Teach-Secondary-14.1

Activities and initiatives you can run alongside your feeder schools to ensure everything goes smoothly when your new Y7s start next September... • Create visual ‘classroom notices’ that can be given to Y6 pupils in June or July. They could include images of their new form room and form teacher, alongside a list of topics they can expect to be taught during the first term at their new school. • Organise summer holiday activities or club sessions for the Y7s starting in September, so that they can familiarise themselves with your school’s environment and potentially make new friends • Host workshops in specialist teaching spaces (science labs, workshops, gyms), so that your incoming Y7s can get a sense of what their new learning environments will be like • Have staff visit your local primaries to meet with their Y6 teachers and inclusion and pastoral leads • Organise a summer meeting between your SENCo and local primary counterpart, and follow this up in autumn to review pupils’ post- transition progress and discuss whether any support options may be needed Clare Elson is an inclusion and safeguarding lead Got a great learning idea? Email editor@teachsecondary.com or tweet us at @teachsecondary TEACHER WALKTHROUGH ZEPH BENNETT IS A PE TEACHER AND SCHOOLACHIEVEMENT LEADERWITH 25 YEARS’ TEACHING EXPERIENCE; YOU CAN FINDMORE OF HIS EDUCATIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS BY FOLLOWING@ZEPHBENNETT.BSKY.SOCIAL TRENDING Our pick of the recent resources and launches teachers might find useful... EXPERIMENTAL ENGINEERING Run by EngineeringUK, Energy Quest is a teacher-led workshop that has students utilising their problem-solving skills and science knowledge across a series of practical, hands-on experiments, while encouraging them to think like engineers. tinyurl.com/ts141-LL5 MAKING VOICES HEARD CoramVoice has launched its annual ‘Voices’ creative writing competition. Open to care- experienced children aged 4 to 25 (divided into four age categories) entries are limited to 500 words and must be themed around ‘My Voice’, with multiple written forms (poems, short stories, rap lyrics, newspaper articles) eligible for inclusion; the closing date is 23rd March 2025 coramvoice.org.uk/voices CLASSROOMROUTINES ZEPH BENNETT HIGHLIGHTS THE DAILY PREPARATIONS AND HABITS THAT CAN GET YOUR LESSONS OFF TO A PRODUCTIVE START Secondary transition preparations Checklist 1 ‘DO NOW’ TASK Start each lesson with a retrieval or ‘ What do you know? ’ task to engage the class while you take the register 2 PREPARATION Prepare your lesson resources, books and worksheets so that students can collect them upon entry into the classroom 3 EQUIPPED Leaving pens, pencils, gluesticks and other equipment in pots on each table can save time when students are on task 4 CONSISTENCY Ensure your routines are the same for entry, ‘to task’ and when exiting; building that consistency will enable students to start developing good study habits 5 SMOOTH TRANSITIONS Ensuring there are smooth transitions between instruction, task, check for understanding and other lesson components is essential for keeping students engaged and on task L E A R N I N G L A B 79 teachwire.net/secondary