Sadly, much of year 6 can be focused on leaving it. The year begins with visits to and applications for secondary schools meaning that for some children and parents it becomes an underlying anxiety throughout the year.
This concern increases once SATs are over and children begin the rituals of leaving primary school.
We need to recognise and balance the value of the year 6 experience and learning in itself and its role as preparation for secondary education.
This includes recognising that a successful transition requires preparation for all and additional support for some children.
In this article I set out some basic principles for supporting this important transition to help inform your transition planning for this year’s year 6 cohort when they make the move up to secondary next year.
Much of the advice is for primary schools – although much of the advice will equally require the collaboration of the secondary school/s to which your pupils will transition.
Information-sharing
Key to a successful secondary transition is effective information-sharing between settings – both at a general level (what is the setting like) and a personal level (information about individual children).
The new school needs to know about the learning, needs and vulnerabilities of their new pupils and these need to be shared with all the relevant staff.
The current setting needs to know and understand the expectations of the new school, so they can prepare the children to meet and understand them.
This communication can be very challenging and needs to be given time, particularly when children come from multiple settings. Effective record-keeping of who has communicated with whom and what has been shared is fundamental. Without this, we are often setting children up to fail.
School visits
The best source of information about children is themselves. So an essential part of this information-sharing is for the staff from the secondary school to visit the children in their primary setting. This enables them to gain an understanding of their school experience and meet the children in a setting where they feel confident. This makes it easier for children to ask questions.
These visits can be supported by including previous pupils, so that children can ask questions about the new school of those who were familiar from their current school.
Many of our more vulnerable children will need additional visits including one-to-one or small group time to develop supportive relationships with key staff before they attend the school.
These visits can be supported by sharing a piece of curriculum work to be completed in their primary school and then continued either on the induction day or at the beginning of year 7. This creates a clear and safe link between the learning in the two settings. Setting work to complete over the holiday does not necessarily fulfil this function and can add to anxiety over the expectations in the new setting.
Induction visits
Almost all schools provide some form of induction programme including transition day or days. It is important that the children not only have a positive experience, but that they get to explore the school site and understand the real expectations of their new school.
They need to spend time with the group of children they will be working with most in their new school and meet as many of the adults as possible. The opportunity to form these supportive relationships before the transition is key. It is important that our secondary colleagues prepare for these visits, including learning and using children’s names, so the children feel safe. We can, of course, support them with this endeavour.
Equally, the children will benefit from a takeaway “picture guide” to the key teaching (and support) staff they will be working with and what subjects they teach. This needs to be personalised to the child, not just a general staff list. This means that timetables need to be worked out before the induction days.
Some children may benefit from being accompanied by a member of staff from their current setting so they have a familiar adult and advocate. If a child has particular supports for learning or other activities, these should be available for them to use during the induction visit. Above all, children need an opportunity to ask questions.
Some children will need additional visits, both to see the school in action and at quiet times, e.g. after school or on an INSET day, when they can explore the setting and meet key people without the social pressures and sensory demands of a busy school. Ideally, these additional visits will be before the main induction events so the most vulnerable children are supported to engage in those larger group events.
In the autumn term, the secondary school will need to be aware of any children who due to house moves, illness and so on could not attend the induction visits and ensure they receive additional support. This also applies to children making in-year transfers.
Key information
In my experience and from year 6 surveys that I have conducted, children’s main concerns for secondary transition are about logistics – access to toilets, lunchtime routines, changing for PE and the demands and expectations for homework. Another major worry is getting lost, being late for lessons and then told off.
Children need to be taught how to read and understand the school timetable. This can be supported by matching it with a site map and colour-coding to show the different subjects and areas of the school. Children also need explanations of the names of parts of the school building, the roles of different staff (a tutor is not the same as a primary class teacher) and the language of the subjects – biology, physics and chemistry are all science!
It is key that children understand how and who to ask for help and that it is safe to do so. Many children benefit from the creation of “what if…” plans to allow them to think through the scenarios that are worrying them and work out how these could be managed.
A key element in support for transitions is reducing uncertainty and removing unknowns. We will not be able to do this completely, but the more information we are able to provide about the new setting the better.
The children need clear accessible verbal, written and pictorial information about the key issues, possibly including photos and social stories, as well as the chance to ask questions about it.
They may benefit from accessing online resources, such as videos and virtual tours, which they can revisit in their own time. However, we must not rely on families having the technology or data to access these. Where possible these resources should be available in the child’s home language.
Working with parents
The children’s thoughts and feelings about their school transition will be significantly impacted by their families’ responses, so it is key that we provide support and information to parents as well as children. Parents’ responses will be impacted by their own school experiences.
The information we provide needs to meet the needs of both the child and their family, particularly as their family will be the main source of reassurance for an anxious child over the summer holiday.
For many parents, their anxieties about their child’s transition are exacerbated by the length of the transition process. They need to make their choice of school nearly a year (and often longer for children with SEND) before the child makes the move. It can be difficult to imagine how much a child will change, develop, and mature between the school choice and them actually attending the new setting.
We need to recognise parents’ anxieties about how their child will manage their new setting and provide reassurance. This includes for some recognition that their child may not be attending the school of their choice.
In addition to recognising parents’ anxieties, we need to be explicit about the skills children need before starting in their new school, e.g. practising their journey to school, reading a timetable, and packing their school bag, and encourage parents to work on these with their children.
Identifying the more vulnerable.
There will inevitably be some children who find the transition more challenging and will need additional support. We need to be flexible and empathetic when we identify these children. They may include:
- Those with SEND: It is essential that SEND records are shared in advance and staff from both schools are involved in annual review meetings.
- Military families who may have experienced multiple transitions often with little warning.
- Young carers.
- Looked after children, previously looked after children, and others who may experience attachment issues.
- Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller children.
- Asylum-seekers and refugees and others with limited experience of the UK education system.
- Those with physical and mental health problems.
- Where there is limited parental support.
- Those experiencing anxiety and/ or experience of being bullied.
- Where a sibling has had adverse experiences at school.
- A child who is the first in their family to make the transition to secondary.
Once we have identified these children, we need to consider the additional support they may need and ensure it is provided both pre-transition and, working with our secondary colleagues, post-transition.
Sara Alston is an experienced SENCO and safeguarding lead who also works as a SEND, inclusion and safeguarding consultant and trainer. Sara’s book Working Effectively With Your Teaching Assistant will be published in February 2023. Visit www.seainclusion.co.uk, follow her on X (Twitter) @seainclusion, or read her previous articles for Headteacher Update via www.headteacher-update.com/authors/sara-alston
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