Going Places Transition Scheme : Supporting Children with Additional Needs into Secondary School [1 ed.] 9781351692939, 9780863889219

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GOING PLACES TRANSITION SCHEME Supporting Supporting children children with with additional additional needs needs into into Secondary Secondary School School Carolyn Gelenter and Nadine Prescott A Speechmark Book

GOING PLACES TRANSITION SCHEME Supporting children with additional needs into Secondary School Carolyn Gelenter and Nadine Prescott

First published 2012 by Speechmark Publishing Ltd.

Published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright © Carolyn Gelenter and Nadine Prescott 2012 All rights reserved. The purchase of this copyright material confers the right on the purchasing institution to photocopy pages which bear the Photocopy icon and copyright line at the bottom of the page. No other parts of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification an d explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 9780863889219 (pbk)

Contents Foreword . ........................................................................... 5

Session 5

Home–school links ............................. 59

• Lesson plan.......................................................................... 63

Session 1

Introduction and eating lunch ............ 7

• Resources............................................................................ 66

• Lesson plan ......................................................................... 11 • Resources............................................................................ 15

Session 2 Finding my way around and meeting staff who can help me ...................................... 21

Session 6

Circle time with Year 7 students .... 73

• Lesson plan ......................................................................... 77 • Resources............................................................................ 80

• Lesson plan.......................................................................... 25

General resources (needed for all sessions) ............... 89

• Resources............................................................................ 28

• Visual timetable cards............................................................ 90 • Games pack......................................................................... 96

Session 3

Secondary school lessons . ................ 31

• Lesson plan.......................................................................... 35 • Resources............................................................................ 38

Session 4

Keeping safe at secondary school .... 45

• Lesson plan.......................................................................... 49

• Templates.......................................................................... 115 • Group agreement ............................................................ 116 • Reward chart .................................................................. 117 • Certificate of achievement ................................................ 118 • Question cue cards.......................................................... 119 • Exit tickets...................................................................... 121

• Resources............................................................................ 53

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Foreword The transition from primary to secondary school is a difficult and daunting experience for any child, especially those with special educational needs or those who find change tricky. As an SEN teacher working in a large, inner city secondary school, I all too often have seen the repercussions for children who have transitioned poorly and without the right support – high levels of stress, behavioural and emotional difficulties, reduced attention and listening, depression, poor attendance, a slump in academic attainment, to name a few. The transition programme put together by Nadine and Carolyn is straightforward, simple to use, practical and targets the key areas that pupils report anxiety about or having difficulty with, at secondary school. It is designed in such a way that both teachers and teaching assistants can deliver the programme with very little planning and preparation – it’s all done for you! The activities and sessions are adaptable and appropriate for children with or without learning needs. Most importantly, the children really enjoy taking part in the sessions as they are predominantly game and activity based. Following every session I have run, children have left feeling happier, more confident, have made some new friends and are generally raving about secondary school! If only this programme could be delivered to all pupils transferring from primary to secondary school! Kate Robinson, Teacher of Speech, Language and Communication

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SESSION 1

Introduction and eating lunch

Session 1: Introduction and eating lunch Session 1 of Going Places is designed as an overview of the scheme for the students participating. Students attending may come from many different feeder primary schools so it is important to make sure the students get to meet each other and have an idea of what will happen over the coming six weeks. The first session establishes the group routine and rationales the purpose of the group. The students are involved in developing an agreement about the expected behaviour of the group over the next five sessions. It is always important to establish rules, but particularly so in the case where students may not know each other and are coming together once a week for a short period of time. We have found that it helps the students feel more secure if there is consistency to what is expected with behaviour and routine. The visual session menu is introduced in this, and each subsequent session so that the students know exactly what will happen and can see how much of the session is left, as each visual card is removed at the end of that activity. We also included lunchtime in the first session, although the pattern of the sessions can be changed according to the needs of different groups and the school’s ability to organize the resources that are needed for the different sessions. Lunchtime and food at secondary school can often be an exciting prospect to the new students as well as an area of anxiety. A secondary school lunchtime can involve many new situations to negotiate. For example, canteen staff in primary schools tend to put food on plates in response to a word or a nod from the student as to their preferences. The food is laid out for the students to see and there is a fairly organised line of students, where turns are taken to select food. This is not the case in secondary school where there are many more students often not lining up and where there are probably many more food choices and it

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may only be displayed in photographs or listed as a written menu. It is also difficult for the canteen staff to have the same relationships with the students, as secondary schools are so much bigger, and therefore they may not be as patient with a student who is taking their time to make a choice. New students need to be secondary school lunchtime savvy to come out of the queue with something they actually want to eat! Each session takes place at the secondary school that the student will attend the following academic year. The students are introduced to the menu that is actually served in the individual school canteen, and are given an opportunity to become familiar with how to use a menu to select food choices. Where schools still employ a cash economy, it is also helpful for students to know how much things cost and how much they have to spend and the consequences of spending all their money, for example, in the morning break. Many schools no longer have a cash economy but instead use some kind of token or finger print system. This may also need to be explained in a clear way for the students to understand the system. Finally, in this session the students are introduced to some of the language and vocabulary they may have to use in the canteen, and which may be unfamiliar to them. This is particularly helpful for students who may have English as an Additional Language (EAL) or a speech, language and communication need (SLCN) of some kind. After spending time in their group, the students then go to lunch in the canteen, which helps them overcome some of their anxiety as they get to order their lunch, choose where to sit and meet some of the canteen staff in a supportive small group before they have to do it independently.

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Session 1 Introduction and eating lunch (half day) Session objectives Staff: • Establish group rules, structure and reward system. • Obtain a baseline measure of how students are feeling about secondary school. Students: • Know the group agreement about rules and rewards. • Learn other people’s names. • Understand the purpose of the transition group. • Know how to read the lunch menu. • Know the different areas of the canteen. • Know how to order and buy lunch. • Know where to sit at lunchtime.

Preparation: • Get school’s lunch menu for the day of the session. • Make necessary arrangements for students to be able to look around the canteen when it is empty. • Make necessary arrangements for students to be able to order and eat lunch in the canteen during lunch break.

