SJL Prospectus 2023-2024 (1) - Flipbook - Page 7
Education for a changing world
5
Moving Up
Leaving primary school and moving to the new,
much bigger world of secondary education can
feel worrying and stressful. Our aim is to make all
our new students feel welcome and safe so that
they hit the ground running at the start of Year 7
and make a great start to what will hopefully be
some of the best years of their lives.
If you become a Sir John Lawes student, you will
receive a visit in the summer term from your new Head
of Year, who will be responsible for looking after your
year group when you join us. They will help you to
achieve your very best and will want to find out as
much as possible about you, so that we can prepare to
meet all your needs when you join us in September.
This will include finding out about any of your friends
who will also be joining Sir John Lawes, because it is
important to us that you have people around you who
you like and trust.
You will also have the opportunity to visit Sir John
Lawes School before you arrive in September. Our
Induction Day takes place in July, when all new
students visit us to meet other joiners from different
primary schools, to get to know their new tutors and to
get a taste of what secondary school is like. There is
also an Induction Evening, when parents come to learn
about Sir John Lawes, spend some time with key
members of staff and ask any questions.
If you come from a primary school that is unlikely to
send other students to Sir John Lawes, there is no
need to worry. You are still extremely important to us!
In fact, you will probably get more attention than others,
because when your Head of Year visits your primary
school, he or she will only be interested in you.
We also give an extra opportunity for students in your
position to visit us during July, so you can spend time
making new friends and will not be at a disadvantage
come September.
The member of staff who will be most important to you
during your time at Sir John Lawes will be your form
tutor. He or she will see you at least twice every day
and will get to know you and help you to feel
comfortable and safe during your time in school, so
you can focus all your efforts on your lessons.
We plan our tutor groups very carefully, trying to create
a healthy balance between putting new students with
people they know and like from primary school and
also giving them the opportunity to make new friends.
When you finally arrive as a Sir John Lawes student,
you will be amazed at how quickly the time passes.
Before you realise it, you will have been with us for half
a term and will hopefully be off to PGL. This is a trip for
all Year 7 students and we encourage you to take part.
You will stay from Monday to Friday at an activity
centre near Swindon, forming stronger bonds with your
no-longer-quite-so-new classmates and pushing
yourself to achieve things you never expected to do,
like jumping from the Leap of Faith (safely harnessed,
of course!). Many Sixth Form students who are leaving
us look back on their first trip as one of the highlights of
their time at school. You will receive more details about
this trip when you find out that you will be coming to Sir
John Lawes.
Sir John Lawes is a wonderful place to go to school
and we do everything we can to help our students
settle in smoothly.