Our Youth & Family Coordinator Scott supported Rory and Jake in the transition from primary to secondary school in Edinburgh. Through sports, games, and other creative activities, they prepared for their school transition and built important skills to help them in secondary school.
Providing holistic support
Scott met Rory and Jake when they were in Primary 7, continuing sessions through the summer and into their first year in secondary school. As part of our holistic support, Scott also built relationships with their families and teachers.
Over the summer, the group turned to sports thanks to Spartans Community Football Academy, who provided us with the use of their football pitch and indoor youth workspace. Together with another young person who had already started secondary school, the group spent summer sessions playing five-a-side football, pool, table tennis, Xbox and Playstation, all while chatting, bonding, and sharing expectations and experiences about the upcoming school year. Scott was also joined by social work placement student Thanos, who helped to lead activities including conversations around toxic masculinity and mental health.
When school resumed and Rory and Jake began their first year of secondary school, the sessions continued to provide support. Together they explored what is expected of young people in school and the community. As well as activities like slime-making, the theme of sports was continued when they were given access to the gym hall by the school, giving the young people a space to improve their teamwork.
The group spent their last session on our All Aboard canal boat, having lunch, learning a bit about the foliage alongside the Union Canal and playing a game of boat bingo!
Through sports, the young people were given a space for conversations about teamwork, frustrations, and fears around the transition to high school. Rory and Jake were able to interact and speak with someone who was already in S1 and open up about how they felt about this big change in their lives.
School transitions
The transition from primary to secondary school can be a challenge in the life of a young person. Many young people find themselves having to make new friends in new surroundings, in tandem with an increased amount of stress and pressure from schoolwork. Our Positive Transitions service provides support through that transition, with groups like this one designed to support them to feel valued and understood, improve their self-esteem and peer relationships, and enable them to fulfil their potential.