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Session 1 Lesson plan Activity

Instructions

Resources

Visual timetable

• Put up relevant timetable cards so students can easily see them.

Visual timetable cards

• Go through the timetable with students so they know what they will be doing during the session. • Take down each card on completion of each activity. Name game

• Refer to ‘Name game’ handout in games pack.

‘Introducing yourself’ cue card

• Students each take a turn to say their name, their primary school and mime something they like to do (eg swimming, riding a bike, kicking a ball).

Games pack

• Other students have to guess what they are miming. Explain purpose of session

• Go through the points on the ‘Why are we here?’ poster.

‘Why are we here?’ poster

• Ask students if they have any questions. Group agreement and rewards

• Ask students to think up 4–5 rules that they will agree to follow in the group (eg listen to each other, respect each other, take turns to talk). • Write the rules on the agreement template and ask the students to sign to say they agree to follow them. Refer to this as an agreement.

Group agreement template Reward chart

• Put the agreement up where all students can see it. • Show students the reward chart. Explain that all students can earn points for following the agreement. If students achieve 10 points altogether as a group they can choose a fun game to play at the end. P

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Session 1 Lesson plan

Activity

Instructions

Resources

Questionnaire

• Ask students to fill in the questionnaire about secondary school.

‘My thoughts about secondary school’ questionnaire

• Explain to students that they should be honest when filling in the questionnaire, that no other students will read their answers and that they will be kept confidential. • Explain to students that the questionnaires are to help us find out what areas would be useful to work on as a group. Learning break/starting activity for next topic

• Refer to ‘Bananas for dinner’ game in games pack.

Review lunch menu

• Explain to students the purpose of the following activities – refer to ‘Why are we doing this?’ poster.

Games pack

• Ask if they understand how to play – use adults to demonstrate if needed.

• Read through the lunch menu with students.

Lunch menu ‘Why are we doing this?’ (Eating lunch poster).

• Draw students’ attention to how it is laid out (eg hot food is altogether at the top, then all the cold food is listed below). • Explain how lunch is paid for (eg money, school dinner, cards, tokens, finger prints). Lunch memory game

• The first student says ‘I went to the canteen and I ate _____________‘ (and chooses something from the menu). • The next student then uses the same phrase, but must first list the food already named before choosing their own. And so on.

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Session 1 Lesson plan

Activity

Instructions

Visit to the canteen

• Give students a tour of the canteen just before the lunch break starts, while there are no other students there.

Resources

• Point out main features, such as hot food area, cold food area, drinks, desserts, knives and forks, where you pay, where students sit. • Once lunchtime starts get students to participate in ordering and eating their lunch as they normally would as a secondary school student. Let students be independent and only offer your help if needed. Try to encourage an older student to help them if they need it. Group feedback Exit ticket

• After lunch return to the small group.

Exit ticket

• Each student takes a turn to say one thing they enjoyed about having lunch in the canteen and any one thing that was difficult, not what they were expecting or that they have a question about. • Students complete an ‘Exit ticket’ – they can draw or use written words – take note of any literacy difficulties. • If any problems or worries arise ask the group to think of some solutions.

Finishing game

• Refer back to reward chart.

Games pack

• If students have achieved a total of 10 points, offer them a choice of 3 games from the games pack. • Students to vote for the game they want to play.

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Session 1 Lesson plan

Follow-up activities for primary school: • Take the menu back to primary school with you. • Go through it again to make sure students understand it. • T  alk about what things are the same about their primary school canteen and what things are different. • Talk about any worries or concerns students express. • B  ring any questions or concerns to the next group session (other students probably have the same questions/concerns).

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Session 1 Resources

My name:

O.K.

Worried

Maybe

No

Very worried

school

My thoughts about secondary school

Date: I am going to

Happy

How do I feel about going to secondary school? Very happy

Yes

When I go to secondary school I think I will:

Make lots of friends Know what do to if I get bullied Know who to ask for help Know how to read a map and find my way around Know how to read my timetable Do well in class Know what to do at lunchtime Know what equipment I will need

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Introducing yourself

You need to say: A greeting like ‘hello’, ‘hi’. ‘My name is ‘I go to

’ school’

You need to mime (pretend with actions NOT words) something you like to do.

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Why are we here?

• W  e are a group of Year 6 students who will be starting secondary school in September. • W  e are going to meet four times at secondary school to get ready to start in September. • T  his is so that we can find out more about what it’s like at secondary school. • W  e will find out about things like what we will eat for lunch, where things are in school, who works here, what the timetable will look like and what Year 7 students think about secondary school. • T  he group will help us to feel more confident about coming to secondary school.

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Eating lunch

Why are we doing this? This group lesson will help us to know: • What sort of food we will be eating. • How to read the lunch menu. • How to order and buy lunch. • Where things are in the canteen. • Where to sit at lunch.

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SESSION 2

Finding my way around and meeting staff who can help me

Session 2: Finding my way around and meeting staff who can help me Session 2, and all subsequent sessions, now follow the same routine. The students are reminded of their group agreement, which established the rules of behaviour that they agreed to in the previous session. The session menu is discussed so that all the students know exactly what will be happening and will see how the session is proceeding as each symbol is removed upon finishing the activity. Games are used throughout each session to introduce and reinforce underlying social and communication skills. In this session the first game helps the students remember each other’s names and builds on the social cohesion of the group. Time is built in to allow students to raise any questions or concerns that may have arisen from the previous week. This time for questions will be provided to the group every week. Secondary schools by nature are much larger institutions than primary schools and are often extremely confusing to find your way around. This session has been designed to ensure that students have some familiarity with the layout of the school, which is often in some systematic order even if that is not transparent to the students. This session prepares the students by looking at some of the codes and abbreviations that are used to help establish which department a lesson is in. The students are also introduced to some vocabulary which might be unfamiliar to them, and spoken language scaffolds, such as how to phrase questions and statements that will support them in asking politely for help or clarification. The students are given a map or simple plan of the school, which is talked through before they are given a practical task to find their way to certain places in the school.

