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School Transition: Simplifying the process 

By David Bill, Educational Consultant, SixIntoSeven  

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. 

Simplifying the 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. 

Simplifying your school transition legal requirements 
SixIntoSeven uses Derbyshire’s Data Protection Service. This ensures that the right legal safeguards are in place to protect you and your pupils’ data. All the documentation and agreements are easily accessible to create an easy-to-manage audit trail. 

Simplifying cyber security 
As well as helping ensure that your school meets GDPR standards, we have also obtained validation that ours does too. We have been awarded the Cyber Essentials Certificate. This is awarded by the UK government’s National Cyber Security Centre

Find out how you could benefit from our school transition service by visiting our contact page and speak to one of our colleagues. 

David Bill is the Educational Consultant at SixIntoSeven 

SixIntoSeven is an ASCL Premier Partner
Posted: 17/03/2022 11:18:24