The move from primary to secondary school is another major milestone for your child and creates big changes in their life, development and education.
Secondary school runs from Year 7 to Year 12 and is attended by children generally between the ages of 12 and 18. It is a legal requirement for your child to complete Year 10 and that they remain in some form of education or training until the age of 17.
Secondary school is an opportunity for your child to be challenged and to develop the valuable skills they will take with them into their adult life.
Leaving the familiar surroundings of primary school will be both exciting and daunting for both you and your child, but there are ways you can help make this move as smooth as possible.
Transition to Secondary School
To help students adjust, primary and secondary schools work together to ease students through the transition period. Secondary students revisit their old primary school to tell Year 6 students what secondary school is like. This can also be taken a step further with the buddy system, where secondary students are teamed up with primary school students and regularly meet face-to-face or communicate by email.
Your child will be in bigger classrooms and will be learning a variety of new subjects from multiple teachers. Primary schools work to help your child prepare for this different teaching method. Many primary schools have a team of teachers working with Year 5 and 6 students to get children used to working with a range of teachers rather than just one. Teachers from secondary schools also often visit local primary schools to take small groups for lessons or to talk about secondary school.
Some secondary schools offer learning environments similar to primary schools, for new students, to aid a smoother transition. These secondary schools often have a designated area for Year 7 students including one large multipurpose classroom. A team of teachers will work with the students rather than individual subject teachers. This allows the students and teachers to start to get to know each other.
These transition programs between primary and secondary schools will help your child to quickly settle into secondary school life.
Orientation days
As part of the transition from Year 6 to Year 7, students in government secondary schools participate in an orientation day. All government schools hold this orientation day on the same day - often the second Tuesday of December. The orientation day may include a school tour, meeting fellow students and teachers, and taking part in special lessons and activities.
For more information on your child’s orientation day, contact your child’s new school.