Transition Program from Primary to Secondary School
Boys entering High School are at their most vulnerable. Puberty is in full swing and they have lost the security of their one classroom and one teacher from their final year in Primary School. The most critical need for males is territory and when High School begins, boys’ territory changes at each sound of the siren, as they move from classroom to classroom.
They also have to adjust to a number of different subject specialist teachers who each have a different set of rules and expectations. Boys, their teachers and parents need help at organizing themselves to lessen the blow to their boys’self esteem. This occurs frequently and results in alienation, hopelessness and misbehaviour as they strive to establish their pecking order from among their peers in a myriad of different class settings.
Ian conducts transition programs for both Primary schools and Secondary schools, concentrating on the importance of students (particularly boys) making a smooth transition from Primary to Secondary education.
To move from childhood to adulthood each young person must:
- Adjust to physical changes at puberty
- Adjust to physiological changes with sexual maturity
- Develop their set of values and identity
- Establish effective relationships with others
- Move from dependence on parents to independence
- Prepare for a career and the life of work generally
The program is aimed at parents, teachers and the students themselves and can be conducted:
- In the Primary school in the year before entering High School (towards the end of the year) or
- In the Secondary school in the year before entering the High School (towards the end of the year) or
- In the Secondary school after the First Year students have just commenced school (within the first month)
Modes of delivery include talking to students and staff in the day / afternoon and talking to the students’ parents (with or without their children present) in the evening.
