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Transition to Year 7

Welcome to The Whitby High School

Our Year 7 Leadership Team consisting of Mrs Rimmer (Assistant Headteacher and Mrs Knight Year 7 Pastoral Leader), alongside our wonderful pastoral team of form tutors, are very excited to meet you and welcome you into our Whitby Community. 

Mrs K. RimmerAssistant Headteacher
Mrs K. Rimmer
Mrs C. KnightPastoral Leader of Year 7
Mrs C. Knight

The transition process from primary school to secondary can be a very exciting and occasionally anxious time for both children and Parents/Carers. At The Whitby we invest a great deal of time in ensuring that this is a smooth and welcoming transition period. We feel that transition is a process which lasts through to the Spring term and in that, we offer a variety of activities to help your child settle in. Following your place confirmation in March, you will receive regular communication from us via email and our school website. We have PACE Pledge activities which will be sent out and posted here, for students to get involved in and we can not wait to meet our new students.

What does transition look like at The Whitby High School?

We will visit all the children in their primary school, with our experienced Transition Team.  We will bring our Year 7/8 Transition Mentors with us, who will be familiar faces and able to reassure the children.  We also meet with their teachers and gather as much information as possible to understand your child’s needs.
 
Our Induction Days for students and Induction Evening for parents, take place in July, when students (during the day) and parents (in the evening) come into school to familiarise themselves with key staff and particularly Form Tutors, who will support them during their time at The Whitby High.  Students will experience taster lessons and get to know new friends. 
 
Students will attend both dates this year and these are July 2nd and July 3rd 2025.
 
Our Parent / Carer evening is Tuesday 1st July .  We also have an enhanced transition offer, where students who we feel may need additional time in school, will be welcomed to come in and do further sessions.  This maybe with our SEND team or in small group workshops.
 
In September, our Year 7 students will have a second induction day in school at the start of term, to familiarise themselves with the school and do lots of fun ‘getting to know you’ activities.  They will learn about The Whitby Way and spend the day with their tutor.  We also hold a Parent Information Evening in the first two weeks of September, to meet all families and work through any worries or concerns.  We will do workshops on topics relevant to Year 7 and have more time in an informal manner to chat with tutors.
 
At The Whitby High School, we pride ourselves on our high-quality pastoral care of our students.  Our transition offer is very successful, and feedback from both students and parents over the last few years has been excellent.  We know that many students have attended the Junior High sessions and of course, many students not only have siblings in the school but parents who themselves attended Whitby. We value working with our families and have an active PTA and Parent / Carer Forum for you to get involved in.
 
Our PACE Pledges Character programme is a wonderful way for your child to build key life skills and really get the most out of school.  Mrs Rimmer has designed a Transition PACE Pledge Challenge for all students to take part in and we will celebrate their success.

Key Dates

1st July 2025 – New Intake Welcome Evening
Meet Form Tutors and our Pastoral Team
 
2nd & 3rd July 2025 Transition days
(both days for all students)
 
(Date TBC) – Year 7 Information evening early in September
 

Transition Feedback

“My daughter has had a successful transition to secondary school”

“My daughter attended the Junior High programs in Year 5 and 6 and really enjoyed them and liked the school. With her having SEND we were worried at first but after meeting with Mr Davies and coming to hear Mr Barford talk, we knew it was the right school for us.”

“I have felt reassured and comforted by the communications I have so far received following a couple of ‘settling in issues’ our son has had since embarking upon his journey at TWHS.”

Confirmation
of attendance

If you are expecting to hear from us and have not yet, please email:

 y7admissions@whitbyhs.cheshire.sch.uk

Transition & PACE Pledges

We use our own PACE Pledge system as part of The Whitby Way to recognise and reward students in challenges that help to develop character and give opportunities to volunteer and develop leadership skills over all three Key Stages. Students are expected to complete PACE Pledges during the course of their time at The Whitby High School.  At times throughout the school year we will offer Pledge Days which will have activities organised by staff and students to support the achieving the challenges.
 

We PREPARE students for the future, developing students’ confidence in their abilities, helping them to make good decisions, and training them to be responsible young adults.

We support all to ACHIEVE their best through demonstrating resilience in lessons and daily life.  To be ambitious in their expectations of themselves and others and flourish regardless of ability, ethnicity or gender.

We teach students to CARE for themselves, others and the environment, through mutual respect for all; showing strong moral purpose, kindness and following The Whitby Way.

We hope students ENJOY their education and all the joy it can bring by participating in school life, achieving their Character PACE Pledges and having pride in being a Whitby student.

These PACE Pledges are modelled on the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme, which our students have participated in very successfully for a number of years.  It models the award, in that each student is expected to complete at least one pledge in every Bronze section by the end of Year 9 and Silver section by the end of Year 13, Gold maybe accomplished before Sixth Form but if not, we expect our Sixth Formers to embrace and complete Gold Pledges, being role models and leaders of the school.  Some students may progress more quickly to Gold and this will be presented to each successful student at our annual award ceremony.

Your PACE Pledges

We are inviting all Year 6 students to participate in our PACE Pledge challenge. Complete these tasks before September 1st, to get to know you better and help you to engage in The Whitby Way.

Careers Pledge
Write a short piece about yourself. Introduce your family, friends and pets.  Let us know what your favourite things to do.

Service Pledge
Take part in some voluntary work. This might be helping a family member or neighbour.  For example, doing some one’s recycling for 6 weeks.  It might be taking on a new role at home such as making your own packed lunches and those of your siblings, being responsible for doing the washing. It might be cleaning your grandparents house or washing cars.

Leadership Pledge
Take on a role or tell us about any leadership activities you do currently.  Are you in your school student Council?  A Playground leader?  Are you in Guides / Scouts or any of the cadets?

Excellence Pledge
Take part in the Reading Pledge: Try to read at least 3 books and for an extra challenge complete 7 book challenges before Year 7.

Participation Pledge
What clubs and activities do you currently do at school or outside of school.  What clubs are you excited to join at High School? Cook your family their favourite meal.  Tell us about the meal and why it is special to you.  This might be a dish passed on from grandparents or a meal which you always have to celebrate an occasion.
 
Giving Pledge
Complete a charity fundraising event.  Let us know what you did, send photos and how much you raised.

Diversity Pledge
At The Whitby we have a diverse student body with families from all over the world.  Create a poster / PowerPoint / family tree to tell us where your family are from.  Include what languages are spoken, pictures of places you have visited and traditions such as festivals or special occasions.

Experience Pledge
This pledge celebrates doing something you have never done before.  Something which challenges you.  This might include learning a new sport or new musical instrument.  It might be a new water sport.  It can also include things like a residential or camping out.

Year 6-7 Transition Reading Challenge

The Reading Challenge is for students to try over the summer term to help you with your transition to The Whitby High School. It gives you suggestions of which books to read and has a points system for each of the challenges, and examples of how to evidence them. When you arrive at the school, you can bring in your evidence or you can upload this onto our pace pledges link. There will be recognition for completing the challenges.

Start the Reading Challenge HERE

All pictures can be uploaded to RAKWeek@whitbyhs.cheshire.sch.uk

All pledges should be logged with the student’s name on this Microsoft document

https://forms.office.com/e/68ydvhfxK9

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