Transition
At Ormiston Denes Academy, it is essential to us that each new student starts Year 7 feeling safe, secure, happy and enthused to be part of their new school. This not only applies to students, we also want parents and carers to be happy and well informed about the move their child will be making.
To support this process, transition from primary to secondary school does not begin in Year 6 and end in Year 7. We ensure that our primary liaison and transition work begins as early as Year 4 and continues through Years 5 and 6, involving a dedicated team, and a range of activities and opportunities.
In normal circumstances Year 6 students have the opportunity to attend transition days, Saturday familiarisation workshops and of course our transition week which takes place in July. Parents and carers would have had the opportunity to attend an information coffee morning and, along with their children, attend an induction evening offering lots of information and a chance to meet members of staff.
Unfortunately, due to the global situation and lockdown, we are having to postpone all of these events. I am aware that this will be a huge disappointment to students and parents and it is not a decision we have taken lightly. As we are currently unsure of when children will be able to return we wanted to make our next steps as clear as possible, rather than avoid disappointment, should we have to cancel pre-planned events.
Although we are postponing these activities, we would like to assure that we will be offering a transition package in other ways.
Our transition team has been working remotely with our partner primary schools to ensure that we understand your child’s needs before starting ODA. This includes finding out about their ability levels, talents and skills, and ensuring we plan for any additional learning needs.
We will be writing to confirm plans, and to enclose the required admission documents. These documents are necessary to ensure that we have all of the information to enrol your child for their September start.
We will also be introducing students to form tutors, and will be using a combination of videos and other documents to inform on life at Ormiston Denes Academy, and to hopefully answer any queries that you may have. These will be posted here and the Ormiston Denes Academy Facebook page.
If there is a student with additional or more complex needs, our pastoral teams will be in touch with these families to discuss plans for admission in greater depth.
Although we appreciate that this is not an ideal situation, we hope that over the next few months, we will be able to fully inform, support, reassure, and build up a relationship between students, parents, carers and our academy, and ensure that your children are given the best possible opportunity to settle once they become Year 7.
There may be additional questions that you and your Year 6 children may have as we lead up to September. A document of frequently asked questions (FAQs) can be found in the link at the bottom of this page. This will be updated, and further documents added, as time goes on and more information is known. However, if you have any questions we would welcome you to contact us on transition@ormistondenes.co.uk, or via our Facebook page.
If parents and carers have not already done so, we would ask that you email transition@ormistondenes.co.uk with your contact details, to enable us to provide you with direct updates in the coming weeks.
Young carers
As an academy we support the work of Suffolk Young Carers and are proud that we hold their Platinum award. Further information can be found here.
If a student is already a registered young carer at primary school, they will have the opportunity to join activities with us at Ormiston Denes Academy. If they are not a registered carer, but feel that they have a high caring role in the family, they can visit the Young Carers page of the academy website or the Suffolk Family Carers website for more information.
Academy virtual tours
Normally as part of the transition process, students will have had the opportunity to visit and tour the school. In these very unusual circumstances, we are not able to provide this. To give an idea of what various areas of the school look like, and a little information about the subjects we offer, a number of short clips have been prepared:
An overview of the whole school, including some of the subjects we teach can be viewed below.
Virtual Transition Week
Each Year 6 student will receive a transition pack of welcome information, equipment, a parent and carer support guide, and a transition booklet. The booklet contains a lot of student information, as well as a knowledge organiser, subject information and activities, and some pastoral activities for students to undertake.
Click on the subject link below, to watch an introduction to the subject activity and the activity details.
English
Maths
Science
History
Geography
Geography transition activities
Modern Foreign Languages
PE
Music
Drama
Art
Catering
Catering transition activities
Engineering
Engineering transition activities
PSHE
Religious studies
Religious studies transition activities
Careers
All about you – pastoral transition activities
A message for Year 6 students
Welcome Year 6! We hope that you are staying safe and alert during this time, and that your online learning is going well. We hope that you are also using this time to not only keep up with your studies, but to also make some wonderful memories with your family. For those of you that have returned to primary school, we hope that you have enjoyed getting back to school and meeting your friends and staff, even though it has had to be from a social distance.
Everyone understands that this must be a very scary time for many of you, the move from primary school to secondary school can be very daunting. But I want you to know that we are all here to help and support you, and that you will be coming to a fantastic school, with wonderful staff, where you will be provided with great opportunities to achieve, and to be the best that you can be.
If you are nervous about moving schools, remember the words of Christopher Robin in Pooh’s Most Grand Adventure, The Search for Christopher Robin “ You’re braver than you believe and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”
We know that you will have a very rewarding and enjoyable five years at Ormiston Denes Academy. We are living through history at the moment, and we will be able to look back on this time when you start in Year 7, and perhaps hear about some of your experiences.
We very much look forward to meeting you later this year.
Julie Mayo
Transition and Co Curriculum Projects Manager
Additional information and documents
These links and documents below will provide you with further information to support the transition from primary to secondary school. This area will be updated with more information and documents over the next few weeks:
Frequently Asked Questions for parents and carers
Frequently Asked Questions for students
Differences between primary and secondary school
We are offering primary schools an online virtual assembly to provide information to students, and to allow them to ask any questions that they may have. During the assembly the slides are also discussed in more detail. You can view the assembly here.
With the current world situation, and not being able to offer our normal transition, we would like to share some resources to support current Year 6 students, who will be moving to Ormiston Denes Academy in the next academic year. There are a number of online sites available, these include:
Be Awesome, Go Big has lots of useful information about transition to secondary school:
BBC Bitesize – has transition resources for both parents, carers and students
SchudioTV – has a free short course that parents and carers can enrol on, to provide proven techniques for making the transition easier for both parents and children.
Young Minds Transition has developed activities to help Year 6 students transition to Year 7.
Induction Evening video – coming soon
Transition Week information – coming soon
Screens Schoolwear, our uniform suppliers, have given us important information regarding changes to their working and ordering procedures here.
Parent/carer handbook (Currently being updated)
Safeguarding and Covid19 guidance
Our local offer for students with special educational needs or disabilities
Latest News
