At Patchway Community School we make every effort to ensure that transition from Primary school happens as smoothly as possible. We make it our priority to ensure that every student is given the opportunity to reach their full potential and mature into well-rounded and happy individuals. We devote time and effort into understanding what makes our students learn most effectively and to meet all of their learning needs. There are a range of support strategies and opportunities that we offer new students at the college but we understand that every child is different and that each child needs the right approach to ensure they are happy and enjoying their learning. Our links with local primary schools are excellent and we collaborate regularly to work on various exciting projects from arts trails to maths discovery days. This is further supported by transition visits, where we are able to visit each school and speak to teachers and students, providing a personal approach, with our own transition teacher managing the process from start to finish. We look forward to working together to ensure every child’s new start at secondary school is a happy one.

We??meet with every primary school teacher and in many cases head teacher to discuss each student’s needs and abilities.

• We develop personalised information on every student to pass on to staff


• We liaise with the SENCO to discuss SEN student needs and approaches


• We gather hard data on every student to inform teaching


• We create plans for all students with specific needs and give these to relevant staff


• We liaise with a variety of external agencies to ensure transition is smooth for students with more complex needs


• We run the summer school for a selected group of students


• We run 2 progression (Discovery) days for all students


• We run extra transition visits/tours for smaller groups or individual students who may find secondary transition a daunting process


• The Senior Leadership Team meet with every parent and child before they start to answer any questions and find ways that each student learns most effectively


• We produce transition packs that provide summer transition tasks for the holidays and give students a flavour of the college (including free resources/gift)


• We provide a point of contact and a friendly face for all parents to discuss how their child has settled in


• We carry out ‘settling in’ phone calls/meetings early on to check on how each child has adapted to secondary life


• We carry out a ‘bonding trip’ to Cattle Country to help the tutor groups bond in the first term


• We allocate students older peer mentors for the first few days to help them feel welcomed to the college.