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 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 web page to provide as much information and resources as possible, for all of our students to feel as familiar as they can with Barnes Wallis Academy before arriving in September. Please try and complete some of the transition documents below and send them to your Head of House email address. We'll celebrate your achievements through our reward system!

Houses and Tutor Grouping

Students will all be placed in a House when they arrive at Barnes Wallis Academy. You will receive this information through the post. Our houses are Spitfire, Hurricane, Dakota and Lancaster. You can find all the contact information in the Year 6 transition booklet on this web page.

The Form Tutor also 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.

lancaster@barneswallisacademy.co.uk
dakota@barneswallisacademy.co.uk
spitfire@barneswallisacademy.co.uk
hurricane@barneswallisacademy.co.uk

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 five teaching assistants and their names are:

Ms Girling
Mrs Wells
Ms Carter
Miss Kingston
Miss Wilshire

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, social skills club,
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- Cassy 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.

If you have any questions or queries, you can contact me on SEN@barneswallisacademy.co.uk

We look forward to meeting you soon!

Pastoral

What do our current Year 7's think?

Form Tutor Messages

Dakota

Lancaster

Spitfire

Subject Specific Summer Tasks

English

Hi, Year 6s

Welcome to English!

Along with the letter to your future self which we would love you to write, we would like to set you a reading challenge for over the next couple of months, until you start in Year 7.

Under ‘English’ there is a recommended booklist by genre – our challenge is this; Which books have you read already? How many can you read by September? Read by the end of Year 7?

As you read, please fill in the reading log (there is one on here or whatever works for you). Tell us which books you have read and whether you enjoyed them or not.

At the end of the summer we would like you to write a book review of the book you have read that you enjoyed the most. It does not have to be from our list – the best book you have read between now and September.

We look forward to meeting you all soon!

Ms Swann, Mr Endicott, Miss Denton, Miss Whitehouse and Mrs Ball

Maths

https://nrich.maths.org/1249

https://nrich.maths.org/7534

https://nrich.maths.org/11119

https://nrich.maths.org/5767
https://nrich.maths.org/13349

https://nrich.maths.org/11750

https://nrich.maths.org/americanbillions

Junior Maths Challenge

Science

Can you calculate the speed of the worm - as speed = distance / time ?

Design and Technology

Over the summer why don’t you try the marble run challenge. Watch the clip below and get creative. https://youtu.be/IN0Wn0XgPXQ

Send a picture or video of your marble runs to dwilkinson@barneswallisacademy.co.uk

Physical Education

Geography

Resources

For a lot of our transition work, we have used the Hachette Children's Group for school’s free resources (https://www.hachetteschools.co.uk/landing-page/hachette-schools/be-awesome-go-big-resources-for-year-6/) designed to help our students with the transition from year 6 to year 7.

The work booklets are based on the books 'You Are Awesome' by Matthew Syed and 'Go Big' by Matthew Burton. You do not need to purchase these books, but if you would find them useful, they are available using the following links:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Go-Big-Secondary-School-Survival
https://www.amazon.co.uk/You-Are-Awesome-Confidence-Bestseller

Many of the tasks focus on developing a growth mindset and resilience which your child may already have some experience of from their primary setting. Our hope is that by completing the 'Be 'Awesome, Go Big' work booklet, your child will develop skills to help them cope with this big change in their lives and have a positive frame of mind moving forwards. Parents are also able to use #BeAwesomeGoBig to promote any work that your child is proud of on social media. We would also love to see this!

Additionally, we have provided various other resources designed to consolidate KS2 skills in literacy and numeracy and progress to KS3 types of activities.

Summer Cup 2020 Competitions

Barnes Wallis Academy

DRET