PARENT/CARER 1: What have been your best memories of primary school?

STUDENT 1: I don't have a best memory.

PARENT/CARER 1: You can have a few.

STUDENT 2: My best memory was probably Year Three camp. My first ever camp. It also happened to be the first ever time I saw snow.

STUDENT 1: We were doing the Titanic.

PARENT/CARER : Yeah, you were.

STUDENT 1: And I was the only one who actually said anything. I just yelled, "Iceberg up ahead".

STUDENT 2: And then we all had a snowball fight, and like I got hit. And like even the teachers joined in. It was amazing.

PARENT/CARER 1: OK, next question. What things will you miss about primary school?

STUDENT 1: The small amount of homework.

STUDENT 3: I'm probably going to miss all my teachers, because I'm really used to them and all my friends.

STUDENT 2: I'll miss having a more casual after school life and stuff like that.

PARENT/CARER 4: What do you think secondary school will be like?

STUDENT 4: I think will be really fun.

STUDENT 3: I think it'll be fun.

STUDENT 1: I feel like it will be tough, but it'll also be fun.

STUDENT 2: Probably quite a bit stricter. I'm going to have to start choosing my subjects, seeing what I'm really interested in.

STUDENT 1: I think you're allowed to use your phone during breaks---

PARENT/CARER 1: Oh!

STUDENT 1: So that's a big difference.

PARENT/CARER 3: What things have you heard about secondary school that are positive?

STUDENT 5: You get to do lots more activities.

STUDENT 4: So one of my friends, they were in Year Six last year. And they went into Year Seven this year, and they love high school. They say it's like a lot more challenging, and you get a lot more freedom.

STUDENT 5: You get to do new classes, like woodworks, robotics.

STUDENT 2: Good camps, I think.

STUDENT 3: Activities I like: dance, and singing, and sports.

PARENT/CARER 6: Before you went to secondary school, what were some of the things that you were concerned about?

STUDENT 6: The amount of homework and assignments. And I thought I wouldn't be able to manage it, along with my after-school activities. I did have to kick one after school activity out, but that's fine.

STUDENT 2: I'm definitely concerned about the workload, and keeping track of that workload is going to be hard for me, because I already have some troubles keeping track of my after-school work.

STUDENT 3: Getting lost for sure, because you're going to have to go from like a class to another class.

STUDENT 5: Uh, new classes.

STUDENT 2: Keeping friendships close, because we're going into a way bigger high school than my current primary school.

PARENT/CARER 2: And what are you looking forward to in secondary school?

STUDENT 1: Well, I hope I get to make a lot of long-term friends, and not being treated like a little kid anymore.

PARENT/CARER 1: Yeah, fair enough.

STUDENT 2: Like having more kids that I can play with, and also like sport in secondary school.

STUDENT 3: Independence and meeting, like new friends. Even though I will probably have some friends that will follow me for back up, but I'm excited to make new ones.

STUDENT 5: Making new friends.

STUDENT 4: I'm looking forward mostly to just it being harder and new.

STUDENT 5: And yeah, lots more opportunities.

PARENT/CARER 6: What do you think the main differences are between primary school and secondary school, now you're in secondary school?

STUDENT 6: Well, the amount of support I've been getting, which is a lot more. And the fact that my teachers care about me, and they don't terrify me.

STUDENT 2: Definitely the workload is going to be different, like what we have to do in class.

STUDENT 3: Way more work.

STUDENT 5: Maybe how they teach the subjects, that might be different from primary.

STUDENT 1: Obviously, things will be more difficult, as in I'll have to move between classrooms, remember which classes I have next, and there'll be a lot of older kids.

STUDENT 2: Knowing everyone is going to be hard and probably won't be able to do it, actually.

PARENT/CARER 6: What advice would you give other students who are about to go into secondary school that have disabilities?

STUDENT 6: I would say, ask for help it's really useful. And I advise going to one of your teachers, or if you have a school counselor, or a student support worker, making kind of like a to do list so you can do better time management. It really helps.

PARENT/CARER 2: What questions would you ask if you were asking the questions?

STUDENT 2: How was your experience in secondary school?

PARENT/CARER 2: I didn't realise how good I had it in primary school, because primary school really felt like a nice little, almost like an extend--

STUDENT 2: A warm bubble.

PARENT/CARER 2: A warm bubble. Yeah, there was a real sense of community and a sense of feeling together. I missed it. I missed the smallness of primary school when I went to secondary school.

PARENT/CARER 1: You know I had a thought, when I was thinking about, you know you go from Year 6 to Year 7. And if you want to know what it was like for me going from Year 6 to Year 7?

STUDENT 1: Well, I feel like a lot of things have changed since you were in high school.