Our Approach
Emma van Deventer, Norwich Opportunity Area Transition Project Manager
An information evening event for Y6 parents around the time secondary schools are allocated. These events were a chance to discuss the concerns parents have, as well as set realistic expectations for them on the secondary school experience. They were based on the research and resources of the UCL STAR transition project.
Participating primary schools were surprised at how many parents came, as they would not always get those numbers for other parent Y6 events such as SATS info evenings for example. All that ran it said they would repeat it year on year.
Emma van Deventer, Norwich Opportunity Area Transition Project Manager
Unfortunately, Covid-19 and lockdowns meant follow up parent surveys planned as part of the work were not completed but the primary schools reported that events were very well attended, better attended than other Year 6 events, and that they would continue to run them.
Many parents have concerns about their child moving to high schools and this is a simple and effective way to alleviate many of these. Those parents that do not get their child to the school they wanted are especially anxious and this can be a helpful way to reframe their expectations more positively.
In late February, shortly before admissions send the allocated school places out, all parents of Y6 students were sent a short survey by their school to feed back their level of concerns around common worries about their child starting at high school. The primary school lead for the delivery of the event, then used this to shape the content of the event so it was tailored to respond most effectively to these raised concerns. There is a simple PowerPoint the schools can access and populate with the relevant information. The events were held within a week or two of the surveys being returned. The issues raised were discussed and reflected against the current Y6’s own stated concerns (done in class time) and against national statistics as conducted in the STAR research. The parents could attend with their children if they wished. The events are held in school at a convenient time and run for about one hour. All parents can ask any questions and be signposted if appropriate to other agencies or staff as needed.
Explaining the purpose of the event to schools was difficult. The biggest block was getting primary schools to understand that this is about preparing for high school on a very generic level, and is not high school information specific- that information will be at the high school’s own parents welcome events in the Summer term. Instead, this is the opportunity for primary schools, who have a particularly good relationship with their parents, to use this in a way they can support them practically and emotionally.
The other challenge was getting the primary schools to understand the value of running the survey to tailor the content of the evening appropriately and to follow up with a repeat of the survey to see how effective the event had been.
Refreshments for parents and their children at the event. Cover for those events run by non-teaching staff after school.
Read the parent guide produced by the NOA about making a move from Year 6 to Year 7:
This is a short presentation talking about the main worries parents might have about their child's transition to secondary school and ways they can help:
A document that can be completed with a student/parent to help identify and rate their main concerns about transitioning to secondary school:
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