Transition to New Year Groups

Dear parents and carers,

This is the time of year when everyone is talking about moving to their next class.  Of course, things are somewhat different this year with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic impacting on many of our usual practices.  We wanted to let you know how we have been organising your child’s transition this year.

As you know, a child’s transition to their new class can be both exciting and worrying for them; we do all that we can to minimise the worries children have. This year we have decided to arrange your child’s move to their new teacher and class in a different way.  Where possible, we have decided your child’s current teacher will also transition with the class. We feel that this will help to support your child’s return to school and to ensure that they settle into their learning journey in a smooth manner.  This has not been possible for all classes due to staff changes.  We are excited about next year and the return of our learners to the school family.

Your child will be contacted by their class teachers to share information about their new year group. You will be invited to join a virtual meet and greet session by your child’s teacher.  Please look out for this.  It is important that you and your child join in.

In this most unusual situation, the virtual transition meetings are being arranged because:

1. Many children worry during the summer holidays about their new teacher or changing classrooms. Communicating with them this side of the holiday will ease their worries during the summer.
2. Many children worry about moving from one Key Stage to another eg Year 2 to Year 3. Getting used to their new classroom routines and expectations will help them to settle faster in September.
3. This transition meeting enables your child’s new class teacher to gauge where they are emotionally; enabling them to provide appropriate, challenging activities which motivate your child from the first day in September.
4. Over the Summer Holiday, children can often ‘forget’ how good they were at doing their work. This session will allow the teacher to build a sense of positivity and excitement about the learning and other fun things awaiting your child on their return.
5. Your child will get a head-start into their new curriculum with some summer activities provided by the teacher, helping them to make even more progress and achieve their full potential.

As you can see, the benefits of the virtual transition meetings are many. I hope you will be supportive of this. It is new and different but also an exciting initiative, which is aimed at ensuring your child thrives on their return to school in September. Please do contact the school if you have any questions.  

The children have found out yesterday/today who their new teacher will be.

For your information, next year the teaching staff will be deployed as follows:

Non-class based support will be provided by Miss M. Baker, Mrs G. Addo and Miss F. Francis.

French, Music and Physical Education sessions will continue to be delivered with support from our specialist teachers.

I know the children are very excited about their move to their new class and are all looking forward to returning to school in September.  We are doing our best to prepare for them.  We miss them all and are excited about the return of our current learners and the joining of our new Reception class.

Yours sincerely

Sophia Bryan-Whyte

Head of School

 Transition to new Year Groups