As teachers, helping students transition smoothly from primary to secondary school is one of the most rewarding and important parts of our job. We’ve rounded up our favourite activities and top tips for transition days. These ideas will help you create engaging, meaningful experiences for your new year 7s - whether you're organising your first transition day or looking to refresh what you already do. These tried-and-tested approaches will help your students feel more confident, make new friends and get to know their way around their new school.
Contents
- What is school transition?
- What happens on transition days?
- How can we support the move from KS2 to KS3?
- 15 transition day activities
- Top resources for supporting KS2 to KS3 transition
What is school transition?
When we talk about transition in schools, we're referring to that big jump our students make from primary to secondary - from Year 6 to Year 7. It's more than just moving to a new building - it's about helping young people adapt to new ways of learning, making friends, and becoming more independent.
What happens on transition days?
We usually run transition days during the summer term, around June or July. These are designated days when year 6 come to visit their new secondary school. It's their chance to get a feel for the place, meet their teachers and future classmates, and start understanding how secondary school works.
During these days (usually one or two), students will:
- Meet their form tutor and new form group
- Experience sample lessons
- Tour the school buildings
- Learn about school routines and expectations
- Participate in team-building activities
How can we support the move from KS2 to KS3?
Supporting our students through this big change takes careful planning and a lot of thought. For more detailed guidance, have a look at Are you dropping the baton? Seven steps to exceptional transition.
In the article, David Harris advises that we should make sure to:
- Keep open lines of communication between primary and secondary schools
- Share important information about students' progress and wellbeing
- Give students ample opportunity to voice their worries (and feel heard)
- Run activities that help build confidence and resilience
- Support parents through the process as well as students
Want more practical transition ideas? Download our free 20 ideas for transition eBook.
15 transition day activities
Here are 15 engaging activities to help make your transition days successful and memorable for incoming Year 7 students. These activities are designed to build confidence, forge friendships and familiarise students with their new school environment.
Icebreakers
- Human bingo. Create bingo cards with interesting facts that students need to match to their peers
- Two truths and a lie. Students share three statements about themselves, with one being false
- Speed friending. Similar to speed dating, but focused on making new friends
- Name chain game. Each student adds their name and an interesting fact, with the group repeating previous entries
- Form group quiz. Mixed teams compete in a fun quiz about their new school and general knowledge - our end of year quiz has lots of rounds to choose from for an engaging, customisable quiz.
Browse all icebreakers for more creative and fun ideas, or save time with our ready-to-use icebreaker templates pack.
Orientation activities
- School treasure hunt. Teams follow clues to locate key areas of the school
- Photo challenge. Groups take photos of specific locations or features around the school
- Create a school map. Students draw their own map of the school after a guided tour
- Room detective. Students match classroom photos to subjects and locate them on a map
- Virtual tour creation. Groups create short video tours of different school areas for future students
Subject taster sessions
- Conduct a science investigation. Crime scene investigation challenges students to analyse evidence through soil pH tests, flame tests, chromatography, and fingerprinting to solve a crime, providing an exciting and hands-on introduction to science.
- Take a ‘Mission to Mars’ in English. This Mission to Mars lesson engages students in decoding riddles, breaking codes, and writing Martian-style poems.
- Explore chronology in history. What is chronology? is a fun and interactive history lesson exploring timelines, dates, and chronological order through games and activities.
- Geography fieldwork at school. A sense of place: our school is a fieldwork activity where students create maps and graphs while exploring their new school environment, perfect for transition days.
- Learn how to tell the time in different languages. Telling the time board game is an engaging board game where students learn to tell time using the 24-hour clock in their target language (French, German, or Spanish).
Remember to:
- Keep activities short and engaging
- Mix academic and social activities
- Include plenty of opportunities for students to ask questions
- Build in regular breaks and movement
- End the day with a positive reflection activity
Top resources for supporting KS2 to KS3 transition
Here are five essential resources to support KS2 to KS3 transition:
- Getting to know each other template. An engaging activity to help students share their expectations, hopes and concerns about secondary school.
- All about me icebreaker template. A structured way for students to introduce themselves to their new classmates and teachers.
- Dear form tutor - Year 7 transition letter. A template helping students write a meaningful introduction letter to their new form tutor.
- 20 fun ideas for icebreakers. A collection of tried-and-tested activities to help break the ice and build confidence.
- Closing the word gap - KS2-3 transition support booklet. Essential vocabulary support to help students access the secondary curriculum.
For phase and subject-specific transition resources, explore these collections:
Primary teachers:
Secondary teachers:
