Hi there,
This week has been a very busy one - what week isn't?! - but it has been a very productive one, with a fantastic pupil sampler day last Wednesday!
The move from KS2 into KS3 can be a difficult and scary process for many pupils as they have to come to terms with their new environment and the demands placed upon them. It is important that pupils are eased into their potential new surroundings as soon as possible to ensure that they can feel as comfortbale as possible about the move to the 'big school!' This is why we have our pupil sampler day - to let P6/P7 pupils experience 4 of the subjects in the junior high - Art, PE, Technology and Music!
What did we do in Music? Well, we had a lot of fun whilst learning to play instruments and developing a range of skills. We sang, danced in time, learned to play the keyboard, xylophones and create appropriate rhythms - all to the Boogie Woogie Washer Woman!
Sally Peters (2010) has carried out some interesting research in this area and has identified ways in which schools, teachers, parents and the wider community can contribute to bridging the gap between Primary and Secondary school. With reference to schools, she outlines the following as key:
These were:
- schools having a named person, or a small team, to take responsibility and a strategic overview of the process;
- schools providing pre-entry visits for children and their parents that involve parents and children learning about learning at school as well as familiarisation with the environment and people;
- schools having systems that allow for high quality communication and close interaction between family, pre-transfer settings and school, where information is both given and received about children’s experiences;
- schools being sensitive to the needs of individuals and particular groups and having strategies in place to support them;
- flexible admission procedures that give children and their parents the opportunity to have a positive start to their first day;
- children starting school with a friend and schools having systems in place to help children make friends; (repeating a year can cause friendship problems at the next transition);
- schools having strategies to help children develop resilience to cope with change and to be active in making the transition work for them;
- curriculum continuity across phases of education, that comes about from establishing the prior learning that has taken place and where children are helped to learn with and from each other; ‘looping’ where pre-school and school staff plan together and work alternate years in each phase;
- schools evaluating induction and the management of transitions and transfers from the perspective of all participants, and that help to question the assumptions of the setting and see life from the child’s perspective; and
- special training for staff working with those children who are starting school.
For us in that one sampler day, it was essential to show the children that this was a safe, interactive, engaging and supportive environment. One of the ways we tried to emphasise this was with peer support - Year 9 helpers were there to work with the P6/P7 pupils, to talk with them, show them what to do and build relationships.
I decided to research transitions and see what else I could do as a teacher to help this process - here are a few links I've found useful in this area:
This is a structured programme that teachers can implement with their children to help the transition process: Moving on and Moving Up
As a Music Teacher, this presentation was really interesting - providing subject specific guidelines on how to ease this transition
Looking forward to our next sampler day and welcoming those I've met during this process in September!
A :) x
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