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The students are introduced to staff who the school identify as useful people for new students to know. This may be some departmental staff, such as the head of year or pastoral staff, learning mentors or staff in special educational needs. This also works in reverse, as staff get to meet students coming into the following Year 7 in advance. This can be particularly helpful if a student has special educational or additional needs, as staff can be more prepared to support that child when they start the following academic year. Finally the students are taken on a ‘treasure hunt’, which makes finding their way around school an adventure to look forward to, rather than something that may make them feel anxious and lost. During the hunt, the students are asked to find five rooms in different locations, which helps them concretely understand how the school is laid out in some kind of systematic way, and are also encouraged to ask for help or clarification if they get lost or confused. It is hoped that by the end of Session 2 students will have gained some confidence in knowing their way around their secondary school, have met some supportive staff and are able to ask for help if needed.

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Session 2 Finding my way around and meeting staff who can help me (2 hours) Session objectives Students: • Remember the group agreement and rewards. • Remember other people’s names. • Meet 2–3 secondary school staff that I can go to for help. • Know where to find these people at school. • Find my way around secondary school.

Preparation: • F ind a map of the school. • C  ompile a list of 5 important rooms/areas for students to find around school. • A  rrange for 2–3 staff members, who it would be appropriate for students to go to for help, to meet the group (eg head of year, house leader, SENCO, SEN staff, learning mentor, older peer mentors). Add their room numbers to the list above. • N  otify all staff that Y6 students will be walking around school on a treasure hunt and may visit their offices.

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Session 2 Lesson plan

Session 2 Lesson plan Activity

Instructions

Resources

Visual timetable

• Put up relevant timetable cards so students can easily see them.

Visual timetable cards

• Go through the timetable with students so they know what they will be doing during the session. • Take down each card on completion of each activity. Group agreement and rewards

• Review agreement made last week and display where students can see it.

Group agreement

Stand up for your name game

• See ‘Stand up for your name’ game handout from games pack.

Games pack

Question and answer time

• Answer any questions that students have from the previous week or following further discussion back at their primary school.

Explain purpose of session

• Explain to students the purpose of today’s session by using the ‘Why are we doing this?’ poster.

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‘Why are we doing this?’ (Finding my way around and meeting staff who can help me poster)

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Session 2 Lesson plan

Activity

Instructions

Meet staff who can help

• 2–3 staff members come to the group and introduce themselves, tell the students what their jobs are and where students can find them.

Resources

• Primary support staff – note down the names of the staff, their role and their room/office numbers (for use back at primary school). Learning break

• Transformations – refer to handout in games pack.

Games pack

• Encourage students to ask for clarification of instructions. Treasure hunt

• Show students a map of the school.

School map

• Point out any important places such as toilets, gym, ICT room.

List of 5 places and offices of staff they met

• Point out ways students can know what floor or level a room is on (eg 125, 1 = first floor; S3, S = second floor). • Point out ways for students to identify subject area rooms (eg any colour coding, how rooms are grouped (eg all maths on second floor, all DT rooms in DT block). • Give students a list of 5 places for them to find and the offices/rooms/ areas where they can find the staff they met earlier. • Send students off in pairs or in groups of 3 with an adult to find the places on their list.

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Session 2 Lesson plan

Activity

Instructions

Resources

Group feedback and exit ticket

• Everyone returns to the group.

Exit ticket

• Each student takes a turn to talk about the best thing they saw/found on their treasure hunt. • Complete exit tickets and answer any questions or concerns that arise.

Finishing game

• Refer back to reward chart.

Games pack

• If students have achieved 10 points, offer them a choice of 3 games from the games pack. • Students to vote for the game they want to play.

Follow-up activities for primary school: • R  evise the names of the staff the students met, what their jobs are and where the students can find them. • L ook over the map again. • T  alk about any worries or concerns students express. • B  ring any questions or concerns to the next group session (other students probably have the same questions/concerns).

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Session 2 Resources

Finding my way around and meeting staff who can help me

Why are we doing this? This group lesson will help us to: • Know who we can go to if we need help at secondary school. • Know some staff at secondary school. • Find our way around our new secondary school.

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SESSION 3

Secondary school lessons

Session 3: Secondary school lessons By now, the students have had an opportunity to get to know each other better. They should know each other’s names and have hopefully established a link with other students in their group. As in previous sessions, the agreement will be reviewed and the visual timetable used. As in all the sessions, games are used to get students warmed up, to give them a learning break and also as a way of learning and reinforcing important social communication skills. It is particularly important that this session is fun as it is the introduction to going to an actual lesson, which often primary students feel very anxious about. A lot of the students are worried that their secondary school teachers will be much stricter than their primary school teachers! There can also be concerns that they will not understand the lesson work. In this session the students will look at a typical day at secondary school, using an example of a real timetable from the school. As the students may not be used to reading a timetable, it is important to look at any important features of a timetable and particular language such as abbreviations used to describe particular subjects, or teacher’s initials. Understanding and following timetables is a very important part of being in secondary school and can lead to students getting into trouble for turning up late to lessons if they are not clear about subjects, times and places. In addition it is part of becoming independent and being organised for the school day, which is so different from their experiences in primary school with one teacher and one main classroom. Students will need to be able to read and follow their timetable so they can also be prepared for the following day’s lessons as well as being able to independently find their way around school.

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The activity part of this session is actually taking part in a lesson in their nominated secondary school. This will take some organisation on the part of the secondary school as it may involve organising students across several lessons in more than one department. Students who have participated in these groups often enjoy the lesson and are surprised by how much they understand and how ‘nice’ the teacher is! The other current Year 7 students have an opportunity to show how responsible and helpful they can be with the primary students. It is a good idea to try and put the Year 6 child in a lesson with Year 7 students from their primary school if possible so that there is at least some familiarity with other students in the class. This session really helps students understand that lessons will not be too scary and neither are the teachers!

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Session 3 Secondary school lessons (2 hours) Session objectives Students: • R  emember the group agreement and rewards. • K  now what subjects are studied at secondary school. • E  xperience being in a Y7 secondary school lesson.

