The move from primary school to high school can be a very daunting prospect for many students.  What will it be like?  How will I find my way around?  How do I tie a tie?  There are too many people.  What if none of my friends are going to the same school as me?  These are just some of the comments students make about the impending move.

The Zone team are here to support students and part of that role involves the transition into year 7.  During this term, the team will be in the local primary schools working with year 6 pupils to answer some of their questions.  This can be done in a variety of ways.  In some schools we use circle time to address students’ fears and concerns, or to explore what high school will be like.  Other schools choose to have small groups visit Wentworth, whilst in others we are able to support in the classroom and begin to get to know the students before they start at Wentworth. 

We produce our own resources, including a transition work-booklet and the new DVD, which we use with all students to address common issues that concern most children about the move.  All students also have the opportunity to spend a day at Wentworth on either 29th or 30th June (depending upon which primary school they attend), and this year we are also running drop-in sessions at each of the local primary schools to allow parents to express any concerns they have about their child’s move.

Aim Higher

After four hard weeks of training girls from the Wednesday dance club performed at the Novotel in Worsley.

Salford was showcasing the 14-19 work that goes on in the city and Wentworth was the only high school to be involved.  Through the Aimhigher project the school receives 6 lessons from a professional dance teacher, Suzy,  who is also a performer.  Suzy has worked the girls hard and demanded their best but we still had more pupils wanting to perform that we had places.

The Aimhigher dancers at the Novotel
The Aimhigher Sports Currculum Network organised an afternoon of sport at the new Salford Sport Village on 15th May.  Salford College students and Bolton University undergraduates delivered football, tag rugby and athletics sessions to 36 year 7 pupils in driving rain.  They all worked hard, laughed a lot and no-one complained until our return bus was delayed.

This was an excellent taster for the main event – a full day of sport for the first 20 year 7 pupils in each form to bring their permission slips.  The full day is at Bolton Arena on Friday 9th June.  Year 10 students have been involved in the planning and organisation of the day.