Managing transition for yourself and your pupils

Sometimes your pupils will need additional help to manage transition. This is especially the case for pupils with additional needs and/or disabilities. Some time and thought invested prior to transition can help the process go smoothly and successfully.

As part of a multi-agency project, the London Borough of Redbridge has produced a toolkit called ‘Moving On, Moving Up’. The toolkit is designed to help parents, pupils and schools manage transition for all pupils. This is especially helpful for pupils with special educational needs (SEN).

The key people involved in the project were:

• Lin Beverly, Parentlink (Redbridge Parent Partnership scheme)
• Clare Davies-Jones, Afasic (a charity supporting those with speech, language and communication needs)
• Michelle Thornton, head of Little Heath Specialist Support Service.

‘Moving On, Moving Up’ demonstrates how relationships between schools and parents can be strengthened, producing real improvements for pupils. The toolkit is presented in a pack of five leaflets, each with a specific focus, as follows:

• Visiting a school
• Pupil profile
• How to help at home
• How to help at Primary school
• How to help at Secondary school

The packs were sent to Redbridge schools in the spring term of 2007. Both parents and schools report that the resource is:

• helping them to give more informed planning
• increasing their awareness of the needs of parents and pupils
• improving communication.

Parents report that they are more confident that their children’s needs will be met in the secondary school. Secondary schools have welcomed the opportunity to develop early positive relationships with parents.

Michelle Thornton says:

’For pupils with SEN, transition from primary to secondary can be an anxious time. It is essential that the pupils and their families can trust the primary and secondary schools to communicate well to ensure that the whole transition process goes as smoothly as possible, enabling pupils to make a positive start in their new school in September.

‘We want to show that working together can provide better outcomes for children, families and schools.  We intend to work together on future projects.’

If you are interested in finding out more about  ‘Moving On, Moving Up’, you can contact Michelle at Mthornton@lheath.net.
 
If you use this resource, let us know how it impacted your work by emailing engage@gtce.org.uk

If you are an NQT your induction is likely to be reaching transition point 3 and you will be:

• reflecting on your success and achievements over the past three terms
• thinking about the challenges you have faced and what you did to address and overcome them.

It is essential that you feel confident that this transition point passes smoothly and successfully.

To help the process go well, make sure you have set aside enough time to think about the questions you want to ask.  Here are a few questions to get you started.

On completing your induction

• Have the objectives and goals identified at transition points 1 and 2 been fully addressed?
• Which aspects of your induction have been particularly useful and why?

Preparing for your next year

• How prepared do you feel for next year’s class(es)?
• What do you want to achieve next?
• How will you be supported in your next year?
• How would you like to be supported in your next year?
• What CPD systems are available to support you?
• How will you continue and extend your professional learning?

Be sure that you understand what you and your school need to do to demonstrate your successful completion of induction. If you have any concerns visit the TDA website.

At this point of transition, it can be helpful to review the past school year, celebrating achievements and progress and noting changes. This can help everyone to be aware of how changes have occurred and how they were overcome.

In addition to pupils’ advancements in learning and skills, you may want to draw their attention to:

• physical changes – how have they grown and changed appearance over the last year?
• social changes – have you had new pupils, and have some pupils left during the year?
• environmental changes – what is different about the classroom/school/locality?

Your primary focus will be on ensuring that you have fulfilled your role in helping the NQTs to complete induction successfully. But you may also want to give some time to reflect on how well you were supported in this role.  Here are some questions to support your reflections.

• Will you have more NQTs next year?
• What can you, your school and your local authority do better in order to support them?
• What systems do you have for evaluating the induction process and your part in this?

And if your school will not have NQTs next year:

• how will your school use your skills and knowledge?
• what aspects of the role can you further develop to your school’s advantage?
• is there a new induction tutor in a local school who would benefit from your experiences?