Year 6 Transition Day blog

After staff met the students at the bus stops, they were led up to the school for morning assembly in the Quarterdeck. 

Assistant principal My Hudson led the assembly, and welcomed students as they marked the first step on their 'Voyage' as Maritime Academy students. 

The assembly continued by outlining our school values, and why we believe adopting these key principles will help us be our best selves, and Make Excellence a Habit.  

After assembly, the students were led to class in their respective groups. 

In this time, they were given an opportunity to settle any lingering nerves and introduce themselves to each other and begin making connections. 

Students were also introduced to the various learning habits and practices they will be expected to learn at Maritime Academy. This includes actions such as 'SLANT' and our 'two-claps' system which we use in lesson to congratulate positive learning engagements.

In the final period before traditional curriculum lessons begins, students engaged in a PSHE class with a focus on building relationships. 

The focus was on encouraging students to communicate with each other through various games such as 'Hot Seat' or the story-telling activity 'Round Robin'. 

This provided students the opportunity to build their self-confidence when engaging in lessons, and learn more about their classmates in a calm, relaxed environment. 

After spending most of the morning becoming comfortable in their environment, students have begun traditional curriculum lesson learning. 

Each class had a lesson in one of: Mathematics; Science; History; PE and English. This was an opportunity for students to begin implementing and practicing our Maritime habits, such as SLANT, SHAPE, STEPS.

Students will have another curriculum lesson, after lunch, before an end-of-day Fleet Time Debrief. 

The morning has flown by on our Transition Day, and students have since had an opportunity to take a break and enjoy Community Lunch in the Galley. 

Our lunch is called ‘Community Lunch’ because we expect that all students, staff and visitors will eat their lunch together in ‘The Galley’.

During lunch we have a topic of conversation we encourage students to reflect and discuss. Today, as their first at Maritime, the question for students to discuss was "How have you displayed our values (Strength, Pride and Unity) today?"

After Lunchtime, students continue their learning in class. 

Students in class were learning in Art, Music, MFL and Computing. 

Following a successful Transition Day, our students finished with final assembly, delivered by Principal Mr Evans. 

It was an opportunity to reflect on the day, and recognition to be delivered to particular students who made an excellent impression throughout the day. 

As well as this, it was also a time to look ahead, to September when these Year 6 students will return as Year 7, secondary school students. 

Once assembly finished, staff led the students to the bus stops ahead of their journeys home. 

We look forward to welcoming you back in September.