Transition

Transition Process

We understand the transition between primary school and secondary school can be both an exciting time but also an anxious time for young people and their parents. We understand along with the current position we are in; this may bring extra concerns and we want to try and support you as much as we can. It is important to us that the children joining our school feel ready for the new challenges of secondary school and arrive feeling excited about all the opportunities on offer.

At Barnes Wallis Academy we will try and do all that we can to make this process as smooth as possible by getting to know each student as well as we can before term begins in September. We have been in contact with all the primary schools and have spoken to all your Year 6 teachers. We will be getting in contact with all our new Year 7 starters as we would like to get to know you by finding out all about your interests and hobbies. We are also using this webpage to provide as much information and resources as possible, for all of our students to feel as familiar as they can about Barnes Wallis Academy before arriving in September. If the social distancing guidelines lift, as per the Governments timeline; we will be inviting you in to come and look at our school and enjoy a taster day on Monday 12 July. We will update you further whether this will be going ahead nearer the time.

Uniform

We take pride in our appearance here at Barnes Wallis Academy, to find out what you need, click here

Houses and Tutor Grouping

Students are placed in a House when they arrive at Barnes Wallis Academy.

The Form Tutor takes responsibility for their students and is the first port of call between home and school; they are the person that will make the initial contact with students on a daily basis and set the standard for the day ahead. In partnership with parents, they will aim to ensure all students are fully prepared to learn and progress within the Academy. Our houses are:

Virtual Tour

Getting to know the Staff

Special Educational Needs & Disabilities

Hello, I would like to introduce myself and our SEND department here at Barnes Wallis Academy. My name is Mrs Castley and I am the Special Education Needs & Disability Coordinator (SENDCo)

We have six teaching assistants and their names are:

Ms Girling
Mrs Wells
Ms Carter
Miss Kingston
Miss Wilshire
Mr Parker (also our Resource Manager)

Here at Barnes Wallis Academy our aim is to support you in achieving the best that you can. The way that we support students is different for everyone.

It could be through:

Additional adult support in class
Small group work-dyslexia club, maths club and social skills clubs
One to one support for accelerated learning
Social/ nurture club in the mornings
Homework club after school
Additional ICT to support learning

Sometimes we need to talk to other people when things get on top of us this could be though a counsellor- Casy Counselling or Mindfulness. We also sometimes need to bring in expert people to help us help you, we call this external specialist e.g. Speech and language therapists.