Birmingham

‘MY PASSPORT’A resource to support Service Children’s

adaptation to a new school

Charlotte Bradshaw Emily France Senior Transfer Support Assistant Psychology AssistantTransfer Support Team Educational Psychology [email protected] 2012

Structure

• What is ‘My Passport’

• Why we developed this resource

• Looking at the resource

• Evaluations

• Questions

Transfer Support Team• The Transfer Support Team (TST)

service started in 2003

• The service aims to target pupils in Year 6 who are described as being vulnerable and/or anxious to change in Year 6 through to Year 7

• To ensure that children feel fully included in their new secondary school

Development of the Passport

• Charlotte Bradshaw: Senior Transfer Support Advisor

• Robert Beadel: Senior Educational Psychologist

• Sophie Adams: Psychology Assistant

• Support from Sue Scrimshaw, Joy O’Neil Pauline Cross and Caroline Allen from Halton School

Learning Objectives of the Passport

• For the new pupil to quickly feel settled and valued

• For the school to learn about the child

• It is a resource for staff to help primary pupils to settle quickly into their new school environment

Common fears

Homework Fitting inStarting new lessons Making new friendsBullying Losing old friendsGetting lost New TeachersDifferent rules Being the new personDifferent expectations Break timesKnowing where equipment is kept LunchHarder work AssemblyWhat to do if ill Getting to schoolNot having enough help with work Tests and examsDifferent ways of learning

Structure of Passport

• 6 ‘Units’ which each address a different aspect of adaptation

• The first is designed to be completed by the child at home before they arrive, the following four units during the first week of school and the sixth unit is a review to be completed with the child at the end of week two.

Please remember…

‘My Passport’ should be used as a

discussion tool not a workbook.

Evaluation

• Initial success of project

• Evaluation of levels of worry

• Decrease is faster and steeper

• Most improved variables

• Progress of individual in new environment

ResultsMean scores by variable

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Lunc

htim

e

Being

bullie

d

Starti

ng n

ew le

sson

s

Finding

my w

ay a

roun

d

Break

times

Being

given

har

der w

ork t

han

I am

use

d to

Differe

nt ru

les

Fitting

in

Not h

aving

help

with

my w

ork w

hen

I nee

d it

Knowing

whe

re th

e eq

uipm

ent is

kept

Mak

ing n

ew fr

iends

Test/e

xam

s

Assem

bly

Losin

g old

frien

ds

Differe

nt w

ays o

f lear

ning

Wha

t to

do if

I am

feeli

ng ill

About

teac

hers

Wha

t the

teac

her m

ight e

xpec

t me

to d

o

Gettin

g to

scho

ol

Being

the

new p

erso

n

Variable

Me

an Pre

Post

Comments from children

“When I moved school before and I have done lots of times – everyone was so busy that I felt very lost and didn’t enjoy it much. It wasn’t like that here. I was given time every day to talk about all sorts of things. I feel much more confident this time”.

Year 6 pupil

Comments from children

“When I arrived at school I was really worried about how different things would be. Mrs A spent time with me and I felt confident enough to ask about things I was worried about. Mrs A also told me about some things other children had worried about in the past. It was good to know it wasn’t just me”

Year 5 pupil

Message from Halton School

• The Passport is a wonderful tool for sharing both personal and general information about the children and the school……

• The Passport should be used as a tool to encourage and support conversation about each child’s educational journey and not just a means of ‘ticking a transistion tool box’.

My Passport

• The resource is available to purchase and take away today for £25.

Questions

Thank you

Charlotte Bradshaw and Emily France