Transitions Programme - case studies

Milly's story

Milly was a timid child, lacking in self-confidence and reluctant to make friends. Her school attendance has been patchy and her year 6 teacher thought she had 'potential to be a school refuser' at secondary school. She had been bullied as well, further denting her self-confidence and creating a fear of school. When the transfer group began, she was very anxious.

Milly came to a weekly small group to look at the transition to secondary school. Each week the group played games and looked at emotional and practical aspects of the transfer, such as friendship, bullying, uniform, and rules. The young people could voice their fears, concerns and questions, as well as the things they were looking forward to. They practised skills of listening and explaining their feelings to each other in this safe and positive environment.

The positive impact on Milly has been huge. In the baseline assessment, she rated her confidence about secondary school as four out of ten, her level of happiness with school life as six out of ten, and her happiness about friendships as five out of ten. She rated how affected she was by bullying as nine out of ten. At the end of the summer term, she rated her confidence as seven out of ten, happiness with school life as eight out of ten, happiness with friendships as seven out of ten, and the impact of bullying as eight out of ten.

When Milly arrived for her induction day, she was very reluctant to go in to school and became distressed. A Transitions worker encouraged her to enter the school and to begin joining in with activities. By the end of the day she was radiant, and later said she had had a ‘fantastic’ induction day. She began to look forward to starting secondary school and on her evaluation form noted that she had learnt ‘not to be really nervous about moving up’.