Secondary school what info do they get about new yr 7s?

[gardeningirl]

My yr 6 son came home yesterday saying that during the afternoon he was called out of class to meet with a teacher from the secondary school where he starts as yr 7 in sept. He’s the only one from that year going, so the teacher just wanted to chat to him. My DS says they talked for about half an hour but can’t really remember what about. Then he went back to class.
Tbh im impressed they have visited at all - but I’m wondering what sort of thing they wanted to know? Surely his primary school send lots of info on? Just interested in the process - we have not yet had much info from new school, tho is a parents info evening planned in June. Asking out if interest- first born so all secondary stuff is new (and exciting!)

That’s really nice! Sounds like good transition support. Mainly we get info on their prior attainment e.g. SATS results to help us set target grades. Also if there is any special educational or medical needs we will receive extensive details on that.

Oh and OP i bet they just wanted to get to know your DS and support him to feel comfortable with the transition. Any important info would be passed on by parents or class teachers.

Hi. Our head of yr 7 visits every single primary school that we are getting even a single student from as part of a smooth transition. This can be a lot of schools and is seen as a real strength of our school. If there are a few, she’ll do a talk on what to expect, taking current students with her, and answer any questions from the students. If your son is the only one from his school, it is likely to be the exact same thing, except one to one. Just checking he’s happy about the move, get to reassure him etc.

The question of what info we get, depends on the primary school. Obviously we get data, but the primary will pass on comments on anything they think it’s worth us knowing. Some primaries tell us nothing.

My children had the head of Y7 come and visit them at the end of primary school. The purpose is not for the secondary school to gather information on the pupil, but to put the pupil at their ease and answer any questions they might have about 'big school'

I'm doing the transitions this year and it's all different due to GDPR. Primaries can't give us anything, even EHCPs have to come straight from the LEA, so we have to go and meet the child.
I'll be asking his likes, dislikes etc. Telling him a bit about our school. Just a bit of a chat to try and gauge his interests and help decide tutor groupings etc

DS3 met someone from the school he is moving up to yesterday, they had a one on one meeting and he got some input to the form group he will be in. I don't know what they chatted about but apparently he had to give one cool fact about himself. In my experience it makes a lot of difference to the transition, his two older brothers are in the school and the teachers already 'knew' them before they arrived and it made for a smooth and enjoyable swap. For my DS1 who was on school action plus (or something, everything changes all the time and it was a while ago) it meant he flourished in an environment that could have potentially been a nightmare for him. I hope all schools do this now.

It seems weird to be here again as well but 'hi' to all the nearly year 7 mums, I am still chatting with the friends I made on here at this point 7 years ago as we now go through A levels together, I hope we can all keep in touch over the years, it's a great support to have.

I was ahout to mention GDPR.

Around here the senior schools visit and they usually get data from the national tests. My son will go to his new school for two days in June and we have a new parents evening where we buy the house tie. That's all I know. DS is miffed because the letter says he must be picked up at 3pm but he has been walking home from school since year 5.

I'm excited, he doesn't know what the fuss is about. He is going through assessment for ASD but the ed psych belongs to both schools.

DS is miffed because the letter says he must be picked up at 3pm

They might not really mean that. They might just mean 'for those being collected they will be let out at 3'. I would be quite surprised if they really want 100s of y6 parents turning up. Unless it is really explicit it is worth checking.

Doing my first transition visit for this year in an hour! I'm seeing 3 kids in one school. I know one because I have taught both his older sisters and the younger of these was one of my own DD's best friends.

The form I need to complete asks if they have any family members already at the school, hobbies, musical instruments they play, sports, drama and how they are planning to get to school. I then comment on my gut feelings about the children and there is a space for their current teacher's comments. We also need to know if there is a safeguarding file, special educational need/disability and an IHP but I do not expect either to see or be given these.

I really enjoy doing this. The kids get an info card with things on about their transition day and the parent meeting afterwards. It's lovely when they come up to me in September to see if I can remember them!

Our secondary takes in children from around 40 primaries. With the local ones (and maybe others too) they take a couple of current y7s with them who used to go to the primary they are visiting.

GDPR should not be a basis of not sending information on to another school surely. If your data audit is up to date you should have it noted that information on the child will be shared with others due to a legitimate interest. I have a child going to primary school and will be sharing his EHCP with them when I get it.

Anyway, back to the OP, I think it is a mark of a school who care about their students to go and meet them at their school. It gives the children a face of somebody they recognise when they start. Our school also does 3 days of transition and a summer school. Takes away some of the fear of going to 'big' school.

We had a meeting with DD and one of the secondary school teachers. They talked about things like:

• What are you looking forward to the most?
• Are you worried about anything?
• Which subjects do you like best?
• Do you have any particular interests? (which led to talking about the clubs the school has that DD might like and which sports they did for PE)

Then the teacher talked about the arrangements they have for the new Yr7s and how they help them to settle in (visits to/from the school, transition events with the other primary schools etc)

I think the Yr6 teachers also had meetings with the secondary school to talk about each child and to hand over any information.

Some feeder primaries will have been doing things like special maths days/activities/having the head take an assembly for the last year or two so it makes sense that a school makes the effort to visit a child coming from a non feeder school.

DD’s new secondary school invites all Y6 to an interview at the school, approx 10-15 minutes chatting about hobbies, if they have any role currently like house captain etc, they mentioned clubs which would fit DD’s hobbies etc. The. They ask parents if there was/is any teaching support, even if nothing is diagnosed.

As we are in a commuter belt they also ask about second home language and ask if the parents have a specific wish if a child should or should not been allocated for this language if they teach it. For example we are Germans but don’t want DD to learn it in school.

They also do 2 workshops where they will meet future form classmates, the school has roughly 4-5 feeder primaries. Then there is an parent/daughter evening for all things practical.