Contributors to a positive transition
Placing students at the centre of transitions practice
Transition program design is driven by individual and student cohort attributes and needs
Transition programs are most impactful when they have input from students and their families. Schools are encouraged to regularly review and adjust transition programs and support to meet individual and student cohort attributes and needs, which may vary from year to year.
Students are active participants in shaping transition programs
Students feel better supported and more empowered when they can participate in transition decision-making and co-design transition programs. Transition programs are also better tailored and more effective when students help shape them. This is especially important for students who may be at higher risk of a poor transition, including neurodiverse and Autistic students, students with disabilities and students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
Schools will engage with students to shape the transition process in a way that suits their circumstances, including the size of the school and the diversity of the student cohort. For example, large schools with both primary and secondary campuses may choose to engage with a representative group of students to identify trends across the larger cohort.
Refer to Student Voice Practice Guide for a guide on having conversations, collaborating and taking actions to empower students.
Maintaining student engagement and wellbeing
Adolescent learners’ needs are met
The transition to secondary school occurs at the same time as the transition from childhood to adolescence. During this period, students experience profound cognitive, social and emotional changes that affect how they relate to, and experience, learning. Schools can consider how:
- their transition program responds to adolescent learners' needs at each stage of their development
- transition activities build their students’ self-efficacy and sense of connectedness and belonging.
Students know what to expect, and what will be expected of them
There is a strong link between anxiety and the unknown. In the case of school transition, the more students know about what to expect and what is expected of them as they move from year level to year level and from primary to secondary school, the less anxious they are likely to feel leading up to each move. Providing opportunities for students to learn about future expectations in transition programs can alleviate student concern and contribute to their positive mental health and wellbeing.
Students develop positive and supportive peer and teacher relationships
Schools can implement strategies to develop positive peer and student-teacher relationships that improve students’ sense of belonging and connectedness to school. In turn, this can lead to improved wellbeing and engagement, which are strong predictors of academic achievement and support positive transition experiences.
Providing tiered support
Student cohort needs, which may vary each year, are met through a tailored universal transition program (Tier 1)
Universal transition programs are designed to meet the needs of all students using evidence-informed practice. They may need to be reviewed and adjusted to meet the needs of students in each specific student cohort, which may vary from year to year. Universal transition programs are most impactful when they are informed by student data and input from students and their families. Well-designed universal transition programs that are responsive to student needs can reduce the number of students requiring additional Tier 2 or Tier 3 support.
For example, a universal transition program might be adjusted to accommodate the needs of a Year 6 cohort presenting with more wellbeing needs than previous cohorts. Adjustments could include allocating more time to minimising the unknown for students. Depending on student needs, this might include inviting past students to talk about their experiences of moving to secondary school.
Transition support and programs are most effective when they are inclusive of all students and differentiated according to cohort and individual student need. Priority should be given to vulnerable students who are identified as at risk of a poor transition and they should be provided with tailored transition support as part of a preventative or early intervention approach.
In addition to a universal transition program for all middle years students, schools are encouraged to use a tiered approach to provide additional transition support for those students who would benefit from it:
- Tier 2, targeted support for small student groups who need some additional support on top of what is provided in Tier 1. For example, some students from an EAL background may benefit from having their new Year 7 timetable de-coded (subject and teacher name codes and room numbering) and explained in more detail.
- Tier 3, individual interventions for students who need more intensive support. For example, during a Student Support Group (SSG) meeting, a Year 6 student’s individual transition plan is reviewed and adapted. Prior to Orientation Day, a series of supported secondary school visits to the student’s confirmed secondary school is arranged.
Students are identified for and receive Tier 2 or Tier 3 transition support according to need
While all students will benefit from universal transition programs and support, some students will also require additional support, on top of universal programs, in order to experience a positive transition.
The following indicators of positive secondary school transition were developed by Murdoch Children's Research Institute, as part of their longitudinal Childhood to Adolescence Transition Study (CATS). These indicators can be considered when identifying students needing additional support:
- achievement – at expected or above expected literacy and numeracy levels
- school participation – regular attendance, engagement in classrooms, positive interactions with teachers and a sense of school belonging
- emotional and behavioural development – positive mental health and wellbeing and ability to self-regulate
- social skills and peer relationships – ability to interact socially with other students and the absence of bullying behaviours
- physical health – regular participation in physical activity.
