School Transition

School Transition

School transition can be a complex process. In addition to saying goodbye to much-loved pupils, you must also send data to the next school as well as your best wishes.

Traditionally this has been achieved with spreadsheets. As we know, spreadsheets are one of the most powerful and flexible software types available. I can still remember the excitement I had at the possibilities they offered. There is a sentence to date an author!

So how does SixIntoSeven improve transition and the tried and tested spreadsheet-based methods of many years? School transition has become more complicated as each primary school sends pupils to more secondary schools, and secondary schools receive pupils from more and more primary schools. To add to the complexity, it is now occurring between an increased number of local authorities, each with their own traditions and procedures.

School transition can become a logistical problem. For example, primary schools can spend hours completing and sending different sets of forms. Secondary schools must merge data from slightly different spreadsheets to create a single, workable document.

Then there is the problem of sharing transition data. School transition is naturally about the children and the information needed to support them in their new institutions. However, the sending of data out of a school requires a legal framework. This can be difficult to manage as the number of participating schools increases.

SixintoSeven simplifies the transfer of school transition data.

The online table can be configured through collaboration between participating primary and secondary schools. This is important, as the data must meet local school transition needs. However, there is a core set of data which can be transferred to secondary schools which are not currently participating in SixIntoSeven. Primary schools can simply print their pupil profile to a PDF, which can then be emailed. (It must be remembered that this school transition data is not covered by the SixIntoSeven legal protection.)

SixIntoSeven can then be seen as the single point for collecting and sharing transition information. This will make it easier for both the primary schools uploading the information, and the receiving secondary schools.