Stop worrying and start as you mean to go on...

Transitioning from your old class to a whole new set of pupils can be tricky, but consistency will ensure success
16th July 2018, 11:24am

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Stop worrying and start as you mean to go on...

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/stop-worrying-and-start-you-mean-go
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For only the second time in my teaching career - in this instance because of taking up a headship last September - I haven’t got a new class to meet this month, and I’m missing it. Well, sort of. In truth, I never much cared for the transition sessions themselves. My feeling at the end of a day spent with my new class was usually a dawning realisation that I was going to have to say goodbye to the children I’d worked with all year, and had come to know and love. I was going to have to start again.

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We convince ourselves that these transition sessions are for the children’s benefit, but it’s not quite that simple. We know how robust children are; teachers are not always so ready for change. Such sessions can bring their own anxieties and stresses in what is already a frantic term full of challenges. I can’t be the only teacher who used to give their classroom an additional tidy before a new class arrived.

Looking back, I think that quick “spring clean” was important. A big part of the transition session is not only meeting new people but also sizing up their personalities - and this cuts both ways.

We teachers use the transition session to set out our stalls: “This is who I am and this is how I work.” For me, starting the day with a spotless classroom was an important marker of my expectations for the year ahead, and I made them explicit: “This is our classroom, and this is how tidy it will need to be at the beginning and end of every day.”

The same is true for various things throughout the day. Children will demonstrate their very best when it comes to handwriting; they’ll pay greater attention to underlining the date than they have for months, all in an effort to demonstrate to you their willingness to do well. With any luck, they’ll also be on their best behaviour.

For some teachers, this might be the time to remember an old adage: “Never smile before Christmas.” Nobody means this literally, but there’s a sound theory underpinning the pithy phrase. What you accept on transition days or in early September is what you’ll endure for the remainder of the year. Set expectations high now, and the line is drawn clearly in the sand; start off too lax and you may find yourself trying to unpick the errors later on.

I always come prepared to show a full range of my qualities. If things are going well, then the children will see a smiling, happy and jovial Mr Tidd. But the reverse is also true. Step outside the school’s expectations and I won’t overlook it on day one. It doesn’t matter if you’re normally a golden child or always in trouble, consistency about the rules will be my watchword.

For transition, as in early September, everyone should be crystal clear about how things will work.

Michael Tidd is headteacher at Medmerry Primary School in West Sussex. He tweets as @MichaelT1979

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