This year, we decided to introduce something new for our Year 6s across the Trust.

Emma and I came up with the idea of bringing together all the children who will be attending the same secondary schools in September.

We know this time of year can feel daunting and stressful, so we felt that offering a relaxed and fun opportunity to meet their future school mates and be able to recognise some friendly faces could really help ease those nerves.

Across our nine schools, our Year 6 children will be attending:

• Pilton Community College

• The Park Community School

• Great Torrington School

• Chulmleigh College

• South Molton Community College

• Braunton Academy

• Tiverton High School

We held team-building events at different schools across the Trust, and we’re very grateful to Witheridge, Umberleigh, and Pilton Bluecoat for hosting us. A huge thankyou also goes to the schools that supported with transport and made time for these events during what is an incredibly busy summer term—juggling residentials, transitions, SATs, sports days, show rehearsals, competitions, and many other activities.

 

The children took part in a range of fun activities, including:

• "Crossing the River," where they had to get from one end of the field to the other using pieces of carpet without touching the grass

• The "Birthday Line-Up"

• A silent colour-dot grouping activity, where they had to find their group using only nonverbal communication

• And even some games involving throwing around inflatable pigs!

Each session ended with a "link-up" task, where children shared an interesting fact about themselves. If someone shared the same fact, they would link arms, forming a growing chain of connections which ended in a big circle together.

It was a lovely way to end the team building sessions—and we all learned quite a lot about our wonderful Year 6s across the Trust.

We’re excited to continue these events in the future and are already discussing new games and dates for next year.

Kind regards,

Emma Humphrey – TEAM Pastoral Worker

Carrie-Anne Sprenger – Team Family Support Worker