Preparation: • M  ake arrangements for students to observe a Y7 lesson (arrange smaller groups across multiple lessons if your group is large). • A  sk teachers to tell Y7 students that Y6 will be visiting. • O  btain an example of a typical Y7 timetable.

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Session 3 Lesson plan Activity

Instructions

Resources

Visual timetable

• Put up relevant timetable cards so students can easily see them.

Visual timetable cards

• Go through the timetable with students so they know what they will be doing during the session. • Take down each card on completion of each activity. Agreement and rewards

• Review agreement and display.

Group agreement

Starting activity

• See ‘Mirrors’ game in games pack.

Games pack

Question and answer time

• Answer any questions that students have from the previous week or following further discussion back at their primary school.

Explain purpose of session

• Explain to students the purpose of today’s session by using ‘Why are we doing this?’poster.

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‘Why are we doing this?’ (My timetable and lessons poster)

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Session 3 Lesson plan

Activity

Instructions

Resources

Talk with your feet!

• Lay subject cards out on the floor.

Instructions

• Ask students to respond to instructions by walking to a subject card (eg ‘walk to a subject that you can talk about’, ‘walk to a subject that you have a question about’).

Subject cards Statement cards

• Throughout the game clarify any confusion, or answer questions concerning the different subjects, and what they may involve. Learning break

• See ‘Subject tennis’ in games pack.

Reading a timetable

• Explain to students about how to read the timetable. Point out important features such as where the days of the week are, how many periods in a day, what initials and abbreviations might mean and where room numbers are.

Timetable quiz

• Generate quiz questions that go with your timetable (see example provided).

Lesson observation

• Take students to observe lesson as arranged (it is recommended that students observe for 30 minutes).

Group feedback and exit ticket

• Everyone returns to the group.

Games pack

Example timetable quiz

Exit ticket

• Each student takes a turn to say one thing they liked about the lesson and one thing they were concerned or have a question about. • Complete exit tickets and answer any questions or concerns that arise.

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Session 3 Lesson plan

Activity

Instructions

Resources

Invite letter for parents

• Give students the parent invite letter, so parents are given enough notice to attend session 5.

Parent invite letter

Finishing game

• Refer back to reward chart.

Games pack

• If students have achieved 10 points, offer them a choice of 3 games from the games pack. • Students to vote for the game they want to play.

Follow-up activities for primary school: • E  nsure parent invite letter goes home to parents. • R  evise subject names. • R  evise timetable. • T  alk about any worries or concerns students express. • B  ring any questions or concerns to the next group session (other students probably have the same questions/concerns).

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Session 3 Resources

Timetable quiz

1 There are

lessons per day.

2 There are

different subjects.

3 There are

different teachers.

4 There are

different rooms.

5 PE is on these days: 6 The Maths lesson is in room 7 The Drama teacher is called 8 The day I like best is

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My timetable and lessons

Why are we doing this? This group lesson will help us to know: • What subjects we will take at secondary school. • What it’s like to be in a Year 7 lesson. • How to read our new timetables.

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Talk with your feet!

Instructions: • Lay the subject cards out on the floor around the room. • A  sk a question from the ‘Talk with your feet!’ questions in the resources. • Students move to the appropriate subject. (This can be done as a quick activity or a main activity with discussion about the students’ choices).

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Talk with your feet! statement cards

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Walk to a subject that you are really good at.

Walk to a subject that you have a question about.

Walk to a subject that you don’t like.

Walk to a subject that you will enjoy learning about.

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Subject cards 1

English

Maths

Science

Humanities

Physical Education (PE)

Music

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Subject cards 2

Information Technology (IT)

Art P

Design and Technology (DT)

Drama

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Religious Education (RE)

Modern foreign language (eg Spanish, French, German) 44

SESSION 4

Keeping safe at secondary school

Session 4: Keeping safe at secondary school This session was written as a direct result of concerns on student evaluations. A common theme amongst the students was their fear and anxiety around being bullied at their new secondary school. This session will focus on supporting students to help themselves in difficult situations with other students or adults at their new school. Rather than telling the students what to do, this session teaches students to identify people they feel safe to talk to and how to formulate questions and ask for help. Sometimes staff at secondary school may assume that students will be competent and confident at asking questions or asking for help. Our experience of running transition groups is that often students in transition to secondary school find the number of adults and other students they are being exposed to overwhelming. At the start of Year 7, students have not had the opportunity to develop relationships with individual members of staff and may also not know any other students in their classes. A Year 7 student has to cope with all of this and be able to reflect, problem solve and formulate complex language in order to meet needs. This is difficult for a typically developing student, and particularly so for the increasing number of students with special and additional educational needs attending mainstream secondary schools. This session has been designed so that students will have an opportunity to learn and think about what constitutes bullying and the different types of bullying that may happen in school. They will have practical opportunities to discuss scenarios and be involved in role-plays to find ways to problem solve around situations based on the very real concerns that students in previous transition groups have raised.

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This session continues to have a focus on supporting students’ language and vocabulary around bullying and asking for help by ensuring students really understand what the concept of bullying is, learn any vocabulary that might be helpful such as ‘peer pressure’, and have scaffolds for formulating the ‘wh’ type questions. As the focus of this session is on keeping safe, we have suggested inviting relevant school staff to come and discuss concerns with the students. These people may include the school police officer; a home school liaison officer, learning mentors; pastoral workers or school councilors. This also gives the students the opportunity to put into practice the skills they have been learning in sessions, understanding the roles of different staff at secondary school, who to go to for help and how to ask for help.

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Session 4 Keeping safe at secondary school (3 hours) Session objectives Students: • • • •

Remember the group agreement and rewards. To know what bullying is. To know who to go to for help with bullying. To learn some strategies for dealing with bullying.

Preparation: • Invite school police officer to lesson. • I nvite any other available and relevant staff (eg learning mentor, home–school liaison, youth workers, school councilors, pastoral heads of year/houses).

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Session 4 Lesson plan Activity

Instructions

Resources

Visual timetable

• Put up relevant timetable cards so students can easily see them.

