Building essential skills in school

It is well-known that the transition between years 6 and 7 can see young people slipping backwards in their academic achievements. The move from primary to secondary school is always a challenging and faintly mysterious time.

As a teacher I remember seeing first-hand a strange metamorphosis as our new secondary school joiners initially appeared to shrink into themselves before emerging again.

Sadly this process is not always a springboard to success at secondary school. All too often, and to stretch a metaphor, our young people also appear to shed a lot that matters in that process.

There is strong evidence that young people lose previous learning and experience a difficulty in transferring some underpinning skills from primary to secondary, like students’ ability to communicate effectively, to solve problems and think creatively, to get on with others or to set goals and stick at them.