Transition to Secondary Education

We are committed to ensuring that students joining us in Year 7 have as smooth a transition as possible into secondary school and are well equipped for the next stage of their education.

We will be hosting a Parents/Carers’ session for our incoming Year 7 on Wednesday 28 June 2023 at 5.45pm at the school, in St James’ Hall. This will be an opportunity for you to meet members of the Senior Leadership Team, the Head of Year 7 and our Resilience Lead teacher. There will also be an opportunity to speak to our SENCo and to meet our uniform provider and school caterer. Staff will be on hand to answer any general questions that you might have.

In the summer term there will be a Transition day on Thursday 6 July 2023. This is an excellent opportunity for your son/daughter to spend the day at St James’ school. On this day they will take part in some team building exercises, meet their form tutor and other key members of the transition team, have an opportunity to make friends in their year group, and also become familiar with the school.

During the summer holidays, we hold a summer school (this year on  21 - 25 August 2023) and your child will be invited to one day or for the full five days (for identified students who would benefit from further support and immersion). This day is important in helping your child to have a smooth transition from primary to secondary school and we do hope you will take steps to ensure they attend. The programme offers creatively devised sessions, delivered by teachers, to help pupils build valuable skills needed for successful learning in Maths, English and Learning skills and orienteering thus becoming familiar with the school layout and routines. This experience also helps allay any of their anxieties by spending some time in school and meeting other students who will be in their year group.

We also provide transition learning materials in Core Subjects, History and Art. This work provides students with an opportunity to sample Key Stage 3 learning and also provides teachers with an insight into the pupils’ work before they arrive in September.

At St James’, we place great emphasis and value on our partnerships, especially on working with parents/carers and our primary school partners to ensure we give our new cohort of pupils the best possible start at secondary school. Parents have a Settling In Evening in the first half term of the new academic year in which they are given an update on how their child has settled in at St James’ and we can discuss any concerns early on.

Year 7 pupils also benefit from the on-going support of Mrs Faucher who is a dedicated Transition Mentor for Year 7.

TRANSITION EVENING PRESENTATION

SUMMER 2023 Tasks