Dick Sblog

As one of my sons comes to the end of Yr 7, I’ve been reflecting on transition. Not so much his transition but mine. He’s made the move into big school rather well and seems fairly settled there so I’m happy on that score.

I’m less happy about my transition. When he was at the primary school, I was much more aware of what was going on, I made use of a network of social contacts to keep informed and the school issued a weekly newsletter.

His new school organised various transition events for the pupils and these seem to have been OK. They also organised a new parent’s session, where the Head gave an introductory talk and the Head of Year introduced herself and some key staff.  We also got some printed info about the school (which could have been better).

However, what was missing was any attempt to stimulate the creation of the social networks that were evident at the primary schools. OK, I accept the building new social groups isn’t easy and takes time but some effort could have gone in to helping parents introduce themselves to others and find at least a few commonalities of interest.

This isn’t just a grumpy parent preparing for a moan about school-home communications. It’s a recognition that by not encouraging this network effect right from the beginning, the school misses out on a huge amount of resource that is represented by the parent body. That support was there at the primary level but now it’s evaporated.