EDUCATION EDITION
A WARM WELCOME Focusing on personalised care for pupils, Gresham’s has a thorough induction process
All of the changes can play into a newness that is either exciting or slightly daunting
everything that was familiar about school – or home if they’re very little – is suddenly completely different,” she says. “Everything about the children’s daily routine changes. Even the food can be different. All of that can play into a sense of newness that is either exciting or slightly daunting.” Specific transitions come with their own challenges. Take that move to senior school, where children – the most senior members of their primary or prep school community as recently as July – suddenly have to adjust to life as the newest pupils when they start in year 7 or 9. Starting at senior school can feel like going backwards, confirms Jill Groves, head of Lower School at Stoke College. “Pupils have gone from being very comfortable in their primary school in year 6 and knowing everyone to going back to how things were in reception.” It’s all about new beginnings, notes Hannah Helliar. “Pupils in year 7 come in
as our youngest students but were at the top of their previous school, where they had leadership roles and were built up as the most senior and experienced students.” That move into secondary school also means a big shift in independence, highlights Alice Heywood, director of educational strategy at Stephen Perse Cambridge. Take the end-of-day routine at primary school, where pupils are often discharged only when their teachers have seen them safely back into their parents’ care at home time. While, at senior school, it’s all change. While some parents do still collect their children as the last lesson finishes, many pupils will be making their own way back home, visiting friends, going into town and for the first time getting a real taste of life in the real world. “It is quite different and parents really need to be prepared for this,” states Alice. Unsurprisingly, given the excellence of their pastoral care, local schools put a huge amount of effort into ensuring that every aspect of the transition process is planned in minute detail. Induction programmes often start well before the summer holidays and keep going into the autumn term, with a huge emphasis on ensuring that pupils feel happy and settled. At Stephen Perse Cambridge, pupils who have attended the school’s junior department already know where everything is by the time they join the senior school in year 7 because they have been frequent visitors over the years. Older junior school pupils stage concerts and productions there. “They know where the main entrances and exits are; they’re familiar with the receptionists
GROWING TOGETHER Kimbolton
School (right)
promotes seamless progression, while Stoke College (left) helps new joiners settle in and make friends at the River Festival
64 SEPTEMBER 2024 CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK
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