Starting Year 7 at Patchway

Welcome!  At Patchway Community School we make every effort to ensure that transition from Primary school happens as smoothly as possible. We make it our priority to ensure that every student is given the opportunity to reach their full potential and mature into well-rounded and happy individuals.

We devote time and effort into understanding what makes our students learn most effectively and to meet all of their learning needs.

Key information

Take a look at our parent handbook which gives you all the basics about starting with us.

We ask every parent to fill in an essential information form about their child and you can find this here.

Here's what our year 7 have to say:

"I am much more independent at Patchway than I was at primary school.  I work things out for myself here."

"I have really enjoy it here – my tutor group are all my new friends."

"PE is brilliant and energises you.  I love the variety of different sports that you do." 

"Maths has been new and challenging."

"We love science: it is loads of fun and we have learnt a lot."

"In history I learn lots of interesting information and facts and have to  think for myself and be inquisitive."

"RE is amazing.  The teacher makes it funny and interesting and I already want to choose it for GCSE."

"DT is my favourite subject.  I am very independent and have learnt lots of skills that I have not tried before."

Supporting individuals

There are a range of support strategies and opportunities that we offer new students in school, but we understand that every child is different and that each child needs the right approach to ensure they are happy and enjoying their learning.

Our links with local primary schools are excellent and we collaborate regularly to work on various exciting projects from arts trails to maths discovery days. This is further supported by transition visits, where we are able to visit each school and speak to teachers and students, providing a personal approach, with our own transition member of staff managing the process from start to finish. We look forward to working together to ensure every child’s new start at secondary school is a happy one.

We meet with every primary school teacher and in many cases head teacher to discuss each student’s needs and abilities.

• We run a "Big Breakfast" event in April to welcome students and their families
• We develop personalised information on every student to pass on to staff
• We liaise with the SENCO to discuss SEN student needs and approaches
• We gather progress data on every student to inform teaching
• We create plans for all students with specific needs and give these to relevant staff
• We liaise with a variety of external agencies to ensure transition is smooth for students with more complex needs
• We run 2 progression days for all students
• We run extra transition visits/tours for smaller groups or individual students who may find secondary transition a daunting process
• We produce transition packs that provide summer transition tasks for the holidays and give students a flavour of the school
• We provide a point of contact and a friendly face for all parents to discuss how their child has settled in
• We carry out ‘settling in’ phone calls/meetings early on to check on how each child has adapted to secondary life
• We allocate students older peer mentors for the first few days to help them feel welcomed to the school.

If you have any queries please contact us at pcs-enquiries@olympustrust.co.uk 

If you wish to discuss your child's additional learning needs, please contact our SENCo, Mr Prevett, at joseph.prevett@olympustrust.co.uk