Emotional wellbeing support for transition

Supporting pupils returning to school

In this section you will find tools for you to assess the needs of your pupils and lesson plans to support your class to re-engage with learning.

Universal support for children and young people is separated into the following five areas:

• Transitions – from home to school, while at school and school to home. There is a separate support package for Year 6-7 transition.
• Social skills – how well the pupils are re-engaging with their friends.
• Attitudes to learning – how well the pupils are able to re-engage with tasks specified by a teacher.
• Feelings and emotions – how well pupils are coping.
• Physical wellbeing – how well are pupils coping physically? Are they sleeping etc?

There is a google drive set up to share to a library of resources that contain wellbeing check-in templates and lesson plans.

 

Wellbeing check-in templates

After the settling in time and before starting to work with your pupils/students, it is important for you to assess what your class needs. We have therefore included a wellbeing check for teachers to complete, and a pupil wellbeing check (one for primary and one for secondary) to judge the level and type of support individuals, groups and class cohorts will need.

These assessments have been linked to the five areas of support above. You may decide to use the pupil questions to create an online questionnaire for your class using Microsoft Forms/Survey Monkey etc. Please feel free to adapt these forms to suit your own school’s needs.

Using the results of the wellbeing checks, those with the majority of answers falling into ‘green’ should just require universal lessons and support (provided in this section).  For those with answers falling into ‘amber’ they may require targeted intervention and those with answers falling into ‘red’ may require intensive intervention.  Support with those needing ‘amber’ and ‘red’ interventions can be found in other sections of the Google drive.

 

Lesson plans and discussion points

The lesson plans, discussion points and ideas for KS1/KS2 and KS3/KS4 contained in this section have been designed for class or form teachers to support their pupils to return to the demands of the school day. Primary schools could deliver the support at any time during the school day and secondary schools could use these resources during Form Time. These resources promote and encourage a wellbeing approach and support schools to offer nurturing experiences both inside and outside of the classroom.

It is important to remember that the lessons offered are not in any sequential order or have any time limit. One lesson or idea may take you four or five lessons over a week as you develop your understanding of pupils’ needs, and another resource may simply take 30 minutes. You could also repeat some lessons. Lessons should be completely pupil centred.

 

Transition

Year 6 to Year 7 transition – all schools will have some provision in place to support their pupils at this critical stage in their education. The following information has been devised, in consultation with secondary schools, to help primary schools support and prepare their pupils for the move to secondary school in September.

These resources include a set of generic activities and tasks suitable for pupils going to any secondary school, which cover important issues such as time management, planning journeys to school, reading a timetable and budgeting lunch money.

The resources also include ‘tips’ which can be sent out to Year 6 parents/carers on a weekly basis. These ‘tips’ link directly to the pupil activities and suggest additional activities and discussion points so that parents/carers can also support their child’s transition to secondary school.

In order to support new Year 7’s who will be starting secondary school this September, the Anna Freud Centre have developed Moving Up! animation and accompanying toolkit with young people, teachers and mental health experts. These lesson and assembly resources aim to support pupils with the move, open up discussions about potential worries, and help to find solutions.

Moving from Infant to Junior School – for some younger pupils, not only will they be returning to school in September after a long break, they will also be returning to a new school. Whilst most Infant and Junior Schools are linked closely both by geography and community, some 7-year-olds will find this transition difficult.

We have therefore created a document to help provide the Junior School with the essential information to help ease the move. Its completion will enable KS2 teachers to ensure that the appropriate and necessary interventions are in place, friendship groups continued and a consistent approach is offered.

“For most children, starting a new nursery, school or key stage is a relatively smooth process, but transition is also a time of vulnerability for children as they progress through their educational careers” (National Foundation for Educational Research).

Early Years transitions -this section draws on the resources by the Kent County Council Early Years and Childcare Service including a framework, an audit tool, information on school readiness, and a transition leaflet.

Barnardo’s have created a leaflet full of advice and activities for Year Six pupils to allow them to explore their thoughts and feelings as they transition to secondary school. Download a copy of the leaflet below.