Students in their primary school years have become used to the routines they have had at home for many years. Many students will have developed a sense of ‘safety’ within this consistency and routine.

Some students have older brothers or sisters attending secondary school and have therefore established some understanding of what the school change might involve. Parents and carers too, if they have older children who have already experienced these changes, will also understand what may need to change in a home learning environment for students to get to school on time, find their way around, and complete homework and assignments throughout their secondary school life.

Please remember, however, that you may also have some students in your class who have transitioned in and out of several schools: while these students have had numerous experiences with change, it is still useful for them to practise new strategies for moving school, and they may be able to provide some extra insights for you and their classmates.

This teacher module includes teacher-focused information on the Classroom Activities and Parent and carer resources related to:

• finding your way to and from secondary school;
• reading a timetable;
• organising study and time for extracurricular activities; and
• finding your way around a new school.

For each of these activities, you may find it useful to discuss the possibility of organising a young person who is currently in secondary school to come and talk to Year 6 students, or an older student at the secondary school to come and talk to Year 7s. This could be a possible ‘mentor’ or ‘buddy’ student. These New School Environment topics can be part of what the visiting student(s) present or discuss with your students, and would complement the topics in the Managing secondary school expectations resource.