Secondary Feeder

At St Mary's, we are extremely proud of our Year 6 children & the young adults that they become. As a result, when we send them off to secondary school following their Y6 Graduation, we know that they will continue as good citizens & will take a little bit of St Mary's with them!

We have close ties with King Edwards in which teacher's from the secondary school come into St Mary's to participate in lessons and to form good relationships with pupils to help make the transition to secondary school a smooth one.

Most of our children go onto the main feeder secondary school, King Edward’s because we are a designated feeder primary school alongside other schools in the area. Some of our other children choose to go to Tapton and Forge Valley.

As a school, we understand that the move to any new class as well as secondary school can cause a lot of anxiety for children. As a result, we hold our St Mary's Passport Day where all children ‘travel’ up to their new classes in order to spend the day with their new teacher & do lots of lovely ‘getting to know you’ activities. We find that this takes the worry out of change & actually serves to get children excited about their new learning environment & adults that they will be working with.

We do a full hand over of information (academic, social, Special Educational Needs information, etc.) in order that secondary school staff know everything necessary to ensure that the move can be a real success for those that we are sending their way. As part of this information, we also talk about friendship groups & who your child gets on best with. Some of our most vulnerable children, may even be offered further opportunities to visit with special days & bonding opportunities.

As parents & carers, you can of course help your child with their anxieties by visiting the open evenings that the secondary puts on.  This will not only help in your final choice of school, but will also serve to get your child excited about all of the amazing things that the secondary school can offer.

To help your child with the transition to secondary school, you may also find the following information & resources helpful:

https://youngminds.org.uk/resources/school-resources/find-your-feet-transitioning-to-secondary-school/