Visual timetable cards

• Go through the timetable with students so they know what they will be doing during the session. • Take down each card on completion of each activity. Agreement and rewards

• Review agreement and display.

Group agreement

Starting activity

• See ‘Thinking of a number’ in games pack.

Games pack

Question and answer time

• Answer any questions that students have from the previous week or following further discussion back at their primary school.

Explain purpose of session

• Explain to students the purpose of today’s session by using ‘Why are we doing this?’ poster.

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‘Why are we doing this?’ (Keeping safe at secondary school poster)

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Session 4 Lesson plan

Activity

Instructions

Resources

What is bullying?

• Present mind map to students.

Bullying mind map

• Ask students to ‘brainstorm’ ideas for what bullying is. Don’t give the students the headings below as we don’t want to influence their initial ideas. • As the students give their responses, an adult writes them onto the mind map, and groups them under the headings ‘physical’, ‘verbal’, ‘peer pressure’, ‘cyber’, ‘taking your things’. • For example, teasing would be ‘verbal’, making you do something you don’t want to do would be ‘peer pressure’, texting/facebook/ msn would be ‘cyber’, pushing/hitting would be ‘physical’ and taking something from you would be ‘taking your things’. Learning break

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• ‘Compliment round’ – refer to handout in games pack.

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Games pack

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Session 4 Lesson plan

Activity

Instructions

Resources

Preparation of questions

• Tell the students that the school police officer (or other relevant person) is going to visit, to answer any questions they have about staying safe at secondary school.

Question cue cards White board or flipchart

• Ask students to stand in a circle. Place the ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘why’, ‘any other question’, starting cards in the middle of the circle. • Students are asked to think of questions they want to ask – when they have a question in mind, they walk into the middle of the circle and take the question cue card that their question starts with. The student shares their question with the whole group and then puts the card back in the middle. An adult writes the question up on the whiteboard or flipchart. Question time with school police officer or other relevant person

• Introduce the visitor.

Learning break

• ‘Remote control’ – refer to handout in games pack.

Games pack

Student strategies for dealing with situations.

• Go through ‘3-step plan for dealing with situations’ poster with students.

‘3-step plan for dealing with situations’ poster.

• Go through ‘Rules for role play’ agreement with students.

Rules for role play

• Role play the scenarios from the ‘Role play scenarios’ sheet using the 3-step plan to support problem solving.

‘Role play scenarios’ sheet.

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• Students take turns to ask their questions. • Nominate one student to thank the visitor.

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Session 4 Lesson plan

Activity

Instructions

Resources

Group feedback and exit ticket

• Everyone returns to the group.

Exit ticket

• Each student takes a turn to say one thing they liked about the lesson and one thing they were concerned or have a question about. • Complete exit tickets and answer any questions or concerns that arise.

Finishing game

• Refer back to reward chart.

Games pack

• If students have achieved 10 points, offer them a choice of 3 games from the games pack. • Students to vote for the game they want to play.

Follow-up activities for primary school: • E  nsure letter inviting parents to next session has been sent home. • R  evise types of bullying and strategies. • T  alk about any worries or concerns students express. • B  ring any questions or concerns to the next group session (other students probably have the same questions/concerns).

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Session 4 Resources

3-step plan for dealing with situations

• Say a calm and sensible phrase. • If the other person keeps bothering you – walk away. • Don’t fight – talk to someone you trust. Calm and sensible phrases What you are saying makes me feel angry, please stop it or I will have to walk away. I don’t like you saying that. It would help if you stopped. That’s not ok with me, please stop it. I’m going to walk away now because I don’t like what you are saying. If you don’t stop that, I will have to tell the teacher.

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Bullying mind map

Bullying

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Role play scenarios

Role play number 1: Physical bullying

Role play number 2: Peer pressure

Role play number 3: Cyber bullying

You are in the canteen at lunchtime standing in line to buy your lunch. An older student approaches you and says ‘I am going to “peanut” you if you don’t let me in the line’. He gets in front of you and then turns around and pulls your tie so tightly that it’s almost impossible to undo the knot. A friend of yours sees what happened and comes over and shoves the older student out of line. A teacher hears the noise and tells you and your friend to come to detention for shoving and not wearing your school uniform correctly.

You have been in Year 7 for half a term and made some new friends who come from another primary school. You don’t know them very well yet. One day after school you hear your new friends talking about how they are going to bunk off school the next day. They insist that as you have heard their plans, you have to do it too or they will stop being your friends and start bullying you.

One of the school rules says that you are not allowed to bring phones into class. You keep your phone turned off in your bag. Another student notices this and starts teasing you for ‘sucking up’ to the teacher and keeps on at you until you get your phone out. She takes your number down and gives you back the phone. Later that day you look at your messages and see that five students have sent you texts cussing you for following the rules.

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Rules for role play

• I f you get upset about something that happens in the role play, don’t blame other people. • D  on’t laugh at other people in a negative way when they are acting in a role play. • Any information that comes up is secret (confidential) to this group. • Please talk about yourself and no-one else.

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Keeping safe at secondary school

Why are we doing this? This group lesson will help us to know: • What bullying is. • Who to go to for help with bullying. • Some ways to deal with bullying. • Who the school police officer is.

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SESSION 5

Home–school links

Session 5: Home–school links Once students transition to secondary school, parents or families are less likely to be so involved in the day to day life of their child at school and may not get to know their child’s teachers or what happens every day in the same way as primary school. Students at this stage are becoming adolescents and going to secondary school can be a very anxious time. It may be that they are the only child who is going to a particular secondary school, or that they will now be expected to make their own way home from school. Parents will not be able to advocate in the same way for children, as there will be many more teachers who will be unfamiliar to the child and family, and who may not be contactable as easily as their primary school teacher. For all of those reasons, we have included a session on home–school links where we would encourage secondary schools to invite parents to one session of the group to inform them about how a typical day might be for their child; what is expected in terms of behaviour; what students might need to bring to school; and to allow parents to ask questions and get to know some of the school staff. Often secondary schools will have a taster day for the students and a parent information evening for families. However it is usually in large groups, and some parents may not be able to take in all the information or feel confident asking questions about things they may not understand or need clarification on. In some parts of the UK, particularly in big cities, often there are families whose first language is not English. Some of these families may have been to school in the UK and so are totally bilingual and confident in understanding and speaking English. Some of the parents may need an interpreter and may have had limited experience of a UK secondary school setting.

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The feedback from parents who have attended a session such as this with their child has been very positive for all parties involved. Parents can see ‘behind the scenes’ at the secondary school, get to ask questions related to their individual child and can make contact with an individual member of staff who has ‘a name and a face.’ Students know that their parents/families are more likely to understand what their experiences are like and know what they are talking about when they talk about school, staff get to meet families in a positive situation and get to know their students a little in the context of their family, which in turns help them prepare and plan for the individual needs of that student in advance of their starting in Year 7. Finally it is a great opportunity for older students to act as ambassadors for the school, making a good impression on future students and their families and acting as a positive role model for young students. Where possible it works really well to have older students in this session who have attended the same primary schools and/or come from the same linguistic or cultural background of the students in the transition group.

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Session 5 Home–school links (3 hours) Session objectives Students and parents: • R  emember the group agreement and rewards. • T  o know what is needed at home to complete homework. • T  o know how to use a diary/planner. • T  o know how to organise equipment and pack my rucksack. • T  o understand the general expectations of a secondary school.

Preparation Organise: • A  n interpreter for any parents who may need one. • T  ea and coffee to be available for the parents. • A  sample homework diary/planner. • P  rovide each student with a photocopy of a week from the planner/diary. • P  repare a secondary school rucksack or bag, including books and pencil case, as an example to students and parents. • A  sk four older confident students (eg Y10, Y11) to prepare: • a 5 min talk about what the average day in a secondary school involves (give them the presentation guidelines handout) • another 5 min talk about homework procedures (give them the presentation guidelines handout) • a school rucksack or bag that contains all the necessary equipment (eg books, pencil case and contents, diary/planner, drink of water, PE Kit, art folder and equipment). P

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Session 5 Lesson plan Activity

Instructions

Welcome parents

• Adult to welcome parents.

Resources

• All adults and children to sit in circle. Students take a turn to say their name, introduce their parent and say one thing they remember from a past session. Parents take a turn to say their name and one thing they want to find out from today. Visual timetable

• Put up relevant timetable cards so students can easily see them.

Visual timetable cards

• Go through the timetable with students so they know what they will be doing during the session. • Take down each card on completion of each activity. Agreement and rewards

• Review agreement and display.

Group agreement

Explain purpose of session

• Explain purpose of today’s session to students and parents by using ‘Why are we doing this?’ poster.

‘Why are we doing this?’ (Home–school links poster)

School tour

• Adults and students break into smaller groups and each group is taken on a tour of the school. Encourage students to point out places they know to parents.

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Session 5 Lesson plan

Activity

Instructions

Resources

Presentation from older students

• The older students give their average day in a secondary school presentation.

Prepared presentation (using presentation guidelines handout if necessary)

• Parents and students ask any questions.

Tea, coffee, biscuit break

• Everyone has a break.

Equipment for school

• Older students to show their rucksack/bag example to the parents and students, and talk through what the items are.

Prepared equipment (using guidelines handout if necessary)

Ruck sack packing race

• Students pair up and each pair is given a school timetable and told to pack their bag for a given day.

Rucksack, equipment, samples of timetables

• Time the students packing the bag and check they remembered everything. Diary/planner and homework

• Older students show younger students and parents an example of a diary/planner and explain how it is used. • Older students give their homework procedures presentation. • Give parents and students opportunity to ask adults and older students any questions about homework.

Diary/planner Prepared presentation (using presentation guidelines handout if necessary)

• Provide each student with a photocopy of a week from the planner/ diary.

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Session 5 Lesson plan

Activity

Instructions

Resources

Finishing activity – ‘I am looking forward to’

• Parents and students stand in a circle. Place ‘I’m looking forward to’ cards on the floor. Each parent and student takes a turn to choose a card and say what they are looking forward to.

I am looking forward to cards

Exit ticket

• Complete exit tickets and answer any questions or concerns that arise.

Follow-up activities for primary school: • R  eview the photocopy of the pages from the diary/planner – get students to practice writing their primary school homework into it. • P  ractice packing up a rucksack from a timetable. • T  alk about any worries or concerns students express. • B  ring any questions or concerns to the next group session (other students probably have the same questions/concerns).

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Session 5 Resources

I am looking forward to… cards 1

Lunchtime

PE Lessons

Music

Friends

Library

Mathematics

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I am looking forward to… cards 2

Teachers

ICT

Homework club

Uniform

Lessons

School facilities

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Home–school links

Why are we doing this? This group lesson will help us to know: • What is needed at home to complete homework. • How to use a diary/planner. • How to organise equipment and pack my rucksack. • What is expected of me at secondary school.

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Presentation on average school day

Guidelines for older students Please write a five minute talk about what happens on an average school day. This might include: • What time the day starts. • What the lessons are and how many there are in a day. • When assembly is. • How long each lesson lasts. • How many different teachers you have in a day. • What time breaks are and how long they last.

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Showing equipment to parents

Guidelines for older students Please bring along a good example of a bag or rucksack that contains all your books and the equipment below: • A  pencil case including whatever the students are expected to bring. • Any specialist equipment (eg for maths or art). • PE kit. • A diary or planner that is filled in with homework tasks.

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Homework presentation

Guidelines for older students Please prepare a five minute presentation on the following: • H  ow much time a Year 7 student needs to complete their homework every evening. • What the consequences are when homework is not handed in. • What you need at home to do your homework. • Information on any after school or lunchtime homework clubs. • Other places you could do your homework. • Computer-based homework systems, eg FROG, MLE, Fronter.

