The 年長 year: the bridge to grade 1, the ward's dates, and what the nursery hands over

年長 (nenchō) is the oldest class at kindergarten or daycare: the year your child turns six. The ministry treats it as the first half of a two-year stretch it calls the 架け橋期 (kakehashi-ki, the bridge period): 義務教育開始前後の5歳児から小学校1年生の2年間 In that year the ward registers your child for school, checks their health, names the school, and the nursery prepares what it will hand over.

The year's dates, by national rule

By	What happens	The rule
31 October	The municipal board draws up the school register (学齢簿, gakureibo) of children living there on 1 October who turn six this school year	学校教育法施行令 art. 2; 施行規則 art. 31
End of November (end of December where the schedule allows)	The pre-school health check (就学時健康診断, shūgakuji kenkō shindan)	学校保健安全法施行令 art. 1
31 January	The board sends the entry date and, where there is more than one school, names the school	学校教育法施行令 art. 5
April	Grade 1 starts, with a gentler first weeks' timetable	小学校学習指導要領 総則
On entry	The kindergarten or daycare sends its record of your child to the school	施行規則 art. 24; 保育所保育指針

The law gives "months before the start of the school year"; the month ends above are those counted back from 1 April. Your ward sets the actual days. Two wards' versions: Minato's health check and Meguro's entry notice. If your child is not a Japanese national, entry starts with an application to the board: school entry for foreign nationals.

What the kindergarten is working on this year

The programme's handbook describes the five-year-old as a child who uses what they have learned to find new problems and try new ways of solving them:

それまでの経験を生かしながら新たな課題を発見し、新しい方法を考えたり試したりして実現しようとしていく時期

The aims behind the year are the ten in the ten things kindergartens aim for.

The bridge programme itself started in FY2022 as a roughly three-year push, with 19 municipalities chosen as model areas. Everywhere, the kindergarten guideline already asks kindergartens to meet elementary teachers and share the ten aims (小学校の教師との意見交換や合同の研究の機会などを設け). The handbook asks nurseries and schools to share with parents what they are doing, and notes that parents taking part in their activities helps them see where their child is heading. If you are invited to a school visit or a joint event, this is it.

What the school does in April

The elementary course of study asks schools to ease the first weeks of grade 1, centred on 生活科 (seikatsuka, life environment studies):

小学校入学当初においては，幼児期において自発的な活動としての遊びを通して育まれてきたことが，各教科等における学習に円滑に接続されるよう，生活科を中心に，合科的・関連的な指導や弾力的な時間割の設定など，指導の工夫や指導計画の作成を行うこと。

This is the スタートカリキュラム (start curriculum). The research institute's handbook suggests mornings that feel like kindergarten (free play after arriving), lessons cut into 10-to-15-minute blocks, and notes that many schools have sixth-graders read aloud to first-graders and show them how school lunch and cleaning work. What the year then teaches is in what each elementary grade learns.

What the nursery hands over

A kindergarten keeps an official record of each child, the 幼稚園幼児指導要録 (yōchien yōji shidō yōroku). When the child moves on, the head must send an extract or a copy to the new school:

校長は、児童等が進学した場合においては、その作成に係る当該児童等の指導要録の抄本又は写しを作成し、これを進学先の校長に送付しなければならない。

The ministry's notice tells kindergartens to write the final-year entry for the school's use, with the ten aims as the lens, as a whole picture and not item by item. Licensed daycare has the same duty in its guideline: 子どもの育ちを支えるための資料が保育所から小学校へ送付されるようにすること。

What goes wrong

• Moving between October and April. The register uses your address on 1 October. A child added to a ward's register after its check date, with no check elsewhere, must be checked promptly. Tell both ward offices when you move.
• An international preschool. These rules name kindergartens and licensed daycare. If your child's preschool is neither, ask whether it will send anything. If not, you are the handover: write one page for the class teacher.
• Domestic violence. If you have left a violent partner, tell the kindergarten. The notice asks schools to handle the record carefully so that the new school's name and place do not reach that partner.
• Drilling for grade 1. The school's first weeks are built to start from play, and grade 1 teaches hiragana and katakana from the start.

What to do now

1. Check that your address with the ward is correct before 1 October.
2. Watch for the health-check letter in autumn and the school notice by the end of January. If neither has come, call the board of education.
3. In the autumn individual meeting, ask the kindergarten or daycare what it will send to the school, and whether you can add anything.
4. Accept invitations to school visits or joint events.
5. Book after-school care early if you work: after-school care options.