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8 ways to prepare primary pupils for secondary school

Use these top tips to make sure your pupils are ready for a seamless transition by the end of Y6, says Kirstie Mackey…

Kirstie Mackey
by Kirstie Mackey
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A good starter for ten is to set up a time that you can take your pupils along to visit a local secondary school. Transitioning to secondary school will, for many children, be one of their first major life steps, so it’s important they are informed as much as possible. Getting used to a new environment will feel a lot less intimidating if they’ve had the chance to visit beforehand.

2 | Find A Mentor

Encourage your pupils to reach out for guidance during their first few days and weeks. Adjusting to a new environment and routine can be daunting even for the most confident child. From moving classrooms during the school day to managing a new daily timetable, the transition to secondary school has lots of challenges. The mentor can be a teacher, an older peer or even someone on the school’s pastoral team – what’s important is that they’re supported as they get used to their new surroundings.

3 | Build confidence

Of all the transferable skills that your pupils will need as they make their transition, confidence is key. Building a community within their school environment is essential for their personal growth and helping them to achieve this is important. Try getting your pupils to reflect on their own confidence levels by identifying a situation they’ve been challenged by and think of positive ways they could respond.

4 | Talk about time

In secondary school, pupils will be faced with a range of new responsibilities that might take them out of their comfort zone. Time management is one of these. Managing their timetable and homework, and ensuring they have time for extra-curricular activities is very important. It’s essential for them to make the most out of their school experience and build a core transferable skill that they’ll need throughout the rest of their lives.

5 | Identify strengths

Transitioning to secondary school is the time when most young people initially identify their strengths, both academically and in terms of their wider life skills. Whether they figure out that they like presenting in class, solving the hardest equation in maths or leading their group projects, recognising and developing their key strengths isn’t only a confidence booster, but it’s also crucial as they progress through school and start to think about what they might like to do in their career.

6 | Figure out growth

Giving pupils strategies to identify and strengthen the areas that they are not as confident in is also vital as they prepare for this new phase of their education. For some children, developing new skills, like leading a group or managing homework deadlines, will be a real challenge, so it’s important to take the time to spot these and work on them as soon as possible.

7 | Tackle money

Getting your pupils thinking about money management might not be front of mind as they prepare for secondary school, but having their own lunch money, perhaps for the first time, is a great opportunity to instil solid financial management skills at a young age and start talking about the money basics like saving and having a responsible attitude to money.

8 | Think about the future

Having a full-time job might seem a way off for pupils in Y6, but as they prepare for the new chapter, it’s a good time to start having conversations about their future. The skills they’ll need to transition successfully into secondary school are actually very similar to those they’ll require once they begin thinking about their future careers. Get your pupils thinking about these skills and how they can make the most out of Y6.


Kirstie Mackey is head of LifeSkills (@YourLifeSkills) created with Barclays, which has developed specific support to help teachers and parents equip their Y6 pupils for the transition to secondary school.

1 | Explore

A good starter for ten is to set up a time that you can take your pupils along to visit a local secondary school. Transitioning to secondary school will, for many children, be one of their first major life steps, so it’s important they are informed as much as possible. Getting used to a new environment will feel a lot less intimidating if they’ve had the chance to visit beforehand.

2 | Find A Mentor

Encourage your pupils to reach out for guidance during their first few days and weeks. Adjusting to a new environment and routine can be daunting even for the most confident child. From moving classrooms during the school day to managing a new daily timetable, the transition to secondary school has lots of challenges. The mentor can be a teacher, an older peer or even someone on the school’s pastoral team – what’s important is that they’re supported as they get used to their new surroundings.

3 | Build confidence

Of all the transferable skills that your pupils will need as they make their transition, confidence is key. Building a community within their school environment is essential for their personal growth and helping them to achieve this is important. Try getting your pupils to reflect on their own confidence levels by identifying a situation they’ve been challenged by and think of positive ways they could respond.

4 | Talk about time

In secondary school, pupils will be faced with a range of new responsibilities that might take them out of their comfort zone. Time management is one of these. Managing their timetable and homework, and ensuring they have time for extra-curricular activities is very important. It’s essential for them to make the most out of their school experience and build a core transferable skill that they’ll need throughout the rest of their lives.

5 | Identify strengths

Transitioning to secondary school is the time when most young people initially identify their strengths, both academically and in terms of their wider life skills. Whether they figure out that they like presenting in class, solving the hardest equation in maths or leading their group projects, recognising and developing their key strengths isn’t only a confidence booster, but it’s also crucial as they progress through school and start to think about what they might like to do in their career.

6 | Figure out growth

Giving pupils strategies to identify and strengthen the areas that they are not as confident in is also vital as they prepare for this new phase of their education. For some children, developing new skills, like leading a group or managing homework deadlines, will be a real challenge, so it’s important to take the time to spot these and work on them as soon as possible.

7 | Tackle money

Getting your pupils thinking about money management might not be front of mind as they prepare for secondary school, but having their own lunch money, perhaps for the first time, is a great opportunity to instil solid financial management skills at a young age and start talking about the money basics like saving and having a responsible attitude to money.

8 | Think about the future

Having a full-time job might seem a way off for pupils in Y6, but as they prepare for the new chapter, it’s a good time to start having conversations about their future. The skills they’ll need to transition successfully into secondary school are actually very similar to those they’ll require once they begin thinking about their future careers. Get your pupils thinking about these skills and how they can make the most out of Y6.


Kirstie Mackey is head of LifeSkills (@YourLifeSkills) created with Barclays, which has developed specific support to help teachers and parents equip their Y6 pupils for the transition to secondary school.

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