Supporting your child with transition

How school helps your child prepare for the next school year

We have an extensive and well tried and tested transition programme, planned to ensure that the children feel confident and secure about the move to their new class/school next year.

This includes:

• PSHE lessons/circle times in classes focusing on change, how this might make us feel and how to manage those feelings.
• Activities to express and deal with worries about change/uncertainty.
• Transition Days such as the Class Swap where children visit their new class/school and get to know the staff in their new class.
• Extra visits/activities are arranged for any child who may find change particularly challenging.

How parents can prepare their child for moving on?

• Start talking to your child about the fact that they will be moving to a new class/school now if you haven’t already.
• Keep the conversation casual and focus on the positives.
• Talk about change as a positive, exciting opportunity.
• Avoid expressing your own doubts, negative thoughts or anxieties to your child.
• Remember that if we try to provide too much certainty and comfort, we are getting in the way of children being able to develop their own problem-solving skills. Overprotecting children from difficult or uncomfortable situations only fuels their anxiety.
• If children tell you they are anxious/worried, normalise their feelings. Talk about how you sometimes feel this way too and that it's ok to feel this way. Help your child to develop resilience by talking through strategies to manage their worries. Help them to challenge negative thinking. (For example, you might remind them of how they made new friends last year or talk through how to ask someone to play etc).
• Remind them that feelings are like clouds. They come and go. We can't stop them coming but we can choose how we look at them.
• Give your child opportunities to share their feelings about their new class by drawing pictures or writing messages to a family member or to a favourite toy.
• Prepare your child (and yourself) for the routines for getting to school and back home: tell them what the plan is clearly, including childcare arrangements.

If you or your child are worried about transition you might find the below booklets, which can be found online, useful along with the below link:

• The Child's Experience of Primary School
• Positive Parenting - Encouraging Better Behaviour

https://psychcentral.com/lib/10-tips-for-raising-resilient-kids/

Class Organisation Policy

The policy explains the long term strategy for class organisation and the principles we operate when children make the transition from one year group to the next:

School is split into 4 phases:

• EYFS – Children in Foundation stage (F2)
• KS1 – Children in Year 1 and 2
• LKS2 – Children in Year 3 and 4
• UKS2 – Children in Year 5 and 6

1. In general children will move through each phase every 2 years.
2. Teaching staff make the decision together with senior leaders which children will be in which class.  This usually happens in the first half of the spring term for the following autumn term.
3. When classes are organised for the next academic year, staff will use their professional judgement and take into account all that we know about the children before they make their decision. Teachers are best placed to know the children and their friendship groups.
4. Teachers alter classes/mix children up to benefit the learning experience of our pupils. 
5. We do our best to take into account the classes children have already been i.e. male teacher, to female teacher and new teacher to experienced teacher.
6. Unless there are very exceptional circumstances a child will not be moved into another class during the course of the year.
7. Where possible, children who will benefit from this approach will be kept with the same teacher for two years.
8. Classes will be arranged in mixed ability cohorts and those children that need accelerating learning or need to catch up will be supported within this arrangement.
9. Children may be accelerated or have deferred access to the next year group.  This decision will be made in consultation with parents. (not usually within a school year)
10. Separate arrangements are in place for children who move from Year 6 to 7