Supporting pupils with move to secondary school

For 15 years, Half Moon has been using drama to support young people as they make one of the most challenging transitions in their lives: the move from primary to secondary school. In the summer of 2008, we created our first Transitions project and have been working with 100s of Year 6s each year since then.

One of the techniques we use is to show the young people a short play about things they might encounter in their first weeks of secondary school. They have the opportunity to stop the action and take on the characters’ roles in the scenes to bring about positive outcomes. This is called ‘forum theatre’ and is a very powerful tool to enable young people to put themselves into others’ shoes and think about how they might respond as they face difficult situations.

The first iteration of the programme included some top-class acting from our now Patron, the Bafta-winning actor, Adeel Akhtar. He said at the time: “It’s just very accessible as a way of communicating an idea or a fear”.

For many years, we delivered the programme in primary schools in Bow supported by a local funder, Action for Bow. Since 2018, we have been funded by the Young People’s Service of Tower Hamlets Council to work with those young people identified as most in need of this support from across the whole of the borough.

Through this programme, Next Steps, we work with more than 150 young people each year who attend after-school sessions for six weeks in the summer term and a week-long summer school in the holidays. Many of the young people who graduate from this programme can then have continued support by attending after-school drama groups when they are in Year 7, 8 and 9 of secondary school.

One of the teachers who regularly refers young people to the programme told us: “We have seen the enjoyment and confidence that children gain in the workshops which are tailored to address the fears and worries they have about secondary school, as stated by them. They are presented in familiar language to the pupils, which makes them feel understood and comfortable. I have seen children gain independence, responsibility and confidence.”

Helping Tower Hamlets Year 6s, and their parents/carers and families, during this tricky period of time in their lives is a flagship element of our Creative Learning programme and our commitment to addressing the issues facing young people today.

Beccy Allen is the Head of Creative Learning at Half Moon.

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