Preparing Year 6 Students for the Transition to Secondary School

When the dust has settled after SATs, yet another challenge awaits the most senior primary school pupils: saying a final goodbye to their first school and some of their best friends. This must be one of the most daunting of life events for any young person.

Pupils approach this transition from different perspectives, often varying in their knowledge of their new school and what will happen next. For this reason, transition can be a strain for some and a logical next step for others. Some pupils say they feel ready for the challenge, while others may be daunted.

How can we prepare our pupils for this change in their lives? How can we make them an active participant in the transition process? Here are some of the things I do to make transition go more smoothly.
 

First Steps to Big School

Once pupils have decided which secondary school they want to go to, the next thing to do is encourage children to attend the open events that most secondary schools offer. These are usually fun, interactive experiences that enthuse prospective pupils. I make sure all these events are visible on our parent calendar as a reminder.

There’s often a buzz in the playground the next morning that can lead to some interesting insights on how pupils feel about their visit. It’s also a chance to find out if a pupil missed out and let them know if there are any other events they can attend. Most secondary schools offer more than one transition open event.

Whenever possible, we make links with our main feeder schools and encourage pupils to attend shows or sporting events on their grounds. Secondary schools may even offer model lessons in languages or computer science, where primary pupils visit the school for an introductory session. It’s often worth asking if a secondary school would be willing to put on such a lesson to help ease primary pupils in. 

Any first contact will help to assure pupils that they are going to a place where learning is fun. Plus, they’ll get a feel for the school’s culture and layout. Pupils also get to meet their new teachers at introductory events, and it can be helpful to put faces to names they may have heard siblings or older friends mention.

Liaising with Transition Leaders

Behind the scenes, a great deal of information needs to be shared. Some of this can be done electronically, but it is always more reassuring to meet any new SENCOs and Heads of Year 7 in person to talk about the upcoming cohort. I make sure my class knows I am meeting with their future teachers and telling them how brilliant they all are. 

Sometimes there may be just one child going off to their secondary school who will have to leave all their peers behind. This can be a very hard step for the pupil to take. We handle this sensitively by meeting their new school staff and then organising one or two additional transition days. When we can, we offer to send along our Learning Mentor with the child if that seems appropriate. This kind of personal touch often puts the solo transition pupil at ease.
 

Friendships & First-hand Accounts

A particularly hard part of the transition process (especially for children transitioning alone) is that they are leaving their friends at one school and must make a whole new set of friends. After any preliminary visits, this is always the focus of our conversation — making sure we spend some time asking pupils how they got on, and if there were other children in the same boat who they got along with. 

One of the best ways for Year 6 pupils to get a feel for their new secondary school is to hear about it from ‘the horse’s mouth’ — i.e. from current students. Sometimes, we have been able to invite previous primary school pupils, now in Year 7, back to the Year 6 classroom to give a talk about their secondary school. This is a more natural and open way to deliver messages such as “There’s more homework” or “There are different rules,” which might intimidate some children. It can lead to all sorts of conversations and even dispel myths about haunted corridors, wicked teachers and people having their heads flushed in the toilets! If they can’t come into school, sometimes our former pupils have written letters or cards sending good wishes to the upcoming cohort.
 

Transition Day

Schools in my local authority liaise to have a single transition day. This means everyone can move up a class and meet their new teachers at the same time. Our primary school has a magical assembly where special ‘fairy dust’ is sprinkled on the pupils by the headteacher and they all move up a year group for a short time. We reveal their new teaching teams and off they go for a lesson in their next classroom. The Year 6 pupils go to secondary school for a day in a similar, but probably less magical, way.

The day before transition is a great chance to talk to pupils about how secondary school can be an opportunity for a fresh start. It can help to discuss what it means to make a good first impression. I remind pupils that not only are they meeting new teaching staff and senior leaders in their new school, but they are also meeting a new set of peers. This is a first chance to make new friends. 

Quite often on transition day, pupils must be up earlier than usual and take along certain items, such as a PE kit or a packed lunch. I do what I can to remind them about timings and to be prepared. I suggest that they arrive in a small group and make sure that the friend they are travelling with is up and out of bed bright and early with a quick text message. Some pupils may be travelling a long way and will need to consider buses or heavy traffic. For some pupils, this means getting their parents organised as much as themselves.

After Transition Day

The gossip after transition day is usually rich with what pupils enjoyed, who got told off and what they thought of their new teachers. I ask them about their lessons, what the building was like, what was different and exciting, and whether they made a new friend or met someone from their neighbourhood. I also want to know if anything bothered them. Sometimes, listening to another pupil’s perspective can put a mind at rest. Usually, the biggest issue for pupils on transition day is the sheer size of the new building. 

We talk about timetabling and how movement around secondary school buildings is organised around the timings of the day. At primary, you tend to have one teacher in one classroom; at secondary school, this base is your form tutor room. We talk about the role of your form tutor and how the school might organise groups when pupils start in September. 

After transition day, I always have an initial pang of sadness, as it feels like my pupils have started to leave already. Similarly, some in my current class are usually not keen on the idea that they will be ‘replaced’ by a new set of Year 6 pupils, and they like to wheedle information out of me about my transition day, too.
 

Transition in the Curriculum

Changes and moving on are part of our PSHE curriculum. We talk about careers, aspirations and about being more independent and safer when in the community. We have cycling and pedestrian training: children of this age are vulnerable to having traffic accidents. Relationships and Sex Education is vital, as this is the time pupils themselves begin to go through another trauma – puberty! It’s all guns blazing for some children. We have a ‘Worry Box’ in our classroom where pupils can pose questions about the PSHE and RSE lessons, and any other transition worries they may have. We check the box regularly and try to weave any queries into our lessons. 

In addition to this, I try to up the ante in my own lessons. I ask pupils to research the secondary school they will attend to give them a feel for its ethos, broader educational offerings (such as extra-curricular activities and clubs) and to foster an initial sense of belonging. In maths or English lessons, I might introduce a ‘secondary school’ element, such as an excerpt from a text they will study in Year 7.
 

The Final Step 

Change is a natural part of our lives. Some change, like the transition to secondary school, is something that must happen as we grow up. Knowing this, we can make such change a little easier by giving pupils as much insight into the process as possible. When they leave me on that tearful last day, I want my pupils to know what is ahead. I want them to feel confident and to feel that they can and will succeed as they begin their life as a secondary school student.

I have been a teacher for 28 years, deputy head for about twenty-four of those, and taught from Reception all the way up to Year 6. In this time, I did a two-year stint with my local authority as an adviser for ICT, working in a wide range of schools with teachers and children. I have always been a class teacher at heart, inspired by the wonderful minds of pupils, which makes teaching such an intense but creative and satisfying career. 

To see CGP+ resources by Simon, click here.           
 

Check out CGP+’s top transition to secondary school resources here.

(If you’re looking to help children transition between Primary years too, fear not — we’ve plenty of resources for you as well!)