We are finally nearing the end of our transition to high school process. After nearly two years of preparing, organising, liaising and managing, there are only two supported transition visits left and then the main orientation day to come.
High school is now a mere 3 months away for us and for Gilbert.
It’s been a long road, a journey that began nearly two years ago at the end of Year 4. That’s when we first looked at updating his diagnosis information and started considering his high school options.
Last year, in Year 5, we held meetings with his primary school to identify the best setting for him, researched our options and applied for selective placement to ensure we covered all bases.
This year, in Year 6, we hit the ground running in term 1 when we submitted our application for enrolment and then received confirmation that Gilbert had been accepted into the school’s gifted and talented program. We also re-engaged with our therapists and began working with new ones to help Gilbert come to terms with the transition process.
Throughout the last few years, we’ve encountered a number of challenges (no surprise there!). However, we’ve been able to meet them all by taking the time to build relationships, making sure we understood how the transition process works, being proactive ourselves and identifying who we needed to engage at the appropriate time.
You can find out more about our approach to our son’s current transition process in the video below (which includes more explanation of the 5 tips I discuss in this post):
If you prefer to read on, the 5 tips below are based on our own experience and have allowed us to enjoy a smooth transition process to date.
I hope they may be able to help you and your family too!
5 Tips to Help the Transition to High School
Start Early
This is my biggest tip – start working with your child’s school in the year before you think you need to. As stated above, we started the ball rolling at the end of Year 4, so we had all the required paperwork in place for the primary school’s funding needs. However, as long as you’ve started to have discussions about potential class placement in Year 5, you will be okay. The reason for this timeframe is simple – high school enrolment happens in Term 1 in Year 6. So you need to have done all the legwork before that time so you can apply for enrolment in your chosen high school with confidence.
Be Proactive
It can be a tricky balance (you don’t want to overstep the mark with either school) but it’s important you take some responsibility for the transition process and don’t just leave it up to the schools themselves. You will always be your child’s best advocate and you will always be the one to fight hardest for them. So, ensure you know what assistance, funding and support is being applied for on your child’s behalf. Ask the primary school if you can review this information before it’s submitted to the high school. This way, you can identify any gaps or discrepancies in the information being supplied before it’s submitted.
Find Opportunities to Familiarise Yourself With the School
It’s important to find ways to familiarise yourself and your child, with the prospective high school. If you are able to build a strong connection from the start, it will be so much easier to deal with any issues that may arise as part of the transition process. In Gilbert’s case, I asked his current principal if he could go up to the high school in June and deliver a presentation on World Albinism Awareness Day. This helped the school understand his condition better, allowed Gilbert to introduce himself to staff and students and gave us the opportunity to meet with senior staff in an informal way. My next challenge is to identify how I can engineer a similar opportunity for Matilda for next year!
Gilbert in action, delivering his presentation at his local high school
Ask for a Supported Transition Process
Most high schools will work with feeder primary schools to identify students who may need some extra help in the transition process. Ensure that your child is included in this program by requesting a supported transition process through your primary school. In Gilbert’s case, he has joined 30 other Year 6 students for 5 x 2-hour sessions aimed at familiarising the students with high school life, facilities, activities and staff. This has been such a valuable experience for him so far and I’m relieved that he will have 10 extra hours at his new school to feel more comfortable and (hopefully!) less anxious.
Introduce Yourself to the High School
This is a simple step that can be forgotten in the larger transition process. However, don’t forget to introduce yourself to the school and to make an appointment to meet the principal, deputy or head of student welfare. Making a personal connection as early as possible, allows you to create a relationship that is based on mutual understanding of your child. Having an existing relationship in place will help you better deal with any future issues that may arise. It also gives you the opportunity to share the personality, preference and strengths of your child with the school directly, something that is often forgotten in the process of highlighting their challenges in order to obtain funding and assistance.
Have you made the transition with your special needs student? I’d love to hear your suggestions!
These are great tips!
I had to do all these things too with my son who is in year 7. With the whole dyslexia thing I was very proactive … going from class to class and teacher to teacher is a whole new ball game for any child, but for one with challenges it is even more so … so I met with the teaching team right up front. Throw in Independent Learning Time which takes a huge chunk of the week at our school, and there was a possible recipe for complete disaster. These tips absolutely help to avoid many of the dramas. Great post!
PS Thanks for joining the Lovin Life Linky! Can’t wait to see you again next week.
#TeamLovinLife
I have it marked in my calendar now – Tuesdays and Thursdays will be my weekly blogging days from now on!
Thanks for sharing your eperience too Leanne. I’m not going to know for sure whether the transition will be a complete success until we’re thrown into it next year, but I’m so pleased to know that you’ve lived it and I’m on the right track. Fingers crossed we’ve done enough x
I keep forgetting year 7 is in high school because I didn’t start high school until year 8 here in QLD {although I think they’ve changed it to be in line with NSW now}. I’m glad everything has gone well for you guys, I know how stressed you were about the decision of which school etc over the last few years.
It’s been such a huge cloud on our horizon for so long!. In a way I just want to scoot forward in time so we can get on with it – sometimes having a long transition process can be painful and frustrating too as you really don’t belong completely in any one place. But I’m quietly confident we will come out of this okay – we have certainly done everything we can to make it a success!
These are fabulous tips Kirsty. The transition to high school can be daunting for any student, but those with special needs require extra thought and attention. Your tips will be very helpful to many families who are going through this process. Best wishes to Gilbert and you guys for the coming months x
Thanks so much Lyndall – we will take all the well wishes we can get!!!
Oh this is so good. I know you need to be ‘this support person’ for others facing the many challenges one day. Kirsty, you are already a leader in the field and I offer you my warmest congrats on doing such a fine job..treading where not too many would. I am so much into proactivity in this and you have made your finely balanced way into a new educational environment! Wonderful.
Denyse, thanks so much for your support. It means so much to me, coming from you, with all your experience in education. It is a balancing act, trying not to step on toes while ensuring you are on top of what your child needs. I think parents needs to know that it’s okay to ask questions and it’s okay to take steps themselves to make any transition a lot smoother. In my experience, the schools have always been open to my input because, in the end, I’m trying to make their job easier as well!
These are great tips! It’s also interesting for me to read about just to see the differences in schools in Australia versus the United States. 🙂
There are lots of differences, aren’t there Paula? But in the end, the feelings of excitement, trepidation and nerves are the same, wherever you happen to go to high school!
I think some of these tips are useful for parents of high schoolers in general, especially making yourself known to the school! I know how stressed you’ve been about this process, so it’s nice to hear that things are starting to fall into place for everyone.
(thanks for linking up with #thisparentinglife)
Thanks Cate. I’ve tried to keep the stress at bay but it’s been so hard! He finished his transition process today and he’s loved it so far. The school have been welcoming and I could not have asked for more support. Fingers crossed we’ve done enough to make this work!
Oh Lord. Anthony is in year 4 – I’m petrified about this next year. I need to copy all this down. Thanks you so much for linking it to #spectrumsunday. Hope to see you again this weekend.