Partnership working supports Year 6/7 transition
At a time when year 6 pupils have been unable to visit their secondary school in preparation for the next stage in their educational journey, schools and Local Authority services have been working in partnership to ensure a smooth transition for all Bexley children.
Although the purpose of the task and finish group set up to oversee this work was aimed at known vulnerable children, members collected transition forms for all children in Bexley primary schools as every year 6 child was vulnerable in the current circumstances. Earlier partnership working, through the Inclusion sub-group, meant that all Bexley schools had already agreed to use a single shared transition form this year. The Local Authority has collected 2,500 completed forms and passed on 1,800 to Bexley secondary schools, 500 to out-of-borough schools and the remainder are awaiting confirmation of the child’s destination before being sent out. The RAG-rated forms meant that secondary schools learnt about the most vulnerable children first so that they could support them before they joined in September.
Work has also been underway to support schools meet the needs of children including developing post-lockdown back-to-school training, creating an emotional resilience toolkit and attending various individual children’s transition meetings. Plans are also in place to continue supporting into year 7. A ‘Moving into Year 7’ presentation has been shared with parents, pupils and schools, giving top tips and advice from a year 11 pupil to year 6 pupils as they move on. A similar video was also made for Bexley Voice families.
Schools, for their part, have produced a variety of innovative transition resources such as virtual assemblies and form meetings, virtual school tours and photo books to smooth the way.
