Welcome to Walton-le-Dale High School
Transition Information
At Walton-le-Dale High School we recognise that moving from primary to secondary school is a very exciting - but sometimes daunting - experience for many children and their parents/carers. We aim to ensure that the transition from year 6 to year 7 is as stress free and smooth as possible. Our carefully tailored transition programme aims to support each family through this process so that moving on to secondary school is a natural step.
Transition Visit
In the Summer Term our House Achievement Leaders (HALs) will visit every feeder Primary School, even if only one student may be joining us. During this visit, they will introduce each student to the daily routines at Walton-le-Dale and answer any questions they might have before speaking to their teacher about their current attainment and pastoral needs.
Transition Day
At the start of July all students starting in year 7 will be invited to attend our transition day where they will spend the day in school meeting their new peers in their form groups and their form tutor.
During sampling day, students will also tour the school, meet their future classmates and experience some lessons.
Each form tutor will remain with their form throughout their time at Walton-le-Dale supporting them through their transition to secondary school and beyond.
New Entrants’ Afternoon
Following the sampling day there will be the opportunity for parents/carers to come into school with their child to try uniform, meet the House Achievement Leaders, Form Tutors and members of our Learning Support Team. During this time there will also be a presentation from the Headteacher
This afternoon will take place from 3pm - 4.00pm
Early Intervention and Support
On occasion, it might be appropriate to provide additional support to those students who most need it. The Learning Support Department provides tailored visits for students who need a little more support. These are calendared in the Summer term as part of our successful MOTHS (Moving On To High School) programme.
Transition Evening
In the Autumn term parents will have the opportunity to meet with their child’s form tutor to find out how they are getting on. During this meeting, we will discuss their attendance and punctuality, attitude to learning, organisation and any co-curricular activities they have participated in. This will be followed by a more formal academic Progress Evening and two monitoring reports.
We are offering tours to parents of year 5 students, since we do not have a Year 5 Primary Day this year, Please sign up using the links below.
Monday 1st July at 9.30am
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/
Monday 1st July at 11.20am
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/
Monday 1st July at 2pm
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/
Tuesday 2nd July at 9.30am
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/
Tuesday 2nd July at 11.20am
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/
Tuesday 2nd July at 2pm
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/
At Walton-le-Dale we understand all the worries and anxieties students and parents might have when moving to a new school. At Walton-le-Dale we are lucky that we are small and can get to know all the students quickly.
Many of our new students have already visited the school during our popular Year 5 Days, or on curriculum visits organised by the primary school. The students may also know our staff from their visits to primary schools as we often work with primary schools on PE, Dance, Art and Drama activities, for example.
Our primary liaison staff spend time visiting all our new students whilst still at primary school. Our staff also talk to staff in the primary school about the children, so that we can start to get to know each child as an individual. The youngsters will also visit the school on 'Sampling Day'. Some of our more vulnerable students will also have an opportunity to visit us for a second day where they can have greater personal attention and we can give them further reassurance.
WLD Transition `Welcome’ Project
We
Encourage
Learning
Commitment
Opportunities
Motivation and
Enjoyment
At Walton-le-Dale we pride ourselves on our acknowledgement that all students are individuals.
Our WLD Welcome Project is a tailor made transition programme which targets our more vulnerable students as they transfer from primary to secondary school.
Our team of specialists visit the students in their primary schools to deliver the project to targeted individuals in need of extra support prior to transition. This means that the student will have a recognisable face as a point of contact once transition has taken place.
The transition programme will run over the second half of the summer term within primary school, a specialist member of Walton-le-Dale staff will deliver the project over a 4 week period.
The WLD Welcome Project will cover a range of topics including- what changes to expect, coping with changes, who is who at WLD, what life at WLD is like and reflection of what they have learned so far. It will prepare the students for their time at Walton-le-Dale, by allowing them to gain a sense of what to expect at Walton-le-Dale therefore ironing out any concerns and worries they may have before starting their time at Walton-le-Dale.
The WLD Welcome project will overall allow students to engage in a sense of belonging and purpose within the Walton-le-Dale community.
Our WLD Welcome project has received national recognition through the Whole Education network.
Transition Project
All our new Year 7s complete a project before starting with us in September. This will tell us a lot about them and also give them a chance to tell us about themselves, show us what they can do and show what they are proud of....
Transition Project
Hello and welcome to Walton-le-Dale High School! We are delighted that your son or daughter is joining this very special school community. We know that parents and carers have a lot of questions about the practicalities of school life so we have designed our website to try to make sure that everything is here. If you find some information that you need isn't here, please just email us on head@waltonledale.lancs.sch.uk and we will be happy to answer your query.
To help you access the information quickly we have provided a list of the most common topics and made sure that they link to the relevant pages on the website:
Our ethos - this underpins everything
Communicating with us
- Communication between home and school - including reporting absence. You will get Classcharts and School Gateway login information once your child has started with us.
The people who make it all happen
Important dates and times
The practicalities of being part of WLD
Some of the support that we offer
Policies - the way that the school runs
There are a number of forms that need to be completed when you join our school - these are all completed online by clicking on the links below. These links apply to the new Year 7 intake for Sept 2023 - if you are joining the school at another point or in another year group then Mrs Hodgson (l.hodgson@waltonledale.lancs.sch.uk) will send you the correct links.
- Data Collection Sheet – collates parent/student contact information
- Name and Photograph permission form - permission for taking and using photos, permission for using names
- Medical/Trip Consent Form – medical consent form for trips
- e-safety policy – agreement to follow e-safety guidelines
- Blackburn/Preston Bus Pass information – if your child will be travelling on any of the school buses
There are several school systems for which you will need login information:
- ParentPay - activation details will be emailed directly around early June for new Year 7 starters. Once you have activated your Parentpay account you will be able to pay for all uniform, lunches, trips etc. (Uniform can be ordered via the website without parentpay activation).
- Classcharts - you will receive information about this once your child starts at school;
- School Gateway - you can register for this once your child starts at school.
Once again, welcome to Walton-le-Dale! We know that this looks like a lot of information at once, but please contact us if you would like help in any way. We look forward to meeting you.