Creating a sense of safety in the transition to secondary school

Transition to secondary school can be stressful for many children. Jodie Morris of Barwic Parade Community Primary in North Yorkshire describes an approach that’s helping to smooth the way.

 

A successful transition from primary to secondary school is crucial for pupils to succeed

Barwic Parade Primary in Selby serves an area of high deprivation, with more than half of our children eligible for pupil premium funding.

We are conscious that we flood our children with Thrive support over the course of their primary years, and are mindful that when children move into secondary, this tight support network will be lost. Some of our children with gaps in their social and emotional development are so reliant on the relationships we have built, we don't want them to lose that sense of safety when they move up to ‘big’ school.

 

Supporting pupils who may struggle with transition

We began building our current approach three years ago when we realised something needed to change. We initially enhanced our own support package by identifying those pupils who may find school transitions a little trickier, working with them to understand what high school life would look like. We began running a Year 7 club during autumn term, where our leavers could come back each week to catch up with those key adults they were missing, and for us to listen and signpost them to support.

Since this time our transition package has grown year on year. Through building strong relationships with the secondary school we feed into, we have designed a comprehensive approach together, making a team around the children that will be joining the school. Luckily, the school that most of our children go to is also a Thrive secondary school so there is a sense of continuation.

We want the children to develop familiarity with the school they will be joining, so we have a PE teacher from the secondary school deliver a weekly PE lesson for our Year 5 and 6 children. The session is run exactly as it would be at secondary school, so the children develop a real understanding of expectations. It also means they have another familiar face when they start in September.

Whether it be during year 7 club or any other time, there are a range of reasons why a child will come back to us for support. They might be struggling with the work, friendships or have received a sanction, so we talk to them about what happened, and we might suggest role-playing the situation so they can try a different approach in the future. The most important thing is that they know they are Barwic Parade children even when they leave us and that we are here as familiar, friendly faces that they can turn to for support whenever they need to.

 

The continuing impact of the pandemic

The pandemic has had a big impact on the children’s readiness for the move to secondary school. We've seen them struggle to resolve issues within friendships and show greater anxiety around the transition process. We know those who have poorer attendance at primary school may struggle more with the move, therefore we prioritise supporting these families also.

The high school is very happy with the transition package we have put in place, and they tell us that this helps our cohort of children to settle and be successful more quickly. There’s more for us to do and we’re refining our approach as we go, but it’s wonderful to know that for most of our children will go on to have a happy start at ‘big’ school.

 

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