On Friday 23rd Jan 2026 I had the privilege of attending the Primary-Secondary School Transitions Strategy Event in Manchester. The whole day was filled with inciteful discussions and hearing all about great practice that is already taking place across the country in schools and Local Authorities, with special reference to the PSWELL’s work that is being undertaken. There’s a whole other post waiting to be written about that!
As always, I had one eye on the ‘Transition prize’, learning new ways to support develop and define best practice. But this time I was learning how to adapt the Key Stage 2 to 3 practices to the all year-round transitions experienced by our secondary and Post 16 pupils, all of whom have Social Emotional Mental Health (SEMH) needs.
I took so much away from the event but possibly the most influential part of the day was one simple quote from Jill Wright- Headteacher at Whitefiled Primary School in Liverpool. When talking about belonging Jill pointed out that the summer between Year 6 and Year 7 is the
“Summer of no Belonging”
This resonated so much with me, especially when I consider the pupils that we are proud to serve at St Pauls. Too many of them have not only experienced transitions between phases but also several moves between schools through their secondary education, and in some cases transition from school to home, where they have remained for substantial periods of time. We have always worked hard to ensure that as soon as a pupil joins our role, we help to make them feel as though they belong. What I hadn’t considered fully until Friday is that they may not have experienced that feeling for a long time previously. How many periods of no belonging had our pupils already been through in their relatively short lives?
As luck would have it, as I decided I wanted to write about the experiences of our pupils and how we need to consider their lack of feeling of belonging and how that will affect how we help them feel safe and secure. I also came across a post by Hannah Wilson on why she has rebranded her business from Diverse Educators to the Belonging Effect, another simple but powerful quote really hitting the mark
“Belonging is the bridge between diversity, equity and inclusion – it is the emotional outcome of equity in action. It is the moment when people stop trying to fit in and start being fully themselves”
Stop trying to fit in and start being fully themselves – let that sit for a while. For any child, this can be a difficult journey to go on. Feeling safe and secure enough to finally be their authentic self. Now add to the mix a range of SEMH needs, as well as prolonged periods of not feeling that you belong anywhere. These are the challenges that our pupils face before they even step foot through our door. These are what we need to ensure we support them to overcome. Don’t get me wrong, we do a great job at St Paul’s, we have got strong processes, and we have fabulous staff that really want the best for our children. This work is never done though and the things I heard and learned on Friday, as well as my ongoing research into belonging will help us up our game even more.
When and how do pupils finally feel like they belong?
Have we ever asked them? I’m not sure we have. We feel that we know when a pupil is happy and feels secure, but I am now keen to develop a way of asking and tracking this. If you have ever read any of my work about Baselines, you’ll know I am not a fan. However, when it comes to belonging maybe I need to rethink. In order to fully support our children through the process of joining our school, I really want to find a way to get to hear about their previous experiences and how they made them feel. We already read Education Health Care Plans (EHCP), of which 100% of our pupils have, we can speak to professionals, parents and especially the pupils. Does this give us a true picture of how they have felt about schools and where, if anywhere, they feel that they belong?
We’ll be really looking into our transition process more closely since Friday!
This brings me back to thinking about Key Stage 2 to 3.
It makes me reflect on one of the chapters on the brand-new book that Dr Liz Gregory and I have recently released, Supporting Educational Transitions for Ages 3-19. If you haven’t seen it yet, you really should. For this particular post though I reflect on the work of Karl Rogerson, and his chapter ‘Behaviour and Integration into School Culture’. In the introduction to his chapter, he highlights that “the challenge for school leaders is establishing and sustaining a positive school culture – essentially defining ‘the way we do things here”. This is another really important step in ensuring that we help pupils to feel that they belong.
I have long said stated that Transition is person and Induction is place – the challenge Karl poses is the starting point for getting induction right. How can leaders ensure that the staff and pupils currently in school really understand the ethos and the culture of the school, but more importantly how do we help the pupils due to join us understand that? How do we help them feel a part of it before they even step foot through the door. Then, for them to know how they will do things here, and why they will! The why is so important. Later on, in his chapter Karl points out that “the need to form new friendships and find a place within these groups can create social anxiety and affect behaviour”. As you will have seen if you have read any of my other posts, in particular Whose responsibility is it to forge relationships in Year 7? Do they even matter? I have long since questioned how we support the pupils to create and nurture friendships. This is key when a pupil moves from one school to another at any point in their educational journey, but if we want these relationships to be successful, we first need to help them feel that they belong in the school community and are wanted, valued and dare I say loved.
There is so much to think about and so much to consider. I will be forever grateful to Jill for pointing out that the summer (or indeed any period between schools) is the summer of no belonging. We have a long road ahead of us but we will get this right.
Transition Matters? 