With an effective universal transition program students who are meeting these indicators are likely to have a positive transition. Students who are not meeting one or more of the indicators are likely to need proactive and preventative support. In addition to using the predictors to identify students, their socioeconomic status, disability or family circumstances also can increase the likelihood of a student being among the substantial minority who may experience a poor transition. Students with disability and additional needs and their families may find transition more challenging and would benefit from additional support.
School transition teams, teachers and education support staff are encouraged to collaboratively use their judgement, supported by student data, to identify students who would benefit from additional targeted group (Tier 2) or individual (Tier 3) transition supports. These judgements should be informed by multiple sources of evidence, including data available on Panorama dashboards, the Staying in Education Tool, Child Link and student transition data shared from primary to receiving secondary schools.
Diverse learners and students with disabilities are considered and supported according to need
Students with a disability or diverse learning needs may benefit from transition support being clearly planned over a longer duration, and for schools to recognise the impact that the transition may have on the student, their family, peers and teachers. Students with a disability may have more complex transition requirements beyond adjustments to the curriculum or their immediate environment. Schools need to actively engage students and their families as part of the planning process.
When planning transition support for students with disabilities, and or diverse learning needs, it’s important to consider the:
- nature of a student’s disability and diverse learning needs
- impact of a disability on a student’s access to and participation in the educational setting
- modifications the primary school implemented to accommodate the student’s disability and diverse learning needs
- extent to which existing transition programs take account of the individual needs of the student and their family and arrangements at the confirmed secondary school.
Student Support Groups are convened for students receiving Tier 3 support
A Student Support Group (SSG) has a crucial role in planning and monitoring a student’s transition from primary to secondary school. An SSG is a partnership between schools, parents and carers, the student and relevant agencies. The SSG works together to plan and support the educational, health, social, cultural and emotional wellbeing of students with diverse learning needs, recorded in an Individual Education Plan (IEP). Schools must establish an SSG for students supported by the Program for Students with Disabilities (PSD) or Disability Inclusion and for every student in out-of-home care (OoHC). An SSG is strongly encouraged for any student with diverse learning needs and may include students:
- with disabilities or additional learning needs, including, but not limited to, students supported by the PSD or Disability Inclusion
- in OoHC
- who are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- from refugee or migrant backgrounds
- who attend 2 schools (for example, a mainstream and a specialist school)
- on youth justice orders or having transitioned from the youth justice system
- who are identified as young carers.
See here for more information on Differentiated Transition (staff login required). This resource contains more extensive guidance including strategies and examples of how to implement differentiated support across the 4 phases. It also contains extensive resources relevant for students from priority cohort backgrounds, including for students with disabilities and diverse learning needs, Koorie students, students who speak English as an additional language, and resources to support student mental health, wellbeing, engagement and safety.
Ensuring learning continuity
Students are met at their point of learning need and continue to build on their skills, knowledge, interests and experiences
A student’s learning can be best supported when they are taught at their point of learning need from their first day at secondary school. Students can be at risk of disengaging from learning when they are not sufficiently challenged or are challenged at a level for which they are not yet ready. Meeting students at their point of learning need continues their learning without interruption, avoids loss of learning time and can ensure they remain engaged.
Educators can best support adolescent learners when they understand and respond to their unique developmental attributes and needs – specifically, their heightened need for connectedness and relationships, self-definition and voice, and a sense of purpose, autonomy, and achievement in learning.
Primary and secondary schools can create transition teams to collaborate in planning curriculum and pedagogical approaches and improve continuity of learning.
Partnering with parents, carers and family
Families are active partners in supporting their child’s school transition, including their wellbeing and learning at home
Parents, carers and the broader network of family or guardians have a profound and formative impact on their child and can play a major role in a successful transition. Students will experience better wrap around support when families are actively involved in their transition, attuned and responsive to their needs, and are supported in learning at home.
Schools can actively engage and partner with families from the start of the transition process, to enable them to support their child’s wellbeing and learning at home.
Reviewed 29 July 2024