5 exciting primary to secondary transition activities for year 6
Emily Weston shares her specialist transition knowledge, and reveals 5 primary to secondary transition activities for year 6. Prep and excite them for secondary!
Having taught in both KS2 and KS3, Emily Weston shares her ideas for some exciting primary to secondary transition activities for year 6.
There’s often a misconception that once SATs have finished, year 6 teachers are on the easy home stretch to the summer. Those of us who have taught it know this is far from reality.
The transition between year 6 and year 7 is a delicate balance of finishing primary school with all the rites of passage we want the children to have - the performance, residential, competitive games of rounders where the teacher’s team always wins - while also preparing them for the next stage of their education. So what now?
5 transition activities for year 6
After being in year 6 for a number of years and also working in KS3, I’ve come up with some simple, fun ways to help the children get ready for secondary while still enjoying their last few weeks of primary.
1. Transition Pack
The first, and most simple, of the activities I would suggest is creating a transition pack that children can take with them to their secondary school and pass on to their tutor. This pack is about promoting pupil voice and ensuring they feel listened to during the process. This could include things like:
an ‘about me’ outline where the child can introduce themselves and what they think is important
a letter about themselves written to their tutor
a simple pencil or charcoal self-portrait.
Not only does this give the school more information about the child that we may not pass on, or feel is ‘important’ for them to know, it also gives the secondary school an idea where the child is academically. From a year 7 teacher’s perspective, I’d be sticking the letter into the front of the English book to show exactly what they could do when they leave primary - and keep those standards high from the get go!
You might want to adapt what works for your class, take a look at the pack I created for my own class for inspiration.
2. ‘Year 7 Ready’ Lessons
A series of fun lessons focused around key skills that the children will need for secondary are an ideal way to help them transition. The sessions I created were based around skills secondary teachers felt needed continued development as there is a potential shift in how these skills may be viewed:
organisation e.g. following a secondary timetable, packing their own bag and using a bus
independence e.g. decision-making in response to scenarios - how can they be independent, but also know when it’s appropriate to ask for help?
respect e.g. what is respect, and how does it look different towards different people or situations?
resilience e.g. The Cube style games to know it’s okay not to be the best at everything!
responsibility e.g. being a good citizen and understanding social causes
Whilst they do learn how to embody all of these key qualities throughout their time at primary, it is the perfect time to do lessons which are focused solely around how they can continue developing them. To develop organisation further, for example, children look at using a timetable, packing their own bag and - if necessary - getting the bus to school themselves. Whilst they do need some level or organisation in primary, these are likely to be new experiences for each of them.
Related content:
Ideas for year 6 maths after SATs
Last-minute tips for KS2 writing moderation
3. Secondary Week
My favourite way to aid transition is to hold a ‘secondary week’ (or day!) where the class are on a timetable and move around their primary school having different lessons with different teachers. It does involve the whole school, but every child who has taken part has said it gave them increased confidence and understanding when they went on their ‘move-up’ days to their secondary school.
The children were given a timetable they had to follow - moving around school, ensuring they had their equipment and identifying what their next subject was.
Every teacher took part - and I covered their classes while they took mine! - which meant there was CPD involved, too, as some teachers got experience in a year group they may not have otherwise worked with. It also allowed teachers and TAs to show their passion for a specialist subject; some of our TAs planned and taught some fantastic lessons that they may not otherwise have had the opportunity to.
4. Year 6.5
I would highly recommend organising a visit from your local feeder school in September to start the year off with clear expectations of where they will be going. A teacher from the local secondary came to our school with a ‘Secondary Ready’ session explaining what it might look like.
The class really enjoyed the opportunity to ask questions - particularly about topics like going to the toilet or homework. Their minds were put at ease, but it also reinforced why some rules are in place at primary.
5. Careers Week
Another way to continue teaching skills is through a Careers Week. This is a week designed around project work which can be both teacher-led or independent sessions. By covering a range of subjects through tasks linked to industries, the children have the opportunity to manage their own work, discover new skills or utilise ones they’ve previously been taught and explore possible future careers.
In the Careers Week pack I’ve made, there are over 30 different careers, each with an activity that was created alongside a professional within the industry. It covers a range of different jobs which will start to give them an insight into what jobs are out there, as well as utilising lots of the curriculum and the knowledge they’ve been building throughout their school ‘career’!
It’s so important that we get transition between primary and secondary right; it is so often seen as another tick-box exercise, yet it can have a huge impact on the academic, emotional and social progress of the children we teach. By turning a ‘scary’ period of time into an open (hopefully fun!) process, it can change their perception of secondary school and, in turn, change their actual experience, too!
Using Learning by Questions to prep year 6 for secondary school
Learning by Questions is a great resource to use for primary to secondary transition. You can use the Ready to Progress resources to check for learning gaps and use to inform secondary teachers.