Year 6 to 7 Transition for 2024
Transition at any part of a student’s education is very important to us. Whether it is moving up to secondary school from primary school, moving schools, entering a new Key Stage or moving on to post-16 education or training. Working together to ensure success for all relies on good communication from the start. We look forward to working with you, your child and their primary school during this year and in years to come.
Dates for your diary:
Open mornings: Monday 2nd – Wednesday 4th October 2023, 10:45-12:30pm (By appointment only)
Y6 transition days at Mary Webb School – Monday 24th and Tuesday 25th June 2024
Y6 transition evening for parents/carers – Thursday 27th June 2024 6pm
Stepping Up
At Mary Webb School and Science College we have a well-established transition programme that makes the move from primary to secondary school as smooth as possible. We are here to support you and your child every step of the way by ensuring that we build positive relationships and promote the resilience needed to make a successful start at secondary school.
We recognise that your child will experience a range of emotions; excitement and happiness will hopefully be top of the list, but they may also feel overwhelmed, anxious and nervous. We hope that these feelings manifest in to my favourite portmanteau… NERVECITED! …but, sometimes young people do require extra support at times of big change, and for that, we are here to help!
We believe that the most successful transitions happen when this child is at the centre of all communications and planning. We work closely with our families, young people and their primary schools to gather a detailed picture of the child before they start with us.
The road to a successful transition…
The transition journey will start with an invitation to visit our Open Evening or one of our Open Morning events. This will allow you to experience the school in action and get a feel for life at Mary Webb School before submitting your application by the 31st October 2023.
Click this link to find out more about admissions arrangements and to make your application: School admissions | Shropshire Council
Following this, there are many exciting opportunities along the road to transition, including our Junior STEAM club, the STEAM Roadshow and our reading challenge. All of these events help our Year 6 students to familiarise themselves with the school and meet some of the teachers and other students who are making this journey with them.
Along the way, the transition team gather lots of important data and information from the Year 6 class teachers, SENCo’s and from meeting the children directly and giving them the opportunity to tell us all about themselves in their own words. This information is used to inform the allocation of their Houses and the setting of their Form groups. We have five Houses; Cairo, Lima, Paris, Tokyo and Washington. We always consider friendships in Form groupings and, in our experience, we find that students settle very quickly and soon add new friends to their circle. In every new year group, there are always several students that are the only entrant from their primary school; please be reassured that they will be well supported through our mentoring and buddy system and will also settle very quickly.
In the summer term, the Year 6’s will attend our induction days. The aim of these days is to allow the children to orientate themselves within the setting, meet their new teachers, experience a day in the life of a Mary Webb School student and make some new friends along the way! Following this, parents and carers are invited to our Induction Evening, where you will find out further information about starting school, have the opportunity to order uniform, speak to the Local Authority Transport Team and meet your child’s tutor.
We recognise that transition is especially important for students with SEND, we therefore offer tailored support to ensure a successful transition. This includes attendance at Annual Reviews in Years 5 and 6, additional SEND transition days and extra school visits to reduce anxiety. Some students may also attend our Stepping UP support programme in the summer term We work closely with the primary schools to identify any students who may require a bespoke transition package.
The start of a new journey…
On arrival at Mary Webb School and Science College, your child will spend their first few days in school being supported by student mentors and their tutors to help them settle into their new routines. In October, you will be invited to attend an evening to ‘Meet the Tutor’ to discuss how your child has settled in to school and to help quickly solve and issues that may have arisen in the first few weeks. Home school communication is key in ensuring a positive start and you are encouraged to contact your child’s Form Tutor as the first point of contact. You will also be invited to attend our Parent Information Events and a more formal parents evening will take place in June, where you will meet with your children’s class teachers to discuss the progress that they are making on their learning journey.
Here are some resources that you may find useful…
Transitioning to Secondary School
If you have particular questions about starting with us, please contact Mrs Murray on nmurray@marywebbschool.com
Questions regarding school transport should be directed to Shropshire Council by telephoning 0345 678 9008
Questions regarding admissions should be directed to Shropshire Council by telephoning 0345 678 9008