect. We were also interested in the ways in which the schools enabled the voices of young people with complex needs to be included in the tours. Accordingly, we examine whose and what knowledge was shared in the creation of the tours, and how this knowledge may be used to support transitions. We conclude that virtual tours could be a helpful transition tool to support children and families' familiarisation with a new school site. The findings offer a preliminary framework for planning virtual tours that could be applied and evaluated in future research.