It is best to start thinking about secondary schools well before your young person needs to change – sometimes two years or even more. This is because some schools have very early application requirements – some non-government schools may have waiting lists; some government schools may be ‘zoned’ with enrolment priority given to students who live inside the zone.

Talk about:

• What was school transition like when you (parent and/or carer) were 11 or 12 years old?
• What is the most important thing for you for secondary school? (Location? Curriculum? Friends? Cost?)

Look at school websites with your young person. Your young person will be able to help you navigate the

information and will likely come up with questions that are different from yours.

Talk about:

• What would be your ideal secondary school? Why?
• What are your favourite subjects? Do all schools offer these?

Talk to your young person about change. Life will always bring changes, both large and small. It is important that we all develop and refine skills to manage change.

Talk about:

• What will change with the move to secondary school? What will stay the same?
• When have we managed change before? What can we use from that experience?
• What do we want to learn from this change?
• What do you think will be the most difficult thing with secondary school? How will we manage that?