Transition to Secondary School

Transition to Secondary School

Vision

Excellence achieved through care, creativity and challenge.

Intent

In Year 6, our curriculum is designed to prepare pupils for their transition to secondary school. The aim is for students to feel ready for the change and to have strategies to support them with the move in September. We want our pupils to feel happy, confident and motivated to succeed in their new setting and therefore the things we put in place are carefully designed to ensure this.

Implementation

By the summer term, Year 6’s writing is predominantly independent. They are encouraged to write widely for a range of purposes and audiences, justifying their choices of grammar, punctuation and vocabulary in order to achieve an appropriate tone and formality. Line guides are used throughout the rest of their time at King’s Hedges, but by the summer term, Year 6 use lined paper to prepare them for the expectations of secondary school.

During break and lunch times, Year 6 have their own designated space in which they can choose to spend their time. In this area, they have resources such as a table tennis table, board games and picnic benches to use. This is monitored by the House Captains and there are clear expectations set out in rules for how this area should be treated. The purpose of this area is to give Year 6 pupils greater independence and a sense of responsibility as it can be forfeited if misused by individuals; this is in preparation for their break and lunch times in secondary school in which they will be less closely supervised.

Alongside the responsibility for their own area, Year 6 are also given the opportunity to apply for leadership roles around school. This includes roles such as representing their house as a House Captain or being a part of our Junior Leadership Team (JLT). House Captains apply for their role at the beginning of the year by writing and delivering a speech to their house explaining the qualities they possess to successfully achieve the role. Their role throughout the year is to support subject leaders, help at events such as sports day and to assist with behaviour monitoring in assemblies. JLT work closely with members of staff to support the development of the curriculum by providing valuable pupil voice. Alongside these two key roles, Year 6 are also able to apply for roles such as Librarian, Health and Safety Officer or Peer Mediator. Peer Mediators are trained up to support with friendship issues during break and lunch times.

Our Year 6 curriculum is designed to lay important foundations for pupils’ learning at secondary school. Our PSHE curriculum, for example, is specifically designed with transition to secondary school in mind. During the year, we explore different themes to support with transition including: managing change; managing changing friendships; potential worries and anxieties surrounding the transition; awareness of mental health; and peer pressure. Pupils have multiple opportunities to ask questions and are always encouraged to speak to trusted adults about any concerns or worries they may have. In the Year 6 Computing curriculum, pupils are given the chance to explore the features of an email account such as adding attachments, using CC and BCC and making use of drafts. This is to prepare them for secondary as they are likely to be given their own account. We also stage an end of year production so pupils have the chance to perform to a large audience.

Throughout the year, we work closely with our local secondary school, North Cambridge Academy (NCA), which is where the vast majority of our pupils attend for secondary school. We take the opportunity to visit when we can and have for the past few years watched their annual play, performed by pupils taking drama. As well as NCA, we also work with other local secondary schools to organise meetings between pupils and members of staff in the summer term. We also support with additional visits by pupils with SEND by providing adults to accompany them.

Impact

By July, pupils are ready for the transition to secondary school and have strategies for managing change. They are also aware of adults who they can speak to about any worries or concerns. Pupils have also had the chance to exercise greater independence in a variety of contexts in preparation for September.

Enhancements

During the year, we welcome and encourage support and engagement from external companies or agencies to help with delivering the Year 6 curriculum. We have had visits from the Mental Health Support Team (an NHS organisation) who run workshops discussing safe social media use and transition to Year 7. Genr8 is another organisation which has successfully delivered workshops with Year 6 about the influence of social media and peer pressure. Annually, Bikeability runs their Level 2 training which helps pupils to travel safely on the roads in preparation for greater independence, potentially when travelling to school. We have also worked closely with the local PSCO, who has come in to deliver a presentation to the Year 6s about how to stay safe in the local community and to inform them of relevant laws to keep the public safe. Finally, pupils are given the opportunity to take part in a 5-day residential to a farm to develop their indepen