First and foremost this programme was designed to help the year 6 students prepare for moving on to year 7 at another school. Earlier in the year, Urs sent out a survey to last year’s year 6 students and their parents to find out about their transition experiences and what we might have done to aid their transition. This transition programme was designed with the survey responses in mind. The students had opportunities to talk about anxieties and concerns they have and Urs attempted to assist them with these. For example, we took them to town on the bus so they could experience using a bus card – which was one of the big anxieties some were feeling. The students wrote letters to their next year’s teacher and shared with the teacher things they wanted them to know about themselves. They told the teacher, for example, about what helps them to be successful learners. They shared their interests and what they hope to achieve.
A part of this transition programme involved having opportunities to show leadership. At the end of last week the students organised and ran a programme for the year 3 – 5 students. Firstly, they offered a range of activities such as cooking, science experiments, drawing and arts and crafts which the year 3 - 5 students opted into. The afternoon programme involved a rotation of sporting activities including archery. The year 6 students also did lots of cooking. They cooked things like pizzas and bread buns for their own enjoyment, but they also prepared delicious platters of food for the Koru Hub students for morning tea. See photos below.
An important aspect of the programme was future-focused - in which the students were challenged to think about “who” they want to grow up to be. We used movies to prompt discussions about this. There were some wonderful moments when students had sudden realisations about who they want to be and what is important to them and blurted it out. One student excitedly yelled, “I want to be the best me that I can be. That’s what I want to be. I want to always do my best.” It was great to hear students referring to what they learnt through this aspect of the programme in their leavers’ speeches.
A big thanks to Urs for organising the transition programme and for her incredible care of all our students. She is so aware of students’ needs and nothing is too much trouble for her.
Wishing our wonderful year 6 students all the very best as they transition to their new schools. We will miss you and we look forward to hearing about all the amazing things you accomplish.
