TRANSITION TO WAKEFIELD GIRLS’

Moving to Wakefield Girls' is a process we care deeply about.

When students join us we have a number of key events and communications to help make this move as seamless and smooth as possible. They are explained over the next few pages.

A limited number of students join Wakefield Girls’ in Years 4 to 6. New students joining us at these points will be paired with a buddy from the year group and monitored closely by their Class Teacher during the initial weeks.

Our Junior Section Director and Class Teacher will meet with every student joining Wakefield Girls’ . This is an opportunity to welcome your daughter and for your daughter to ask any questions she might have. We will also meet with parents and guardians to discuss any aspects of the transition for individual students and to answer any questions you might have.

All new parents are invited to school for a welcome meeting 6pm - 8pm. New parents will meet their child's Class Teacher and other parents new to the school. A variety of key presentations will be delivered from members of our school team. There will be opportunities to see the school uniform and find out more about our learning both in and beyond the classroom which are key parts of helping everyone to settle in quickly.

All new students will be invited to a day to get to know each other and meet buddies who will help them settle into school in September. There will be a tour of the school to help new students become familiar with our facilities as well as fun orientation activities and team-building games. Students should come in comfortable non-uniform clothes, ready for any weather.

Students are placed into one of two small classes, each led and taught by a Class Teacher. Specialist teachers for Music, PE and any learning support will also work with your daughter. Your daughter will change Class Teacher every academic year.

Our curriculum takes account of the National Curriculum but we are not bound by it and teach beyond it. We will invite parents to a Curriculum Evening in September to learn about the curriculum content for that academic year.

We are excited to welcome our new students to Wakefield Girls' . Welcome Day is dedicated to helping everyone to settle into daily life in our school.

We quickly bring together, unite and integrate all our new students with a lots of lovely team building activities. These happen during the school day and at break times.

Every student becomes a member of one of four Houses, and remains in this House during her school life. This helps students settle quickly into our community, fostering friendship, belonging and a shared sense of purpose.

Our students learn to use our IT suite and Chromebooks in their studies.

The school has strict controls on access to the Internet on all school computers. We ask that Parents are equally vigilant at home and check what their children can access at home. No junior student should have access to sites which have conditions attached, such as age restrictions, which they do not meet. We ask students and parents to sign an ICT User Agreement.

A daily programme of Form Time and assemblies run where students have opportunities to discuss current events, take part in form activities and consider their contributions to school and community life with their Class Teacher and other class members.

Teachers continually assess students both informally and formally. Some of this information is fed back to girls and parents but often these results are for in house monitoring and tracking only. There is an assessment week held in May where girls sit assessments that give standardised scores in English and Mathematics. These results are recorded on the end of year report.

There is a strong sense of community in the school and non-denominational assemblies, led by the Director, Senior Leadership Team and school staff, are an important part of life here. The whole school gathers weekly for assemblies. Assembly time includes celebrating achievements and the children are presented with Star of the Week and the winning house team for that week is announced. Assemblies enable a strong community sense in the school. Assemblies always carry a “special message” to think about over the coming week.

We offer 55 different clubs throughout the year in our extra-curricular programme and encourage students to explore and get involved in the many opportunities available. The full list of extra-curricular activities is circulated each term and published on Firefly. Extra-curricular activities take place during the lunch break and after school. Most activities are free of charge but some have a cost to them if external teachers/coaches are employed.