The Transition Mission: From Primary to Secondary

Photo by Jordan Whitt on Unsplash

“You wouldn’t believe it, Miss – I used to love primary school. I even loved reading, you know: Roald Dahl and Alex Rider books.”

“What changed?” I asked.

“School did!”

The exchange above reflects a real conversation that took place in my secondary English classroom in 2017. I was Head of English and one of my Year 11 students – cast into a nostalgic mood by the thought of his impending departure from secondary school – was reflecting on his educational experiences. I was surprised to hear that he’d loved primary school. I’d only been teaching him since the start of Year 11, but it had been impossible to notice how much he relished his ‘slacker’ stereotype. Whilst he was personable and friendly, it took real attention and effort to maintain his engagement in lessons.

Our conversation that day planted a seed. How many students experience the same shift in attitude and motivation from primary to secondary school? How far do our approaches to transition safeguard against this? In this blog post, I want to explore the same question that I asked then: “what changed?”

I passionately believe that cross-phase working is essential to effective education. However, I admit that I’m biased. Whilst I trained as a secondary English teacher originally, I’ve also had the privilege of leading a cross-phase PGCE model (don’t panic - it was only the ‘professional studies’ module that was taught to PGCE Primary and Secondary students at the same time, but they were still treated as a mixed cohort). Alongside this, I’ve taught on undergraduate primary degree programmes, conducted research into reading for pleasure in a primary school, led curriculum development across a group of primary schools within a MAT and developed a KS2-4 curriculum model for an all-through SEMH school. I told you I was biased!

In all seriousness, my support for cross-phase collaboration comes from my recognition of how much I have learned from primary colleagues. There are many things that I love about primary schools – not least the fact that so many primary headteachers are able to roll their sleeves up and get into teachers’ classrooms to improve quality of education in their schools. The role of primary headteacher shares many similarities with secondary headship, but this active, sleeve-rolling ‘pushing forward’ is something that is often impossible for secondary headteachers to replicate on the larger scale of a secondary school. Instead, this work is the responsibility of Lead Practitioners and Heads of Faculty.

Whilst I’ve given an example of one key difference between some primary and secondary schools, there are plenty more to choose from. However, it’s important as primary and secondary teachers and leaders to reflect on where (and when) our knowledge of one another’s contexts comes from. Are we drawing on our own memories of compulsory education? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but even the experiences of an ECT who went straight into teaching after sixth form and an undergraduate degree would be four years out of date! For some of us, decades will separate us from our own school days. Any period of time will be punctuated by numerous changes to government, policy, and practices. With this being the case, we need to ask ourselves if primary colleagues are working with up-to-date knowledge of secondary school when they plan transition for Year 6 pupils? By the same token, are secondary school colleagues working with comprehensive understanding of primary school curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, and culture when they plan for transition and their Year 7 curriculum?

I want to emphasise that I’m not criticising what primary and secondary schools do. There are many impressive examples of transition across the country. However, I believe that deepening our understanding the changes between primary and secondary school in our own contexts can only enhance what goes on. Whilst I’m going to be developing a CPD programme on transition for our trust in the next few months, I still want to share some useful advice for colleagues in this ‘bitesize form’. One of our fantastic Directors of Education introduced me to the model I will discuss below.

The five bridges of transition

The roots of the five bridges of transition appear to be in a TES article by Michael Barber (1999), but the model was also drawn on by key players in the London Challenge and beyond. Crucially, there hasn’t been a great deal of policy or research on transition in recent years, beyond an important publication from Ofsted (2015). I think this is even more frustrating when you consider that we’ve had large scale reforms across the education system (academisation, a new National Curriculum, new GCSE and A-level specifications, and so on). Despite its age, it’s clear that the five bridges model enables primary and secondary colleagues to think more clearly about the dimensions of transition, even if it might benefit from 21st century updates.

1. The managerial/bureaucratic bridge

How does your primary feeder/secondary ‘destination’ collect and communicate information? What do pupils and parents need to know? Are there different expectations of parents for absence reporting? This bridge is one that many schools do very well already.

2. The social and personal bridge

I have real concerns about the potential social and emotional impacts of moving school. I have previously worked in Leicestershire, which maintained a split between 11-14 high schools and 14-18 upper schools well into the 21st century, despite its roots being in the 1959 Mason Plan which ended academic selection (the 11+) in the county years before it was more widely abolished. Local students had to move on from high school after just three years, leaving only five terms to prepare them for GCSE examinations at upper school. Whilst this gave some students the opportunity for a fresh start at 14, it was evident that the change proved very challenging for many others.

