St Patrick's Primary School prides itself on its relationship with Assumption College (ACK). That deep bond between the schools extends to our Year 6 to Year 7 transition program.

 

Our transition program is a year-long program that includes key staff from Assumption College attending St Patrick's throughout the year, as well as regular tours and invitations to participate in Assumption College events.

 

In 2021, the transition program was extended for Terms 3 and 4 to include a fully immersive experience where the Year 6 St Patrick's students select one of Assumption College's Year 7 subjects that interests them and attend that subject onsite at Assumption College three times per week with the Year 7 students.

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All Year 6 students participate in this transition program regardless of which secondary school they attend for Year 7. The program is about providing our Year 6 students with a secondary experience such as attending different classrooms for different subjects, having different teachers and participating in a different style of learning. These experiences are transferable to any secondary school setting.

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Assumption College provides all Year 6 students with an Assumption email address and access to the Assumption SIMON Learning Management System (LMS) at the start of the program and are emailed a booklet of subject alternatives. Students electronically select a number of subject preferences and, depending on timetabling, the student will be allocated one of their preferences.  As students could be allocated any one of their preferences, families are encouraged to work with their child to ensure that the subjects that are selected are reflective of the child's interests.

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Our Year 6 students fully participate in whichever class they attend. The class is conducted for 75 minutes, three times a week. Students are required to complete all work set both for in the class, and outside if required. Students also participate in all class assessments. Where students are required to have a laptop, St Patrick's provides the students with those laptops.

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As the Year 6 students are at Assumption College for almost four hours per week, there is an adjustment to the learning expectations at St Patrick's.

 

Students continue to participate in their regular Literacy, Maths, RE and specialist subjects. Whilst students do not participate in formal SEL or Inquiry lessons, these subjects are incorporated into the other areas of their learning. As such, SEL and Inquiry are not reported on in the Semester 2 report, however their Assumption College subject will be. The content of this part of the report depends on the subject that the student participates in.

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Students at St Patrick's Primary School receive a unique transition experience that we believe is not replicated anywhere else. By giving our Year 6 students six months of genuine transition in a secondary school environment, the students learn how to move around a large campus, how to find and get to and from classrooms. In addition, they receive the benefits of the experience of having different teachers each day as well as engaging with current Year 7 students, from whom they can learn from their transition experiences, which helps to reduce transition anxiety in students.

 

At St Patrick's we pride ourselves on developing the whole child, not just their academics, and this program is another way that St Patrick's sets up our students for success into the future, regardless of the secondary school they attend in Year 7.

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For those students who do attend Assumption College in Year 7, the Year 7 coordinator keeps in touch with the classroom teacher and throughout the year will occasionally attend the Year 6 classrooms so that the children have the chance to ask any questions they may have and it also gives them the opportunity to get to know them.

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For students with need, during the Parent Support Group (PSG) sessions in Terms 2, 3 and 4 there are ACK staff participating in the meeting so parents have the opportunity to voice any concerns they may have. 

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Class teachers also fill in a personal transition form on each child in Year 6, including information about them so that their secondary school teachers have up-to-date and relevant information about the student before they get to their secondary school.