This is from our consultation document, originally submitted to the SOR board in December. I hope it’s useful to those wondering how a seamless transition from Middle School to High School can happen with minimum disruption to our children’s education.
We believe that it would be quite straightforward to implement a smooth transition from a Middle School to a Secondary School at Stoke by Nayland. The easiest way to represent the transition model we envisage is in the following table.
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
| Year 5 | ||||
| Year 6 | Year 6 | |||
| Year 7 | Year 7 | Year 7 | Year 7 | Year 7 |
| Year 8 | Year 8 | Year 8 | Year 8 | Year 8 |
| Year 9 | Year 9 | Year 9 | Year 9 | |
| Year 10 | Year 10 | Year 10 | ||
| Year 11 | Year 11 | |||
The 2012 column represents the current arrangement. In the first year of reorganisation no new Year 5 pupils would be admitted as they would remain at their Primary Schools and Year 8 pupils would remain (becoming the first Year 9) in the school rather than moving to an Upper School. The same progression would occur in 2014. If the intake was left unchanged then it would be 2015 before the school would need to increase in size. In 2015 the first new intake of Year 7 pupils would occur and the previous Year 10 pupils would form the first Year 11. If, as it is more likely, the intake was increased then this would be gradual and could be done in a number of ways. For example, additional pupils could be added to Year 7 at any point and additional pupils could be added to Year 9.
Such a transitional model would create the least disruption for the pupils, allow the school to adapt and grow in a gradual organic way and provide continuity alongside adaptive change. We believe that this transitional model is in the best interest of the pupils and consistent with the Every Child Matters agenda.