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SESSION 6

Circle time with Year 7 students

Session 6: Circle time with Year 7 students Throughout the previous five sessions the students have participated in a range of discussions, activities, role-play and games as well as taken part in a secondary school lesson, had lunch in the canteen and met lots of staff from their nominated school. This last session is an opportunity to review their secondary school experiences so far and to meet a ‘buddy’ from the current Year 7 who will be around to support them when they start secondary school. As in the previous session, wherever possible it is good to choose Year 7 buddies who come from the same primary schools as the students. Year 7 buddies are invited to attend a circle time where there is a final opportunity for the students in the transition group to ask students already attending secondary school any questions. The students all share some games together and generally have some fun! It is really important that the students find the transition groups fun to come to as it is part of alleviating some of the anxieties involved in coming to secondary school and enabling students to feel motivated about coming to their new secondary school. Games and practical activities support the students in learning to reflect and assimilate new information and skills. They are also more likely to be able to sustain attention with short learning breaks involving movement. Each weekly session contains lots of discreet sections with beginnings and endings, which makes it easier for students to remember what they have learned. We also chose a final circle time session as in a circle there is no beginning or ending, no-one at the front or the back, and each student can be potentially valued as an equal. It also encourages the students to interact with each other and ask and answer questions, without being mediated through an adult. This can be very enabling

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for students and is a practical and positive way of ending the transition group sessions and empowering students to think of themselves as being ready for ‘Going Places!’ Finally, we always ask the students who have participated in these groups to evaluate their experiences on which we have designed and built this scheme. We envisage that while this is now a published version of our transition scheme, that schools using this scheme to train staff in running transition groups, will see this is a foundation, that can be modified and added to in response to individual groups of students and as part of an overall process in positively supporting students’ transition to secondary school.

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Session 6 Circle time with Year 7 students (2–3 hours) Session objectives Students: • R  emember the group agreement and rewards. • T  o meet and talk to some current Y7 students. • T  o ask other students questions about secondary school.

Preparation: • O  rganise a current Y7 buddy for each Y6 student in the group. • G  et permission for the Y7 students to come out of class. • I f possible make the buddy a student from the same primary school.

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Session 6 Lesson plan Activity

Instructions

Resources

Visual timetable

• Put up relevant timetable cards so students can easily see them.

Visual timetable cards

• Go through the timetable with students so they know what they will be doing during the session. • Take down each card on completion of each activity. Agreement and rewards

• Review agreement and display.

Group agreement

Question preparation

• Before the buddies come into the session, ask Y6 students to prepare questions they want them to answer.

Question cue cards

• Ask students to stand in a circle and place the ‘Who’, ‘What’, ‘When’, ‘Where’, ‘Why’ and ‘Any other question’ starting words cards in the middle.

Whiteboard or flipchart

• When students have a question in mind, they walk into the middle of the circle and take the question cue card that their question starts with. The student shares their question with the whole group and then puts the card back in the middle. An adult writes the question up on whiteboard or flipchart. Introductions and starting activity

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• Buddies join session.

Games pack

• Play ‘Name game’ with Y6 and Y7 students.

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Session 6 Lesson plan

Activity

Instructions

Resources

Explain purpose of session

• Explain to students the purpose of today’s session by using ‘Why are we doing this?’ poster.

‘Why are we doing this?’ (Meeting Year 7 students poster)

Group cohesion activity

• ‘Oh my school days’ – refer to games pack.

Games pack

Agree/disagree continuum

• Students move along a continuum based on how much they agree or disagree with a statement.

Instruction sheet for continuum

.

• Give students opportunity to give their opinions. Question and answer time with Y7 students

• Ask Y6 students to ask their questions.

Cool down game

• ‘Stand up for your name’.

Closing circle

• Each student takes a turn to say one thing they enjoyed about the lesson.

Games pack

• Y7 students now leave the circle time. Round up

• ‘Think, pair, share’ – what did you enjoy the most about the six visits and lessons? do you have any more questions left?

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Instructions for ‘Think, pair, share’

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Session 6 Lesson plan

Activity

Instructions

Resources

Questionnaire

• Students complete ‘My thoughts about secondary school’ questionnaire.

Questionnaire

Certificates

• Students are given their certificate of achievement.

Certificates

Follow-up activities for primary school: • Continue to answer students’ questions and to revise work as needed.

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Session 6 Resources

O.K.

Worried

Maybe

No

Very worried

school

My thoughts about secondary school

My name: I am going to

Happy

How do I feel about going to secondary school? Very happy

Yes

people at my new school.

Stay out of trouble

Know who to go to for help

Find my way around

Do well in class

Know exactly what I should be doing

Make lots of friends

When I go to secondary school I think I will:

I know I know this about my new school:

I want to know this about my new school

Anything else?

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Think, pair, share

Instructions: Think about these two things: • What you enjoyed the most about the six visits and lessons. • Any final questions you have. Pair up with another person and share your ideas. Share your ideas with the whole group.

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Meeting Year 7 students

Why are we doing this? This group lesson will help us to: • Get to know some Year 7 students. • Find out more about what it is like to be in Year 7.

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Agree or disagree continuum

Instructions: • Place ‘AGREE/DISAGREE’ cards at each end of the room. • R  ead out one statement (see ‘Agree or disagree?’ statements in resources). • A  sk the students to choose where to stand depending on whether they agree or disagree with the statement. • C  hoose one student standing at either extreme of the room and one in the middle to explain why they chose to stand in that place on the continuum.

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Agree or disagree statements

I like, or think I will like, the food. I think I will get, or have been, in trouble for arriving late to school. I like, or think I will like, going to secondary school. I have been, or I am worried about being, bullied at secondary school.

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Agree card

Agree P

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Disagree card

Disagree P

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General Resources (needed for all sessions)

Visual timetable cards 1

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Starting game

Why are we doing this?

Agreement and rewards

Questionnaire

Learning break game

Lunch menu

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Visual timetable cards 2

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Lunchtime

Discussion and exit ticket

Finishing game

Question time

Meet staff

School map

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Visual timetable cards 3

Find your way around school

Year 7 lesson P

Subjects – talk with your feet

Your timetable

Group game – Oh my school days

Group game – Agree or disagree

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Visual timetable cards 4

Cool down game – Stand up for your name

Close the circle time

Think, pair, share

Certificates

What is bullying?

