This week, pupils will start to think about their journey to school. 

Activity ideas for Travel planning – How will your child get to and from school every day?

- Can you incorporate/practise the journey as part of your daily exercise whilst you are at home?

- Alternatively, if your son/daughter will be using transport, can you use Google Earth, Google Maps or other apps to see where the bus stops are?  You could plan your journey.  

- Can they read a bus timetable? Do they have access to the Arriva Bus App which gives them up to date information about the buses they may need to use.? Download the app and investigate how it works together. 

Part of Year 6's home learning this week will look at researching their new school and completing the transition book pages 3 - 6. 

Support your son/daughter in accessing their secondary school’s website. This may also be a good opportunity for you to have a look at the policies, practices and procedures such as timings, uniform and behaviour expectations.

We are in contact with our local secondary schools and they are currently planning events where you will be able to ask questions. These could include webinars and zoom conferences.  With this in mind, you could start to think about any queries you may have?  Talk through the information your son/daughter has found out – do they have any concerns?  Are they pleased/disappointed with anything?

Healthy Eating and Managing Money

Activity: Eating healthily/Managing your Money page 14 – 15.

Your child’s new school will have a pre-paid system for paying for their lunches/snacks.  Could your child be responsible for this?  During this time at home, could you set up a similar system, for them to pay for snacks/lunches?  I.e. allocate a certain amount per day, put prices on the snacks/drinks in your cupboards/fridges for your son/daughter to pay for them.  This will help with getting them used to budgeting and perhaps prevent constant snacking!?! Is your child able to plan for healthy options?

 Discussion points:

• Is it easy or difficult to keep to a budget?


• Did you choose healthy or unhealthy items? 

Managing Situations 

 My Journey to school

Transition book Activity: My journey to school page 11.

This week we will be looking at your child’s journey to school. Work with your child to see how confident he/she is at planning their journey to school.  Can they remember their journey previously discussed in week 2?  Discuss the use of travel passes – what happens if they are lost?  What are the ‘backup’ plans for getting to and from school? How long will your journey take?  What time will you need to leave your house to make sure you arrive at school on time? How will you get home? What about the timings of your return journey?

Discussion points

Discuss various scenarios about your child’s journey to school.

• Will they need a Bus/train pass? How do you use a bus/ train pass? Why do you need to keep it safe? What can they do it keep it safe during the school day? What should they do if their pass is lost? What happens is the buss does not show? What do they do if they miss their stop? What to do if bus doesn’t come or is full up? Who do they tell if they or someone else is being bullied on the transport? 


• What is their walking journey like? Which roads will they need to cross? Can they confidently cross independently at these roads? Will they be walking with friends or siblings?


• Cycling road safety – Can the children lock their bikes? Where would they do this at school? What will be their route to and from school?


• Will they be meeting their parents/carers?

Time planning and morning routine

Transition Book Activity: Time planning and morning routine pages 9 – 10.  

This week we will be looking at your child’s morning routine and think about planning their time carefully to make sure they get up, ready for school and leave the house to catch the bus or train on time. If walking to school, what time will they need to leave the house to make sure they are not late for morning registration? Can the students plan their morning routine?  What tasks do they need to perform daily?  What tasks do they need to be reminded to do and what do they do independently? 

Think about what else your child could do more independently – do they know how to cross roads safely? Do they need to be able to tie a tie? Can they tie their shoe laces? Can they make simple meals?  If not now is the time to start teaching them! 

Change involves saying goodbye and hello

Our Year 6 pupils have experienced lots of different emotions over the last few weeks and to help them prepare for the next big chapter in their lives, we also need them to experience saying ‘goodbye’, before they can say ‘hello’.

Start to talk to your child about how they are feeling about leaving Primary school.  Some children at home will feel that they have already left.

Discussion points:

• Would your son/daughter like to say goodbye to particular members of staff? Could they make cards for them?


• Who are they grateful for meeting?


• What are they grateful for experiencing?


• Who and what are they going to miss about Primary School? 

Although this seems a few weeks off, it may be better for some children to start thinking about saying their goodbyes little by little.

Allow plenty of opportunities for your child to talk about their feelings about not returning to their primary school and the new challenges that lay ahead. 

Write/draw or simply discuss any good and/or bad memories that they have about their time in Primary.  Any favourite lessons/activities? Can you share any memories from your own primary school? 

Does your child feel ready to move on? If not, what can you do to support?

Make sure that you acknowledge all their feelings – they may change their mind day to day (or even hour to hour!) They may have been at their primary school since YR so could be understandably very sad (or happy!!!) to be leaving. 

What to do to support transition over the summer?

We are sure that both you and your child will have some feelings of anxiety and trepidation about the forthcoming change.  It is completely understandable and natural to have these feelings, so please do not worry! Try to be as calm and hide any of your personal anxieties from your children as they may pick up on these.  Encourage your child to verbalise their worries (if they have any) as we are sure that they can be easily eased! Positivity is key!!

 Over the summer holidays, revisit the following: 

• Continue to chat about thoughts and feelings about moving to their new school.  Be led by their discussions as well as ‘dropping’ things into conversations. Do they want to share their transition book?


• Chat about the activities and tasks that they have completed – which ones did they find the most or least interesting/useful/informative?


• Do they have any further thoughts, opinions or questions?


• What is your child now doing independently that they didn’t or couldn’t do before?  What can they further do?  Are they confident with tying their tie? Shoelaces?


• Check through the list of uniform/equipment your child needs – your son/daughter may want to help you to feel involved with the process.


• Are you reminding your son/daughter about red/green questions? Decide if they are asking you questions that they should be able to problem-solve.  Encourage and reassure that they are able to find most solutions themselves!


• How will your son/daughter be traveling to school?  Have you practised their journey?  Depending on government guidance – can you take the bus/train journey together?  Have you downloaded the Arriva app on both yours and their device?  Ask them questions about what they would do…. If the bus is late?  If you lose your bus pass? (hopefully, you will have been able to apply for this now)


• Summer holidays are a time to relax and recharge, but towards the end, nearing the time to return to school, try to introduce regular sleep patterns with bed and waking up times.  This will help your son/daughter to ease back into school day routines. 

Remember to stay positive about the exciting new challenges that lay ahead.

We wish you all good luck for the future. 

Stay safe, 

All the staff at North Borough Junior School.