ABSTRACT
The transition of pupils from primary to secondary school is probably the greatest source of discontinuity in the education of pupils. For pupils there is the excitement of setting out on a new stage of their school career, the prestige of ‘growing up’, learning new subjects, meeting a variety of specialist teachers and having specialist facilities (e.g. laboratories, purpose-built gymnasium, playing fields/pitches) and equipment. However, there are a number of changes to be made, for example, change from: being the oldest to being the youngest in the school; being with the same teacher for everything to having specialist teachers; being with the same group/class for everything to (possibly) being with different groups (depending on organisational arrangements, e.g. streaming, setting, banding); and using modified/smaller equipment to using full sized equipment. Thus, the prospect of joining a 189‘big school’ remains a daunting experience for many pupils. Pupils’ initial concerns and anxieties may include getting things wrong, getting lost in a large school, arriving late to lessons, turning up in the wrong place, forgetting to bring the correct equipment or kit, being frightened of strict teachers and/or being bullied by older pupils. Indeed, there are some who still operate traditional rites of passage designed to make new pupils aware of the fact that they are ‘novelties’ (Ruddock, Galton and Gray 1998). For some pupils these new situations and experiences can be very stressful and can even cause sickness and ill-health.
