At Bedminster Down School in south Bristol, all students and teachers from within the school’s learning partnership have the opportunity to spend a whole week learning about secondary school life during term six each year.
Now in its fourth year, the scheme involves teachers working together to deliver an all-round positive and hassle-free experience of moving to secondary school.
Planning for our September students starts in the October before they are due to arrive. I lead a working group including a head of house, a SENCO lead and a representative from senior leadership to start looking at what has worked well for our current intake, anything new on the horizon for next September, and how we are resourced to manage 150 year 6s who will arrive in school for a week in term six.
We meet again in January and May – by this time we will know where all our students are coming from, how many might be eligible for Pupil Premium and how many are lone students starting at the school without any primary school class mates. In the run up to transition week I visit our main feeder primaries so that I become a friendly face for the pupils and know about any concerns from the year 6 teachers.
Transition week takes place in July when all the year 11s have finished their exams and to coincide with when the year 10s are on work experience.
This year we are welcoming 204 children from 28 different primary schools. Some years we have kept primary groups together but, following teacher feedback, this year we will split everyone so they are all in a similar position of being in a class that feels entirely new for the week.
This year we are also mixing in our own students more to make the experience feel more real. By the time we get to the Tuesday our transition children will be experiencing our break and lunchtimes.
Following an introductory assembly on Monday morning we will use the week to get students stuck into secondary-style activities. They will experience the science labs, French, computing and PE and this year we have broadened the activities to include digital photography, media studies, music, drama and animal science.
Outside support comes from a company that runs problem-solving activities and “Mr Crepe” for the French experience (this gets mentioned on every pupil feedback form!).
We use the week to get our new year 7s fully equipped for secondary school life. By the time the week is up they know how to navigate the building, how to use the school bus (for the transition week we put staff on each bus stop where we know new students will be using the service), and how to be in lessons in the right place, at the right time and with the right gear.
It is also important to us that the week is a valuable experience for the year 6 teachers from our feeder schools too. They come along as well to observe the secondary teaching methods and timetables and will be teaching in our school for two sessions each day.
It helps us all to understand the differences between primary and secondary education. For example, we often have maths and English in the afternoon but most primaries tackle these first thing in the morning. So thanks to our transition links, for the last few weeks of term year 6 teachers have begun to swap around their teaching day to make it more like key stage 3.
Our scheme has been slightly different every year as we try and respond to as much feedback as possible. This ranges from swifter access to rooms to dealing with queues for Mr Crepe. There are mixed feelings about the amount of mixing with the rest of the school so we are now looking to build it up gradually over the week. We also run a targeted summer school when funds allow, topping up some of the work started with more vulnerable pupils.
By the time we get to the parents’ evening for new starters in July, everyone is buzzing from their transition experience. It is a chance for parents to buy uniform and ask any questions and we get a lot of feedback at this point about how much the children have enjoyed transition week, how safe they feel about starting secondary school, and that they would like September to come sooner.
The week is possible through our role in the Malago Learning Partnership, a voluntary but formal arrangement between schools in a tight geographical corner of south Bristol. Each year feedback from students and teachers has been positive and staff appreciate starting September with groups who are familiar with each other, the school and the expectations of year 7.
- Leanne Wilding is an English teacher at Bedminster Down School in south Bristol. She looks after the transition of 150 or more students to year 7 each year. Visit www.bedminsterdown.com