Role play to deal with bullying

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Visual timetable cards 5

School tour

Talk by older students – equipment

Talk by older students – homework and diary or planner

Meet school police officer

The 3-step plan for dealing with bullying

Welcome to parents

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Visual timetable cards 6

Packing my rucksack

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Talk by older students – the school day

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Games pack Bananas for dinner

Subject tennis

Truth or lie

Make me laugh

Transformations

Mirrors

Name game

Change something!

Oh my school days

Remote control

Pass the smile

Stand up for your name

Compliment round

Talking pairs

Thinking of a number

Alphabet movement!

Memory challenge – My favourite shop is…

Chain of movements

Games pack

Bananas for dinner 1 One person shuts their eyes. 2 The teacher picks the ‘talker’. 3 The talker says in a funny voice ‘Bananas for dinner’. 4 T  he person with their eyes shut guesses who said it.

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Games pack

Make me laugh 1 Choose a person to start. 2 Make your partner laugh. 3 Y  ou can tell a joke, pull a face, do a silly dance, make a funny voice. HAVE FUN, BUT BE SENSIBLE

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Games pack

Name game 1 Everyone stands up in a circle. 2 Look and point at someone else, but say YOUR OWN NAME. 3 Some other rules: • You can’t point to the person on either side of you. • You can’t point to the person who just pointed to you • You have to be quick, you can’t hesitate (eg um, er, ah). • (let them have 2–3 practice rounds first). 4 If you break one of the rules, you are out and have to sit down.

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Games pack

Remote control Play – run on the spot normal speed. Fast forward – run on the spot fast. Pause – keep still or you’re out! Slow play – run on the spot slow.

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Games pack

Compliment round Choose any person in the group and give them a compliment. ‘I like how you…’ ‘It was really good when you…’ ‘You are good at…’

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Games pack

Alphabet movement! Instructions for alphabet movement • Read the letters out in order. • If it has an L under the letter, students have to raise their left hand. • If it has an R under the letter, students have to raise their right hand. • If it has a B under the letter, students have to raise both hands. • Once they get good at it, say the letters out of order.

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A L

B R

G R

H

M

L

R

B

R

L

K

P

U

L L

Q L

V B

F B

L

R

L

E

J

O

T

Y

R

L

R

D

I

N

S

B

L

R

B

C

R B

W R

X R

Z R

L = raise left hand, R = raise right hand, B = raise both hands

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Games pack

Chain of movements Get into small groups: 1 Choose a person to start. 2 They do an action. 3 The next person repeats the action and adds a new one. 4 K  eep going, adding a new action on each time. How many can you remember?

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Games pack

Subject tennis Get into pairs: • T  ake a turn to say the name of a subject or lesson (eg English, maths, science, PE). • K  eep going back and forth until one person can not think of any more to say.

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Games pack

Transformations Get into small groups (about four people): • Y  our team will be given the name of something (eg a tree, bridge, car, motorbike, elephant, train). • Make your whole team look like the item you have been given. • Can the other teams guess what you are?

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Games pack

Change something! Get into pairs: 1 Face each other. 2 Look carefully at each other. 3 Turn back to back (so you can’t see each other). 4 Change something about yourself. 5 Turn back around. 6 Guess what your partner changed.

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Games pack

Pass the smile • The teacher will choose a person to start. • The first person chooses another person. • Look toward them and smile. • If you get smiled at, pass it on!

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Games pack

Talking pairs Get into pairs: • Call one person ‘A’ and the other person ‘B’. • ‘ A’ talks about their favourite TV programme, while ‘B’ just listens. • S  wap partners – B tells the new person what A just said.

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Games pack

Memory challenge – My favourite shop is… • G  o around the group, each taking a turn to say what your favourite shop is. • B  efore you say your favourite shop, you have to repeat what everyone who went before you said. • Eg ‘my favourite shop is HMV, JD Sports, Primark…’

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Games pack

Truth or lie • Everyone takes a turn to say two things about themselves. • One thing is true, one thing is a lie. • T  he teacher will choose a person to say which statement they think is a lie.

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Games pack

Mirrors • Get into pairs. • Face your partner. • Choose one person to start. • Do an action. • T  he other person must copy exactly and in time with you. • Swap over.

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Games pack

Oh my school days (this is a variation of fruit salad) 1 Students sit on chairs in a circle. 2 A  sk three of the students to name three subject names or lessons. 3 T  he teacher goes around the circle naming each student as one of the three subjects/lessons (eg maths, English, ICT, maths, English, ICT etc). 4 P  lace one chair in the middle of the circle with one student sitting on it. 5 T  he teacher calls out one of the subjects and those students called that subject have to change chairs.

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6 T  he student sitting in the middle can always change chairs. 7 I f the teacher calls ‘Oh my school days’, EVERYONE changes chairs. 8 T  he object of the game is to get out of the middle chair. (this game can be varied by giving students different names (eg different types of fruit, vehicles, equipment in school)

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Games pack

Stand up for your name • Students sitting on chairs in a circle. • The teacher calls out different letters of the alphabet. • If the letter is in your name, quickly stand up and sit down. • L etters can be called out in alphabetical order and then out of order. • C  an use first names and then add second names.

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Games pack

Thinking of a number • Stand in a circle. • Everyone is silent. • A  ny student can call out a number, starting from one and counting up. • I f two students call out a number at the same time then the counting goes back to one again. • T  he aim is for the group as a whole to count up as high as possible without any one person being interrupted.

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Templates Group agreement Reward chart Certificate of achievement Question cue cards Exit ticket

Signatures:

Group agreement

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Reward chart

• We get points for following the group rules

Points

• If we get 10 points we get to vote for a game at the end of each visit.

Student’s name

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Awarded to

for

completing six transition to secondary school lessons

Date

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hievement Cer tificate of Ac

Signed

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Question cue cards 1

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Who?

Where?

When?

What?

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Question cue cards 2

Why?

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Any other question starters

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(eg if, how, will)

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Exit tickets Exit ticket

Exit ticket What I learned this lesson

What I learned this lesson

What I already knew

What I already knew

What I might need more help with

What I might need more help with

How I feel about the lesson

How I feel about the lesson

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