In the world of life after levels, there is a true opportunity to put aside the stereotypes and differences that exist between primary and secondary schools to make transition easier for the thousands of children who move into Year 7 each year.
I see this as the perfect chance to adopt a more coherent approach across key stages 2 and 3, ensuring that tests, data, curriculum and personal knowledge are all shared across primary and secondary phases in a way that will help teachers on both sides of the transition process.
Here are some ideas for how we could align the phases to better support both children and teachers.
Question the benefit
A primary teacher will usually spend a minimum of 30 hours writing transition reports for a class of 30. But how often do secondary teachers actually refer to these reports? Let’s make explicit use of transition reports − or accept that they aren’t useful and stop doing them. For any tasks related to transition, we need to ask the following questions: Do we really need to be doing this? Who is it benefitting?
Avoid lost time
Use May onwards as three months of learning opportunities for Year 6 students to mature into Year 7 learners, either within their primary school or their new secondary setting. Where secondary schools are already working closely with their partner primaries and progress is being made, the schools don’t worry about where that progress happened or who it is attributed to.
Build mutual respect
Create a connected, progressive learning pathway from Year 6 into Year 7 by respecting and understanding the strengths, expectations and pedagogical approaches of each phase. Information on primary years’ achievement should be believed and should not require re-testing. Build a rich data set that all phases have confidence in and use digital technology to support data-sharing.
Plan progression
We should call for a national transition entitlement to bring much-needed planned progression from KS2 to KS3. At local level, local authorities and primary and secondary schools of all types should agree an annual programme of synchronised visits and wider activities. As a minimum, teachers need to be talking to one another across the phases.
Support vulnerable pupils
The primary teacher must brief the secondary form tutor on aspects of vulnerability and emotional wellbeing, as well as the particular and specific needs of pupils. Contact should also be made between Sendcos from the different phases to plan for learning needs in more detail. Children who are “at risk of exclusion” must be identified and continuation plans put in place for their support.
Brief the children
Primary children must, at the very least, get a briefing on expectations of behaviour, punctuality and homework, which should build on similar expectations from their primary schools. They should also receive an orienteering session to gain a sense of the geography and size of their new school, where they can also experience taster lessons and meet their new tutors. If possible, pupils should also have the chance to be taught by secondary teachers within their primary school and to have lessons in laboratories and other specialist spaces before they move up to secondary.
Caroline Whalley is the founder of educational charity The Elliot Foundation and a Trustee of SHINE Trust.
The 1 July issue of TES is a transition special, with 18 pages of analysis, discussion and tips around the issue of transition from primary to secondary education. The magazine is available in all good newsagents. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here
Want to keep up with the latest education news and opinion? Follow TES on Twitter and like TES on Facebook