Moving from one school to another is huge. You only have to reflect on the challenges involved in moving school as a teacher or leader to recognise that almost everything changes for the young people who are moving. How does this feel? How can we ensure that pupils are given the opportunity to develop their confidence and build new friendships? Research has signposted that strong friendships are a protective factor in helping pupils deal with the challenges of transition (Evangelou et al., 2008). Do we teach pupils strategies to support them in making friends? More and more teenagers are experiencing loneliness, which is itself associated with “higher risk of mental health problems, poorer sleep, reduced life satisfaction, lower academic achievement, and employment difficulties” (Arseneault and Matthews, 2022). Are we alert to this in Year 7? I advocate using a tool like the Pupil Attitudes to Self and School (PASS) survey to identify pupils who would benefit from further social and emotional support. Schools with ELSAs (Emotional Literacy Support Assistants) could consider how these key colleagues could support with transition more broadly, as well as by supporting individual students whose needs have already been identified through administrative transition processes.

3. The curriculum content bridge

We’ve all spent a great deal of time honing our curriculum intent, implementation and impact in line with the latest Ofsted (2019) inspection framework across primary, secondary and special schools, but have we had the opportunity to consider how this is similar or different to our feeder/destination schools? Evidence from previous years has signposted an academic ‘dip’ in mathematics (Galton and Hargreaves, 2001), science (Schagen, 1999; Galton, 2002) and across a broader set of subjects (Galton, Gray and Ruddock, 1999) between KS2 and KS3. More recently, Ofsted observed that “too many secondary schools did not work effectively with partner primary schools to understand pupils’ prior learning and ensure that they built on this during Key Stage 3” (Ofsted, 2015, p. 5).

4. The pedagogical bridge

How do we teach in different subjects? What do children need to understand about our pedagogical approaches? With organisations like the EEF signposting key principles for good teaching in specific key stages, it is easier than ever before to gain a sense of the pedagogical practices that are recommended across the key stages. One of my fantastic primary colleagues described the EEF’s (2021) report on literacy for secondary schools as “gold dust” for Key Stage 2 leaders wrestling with disciplinary literacy. There is real potential for shared exploration across primary and secondary schools.

5. The ‘management of learning’ bridge

This bridge emphasises the importance of understanding how the primary feeder and the secondary destination school manage behaviour and support motivation. In secondary schools, we often spend long periods of time introducing behaviour systems to Year 7 pupils, but do we ever consider how these might be similar to the processes they’re already used to in primary school? Even signposting the alternative names for our different approaches can be helpful. New Year 7 students might not automatically see the connection between a Dojo in their Year 6 classroom and a merit in their secondary school – let’s make it clear for them. It’s also worth considering how teachers perceive and talk about primary school behaviour cultures. Does dismissively telling Year 7 students that they’re “at big school now”, with a new set of rules and routines to follow, actually support them in engaging positively with behaviour expectations? Many of the fantastic secondary school teachers and leaders I’ve worked with have drawn on their knowledge of their feeder schools to frame these reminders around the consistency of expectations from primary to secondary school.

I’m still in the scoping stage of planning the trust CPD programme, but my aims are to provide opportunities for teachers across our primary and secondary schools to meaning build on these bridges. Effective transition comes from curiosity. We need to cast aside our assumptions and genuinely explore and prepare before we put transition strategies into practice (EEF, 2019).

References

Arseneault, L. and Matthews, T. (2022) Loneliness in adolescence: how can we support young people? | Feature from King’s College London, King’s College London. Available at: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/loneliness-in-adolescence-how-can-we-support-young-people (Accessed: 16 March 2023).

EEF (2019) Putting Evidence to Work: A School’s Guide to Implementation. Available at: https://d2tic4wvo1iusb.cloudfront.net/eef-guidance-reports/implementation/EEF_Implementation_Guidance_Report_2019.pdf?v=1678282532.

EEF (2021) Improving Literacy in Secondary Schools: Guidance Report.

Evangelou, M. et al. (2008) What Makes a Successful Transition from Primary to Secondary School? DCSF-RR019. Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Galton, M. (2002) ‘Continuity and Progression in Science Teaching at Key Stages 2 and 3’, Cambridge journal of education, 32(2), pp. 249–265. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/03057640220147586.

Galton, M., Gray, J. and Ruddock, J. (1999) The Impact of School Transitions and Transfers on Pupil Progress and Attainment. DfEE.

Galton, M. and Hargreaves, L. (2001) Transfer from the Primary Classroom: 20 Years On. London: Routledge. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203451045.

Ofsted (2015) Key stage 3: the wasted years? Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/459830/Key_Stage_3_the_wasted_years.pdf (Accessed: 2 December 2020).

Ofsted (2019) Education inspection framework, GOV.UK. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/education-inspection-framework/education-inspection-framework.

Schagen, S. (1999) Bridging the gap?: the national curriculum and progression from primary to secondary school / Sandie Schagen, David Kerr. Slough: NFER.