To ensure a seamless transition into Year 7, Oldbury Academy believes in strong communication and transparency of information. We pride ourselves on ensuring that the student is at the forefront of the decisions we make and are at the centre of the robust transition plan which we implement. As of 1st March, the transition from primary to secondary school kicks into full gear. We communicate with our new students and their parents, via email, outlining the important information which we feel will benefit them as they continue their educational journey at Oldbury Academy. We ensure that every student who will be attending Oldbury Academy in Year 7 gets a personal visit from one of the transition team. We visit the primary school, talk to the Year 6 teacher and other staff, and also arrange to meet parents towards the end of the academic year. We are keen to instil the importance of cooperation and dedication from both parents and students from an early point. It is crucial that all members of our community buy into the drive to succeed and work with us to get to the end goal.
Every student deserves the chance to have their opinions heard and also to tell us the information about themselves that they want us to know. To ensure this information is passed onto the year team, our transition staff, during the visit of the student, will gather this information and share it during our Transition Leaders Meeting in July. Our Transition Leaders Meeting sees the pastoral team dedicated to Year 7 meeting with the transition staff and other professionals in school to pass on the information gathered, to ensure that a plan can be put in place for each and every student to make the start of Year 7 a success.
We want to know each and every student, and we believe the importance of preparation and consistency is key to getting the best out of each and every student. Oldbury Academy works closely with Sandwell Local Authority to make sure that we are being consistent with other secondary schools in the area, and we are completing the same transition tasks as them, which helps develop a supportive end to the primary journey. We will use a Transition Plus Pathways (TPP) document to gather information on each student starting at Oldbury Academy. We will look at academic ability, Special Educational Needs, Safeguarding information, behaviour and attendance. The TPP will centralise this information and make it easy for our Year team to understand their year group quickly.
From the 1st March we will be visiting every single student and holding our annual transition events. Ranging from Transition days, where the students get to sample a generic day at Oldbury Academy, to our transition evenings, where our parents are invited in to meet their child’s form tutor and other key members of staff. Oldbury Academy understand that the transition from primary school to secondary school is a big deal and we are dedicated to supporting our future students and parents, to ensure that it is as smooth as possible. This is the reason we now have two Transition evenings, one in May and one in July.
Please do get in contact if you have any questions, or if you want any more information.