Transitions!!
 

What are the effects on development and behaviour when transferring to a new class?

Banging my head against a brick wall!!

if anyone can help .. thankyou :smile:

well i think you might be able to write about communication skills. It may improve on meeting new people and teachers...

Here is what I put, I have included joining school as the affects may be similar
Starting in Junior School

Starting school is a major transition for children.
They may be fearful of the school itself, a larger building than they are used to, new environment - the layout of classroom, new faces and personalities – teachers and pupils. Uncertain of who will provide support and comfort for them.
The child will undergo many mixed emotions through this time which may affect them physically:-
Nervous and cautious - needing the toilet more than normal
Stress, worry and fear - dry mouth-needing a drink more frequently, feeling nauseous.
Separation anxiety – can cause temper tantrums, lack of appetite, regression; bed wetting, thumb sucking.
All of these factors will affect the child’s confidence, their ability to interact with others; physically they may feel tense and unable to relax.
Benefit of positive and supportive relationships
As with settling into nursery or other forms of childcare, this transition needs time and supportive teachers to enable the child to become familiar with their new environment and routine, teachers and staff having a caring disposition, a positive attitude to the child’s concerns and an approachable personality will assist the child with this transition.

Moving up classes
As before this may cause some anxiety. Although the child will be used to the structure and routine of schooling, they will have to get used to a new classroom layout, a new teacher, possibly new resources and where these are kept.
Benefit of positive and supportive relationships
Reassuring the child that the routine will remain the same, giving them a tour of the new class so they become familiar with its layout and facilities and introducing their new teacher beforehand will enable them to settle in and restore routine.

Moving from junior school to high school
By now the child has adapted to school life and the expectations of their teachers. However moving from junior to high school will have a similar affect to when they first started junior. The child will have gone from being the oldest, biggest in their junior school to now being the youngest and smallest (small fish in a big pond). They may feel intimidated by the older children in the high school which will affect their self esteem and confidence. The school will appear to be much bigger than junior school and the routine will differ. They will move from class to class to attend different subjects, which can seem daunting and overwhelming ‘how will I get from one class to the next on time in such a big building’ They will have a variety of different teachers for different subjects, whereas before they had one teacher who taught them throughout the school year. It may all seem to overwhelming for the young child and have a negative impact on their sleep pattern, antisocial behaviour. It is around this time that children start to go to more unsupervised parties, many teens experiment with smoking, drugs and alcohol through peer pressure or through personal choice. Drug and alcohol abuse in teenagers is on the rise and becoming more of a problem within our society. Addictions can lead to poor job opportunities, lack of finance, antisocial behaviour, crime and in severe cases imprisonment.
Benefit of positive and supportive relationships
Encourage children into extra curricular activities will help develop new skills, gain confidence, build new friendships and encourage good self esteem.
Make the teenager aware of the risks and consequences of smoking, taking drugs and drinking alcohol, the damage that they will do to their body and health if they do, the chances of them becoming addicted and the affect this will have on their future. Be careful to use positive methods of discussing this with teenagers as have a tendency to switch off if they feel they are being lectured.
Parents and teachers need to familiarise themselves with the signs, symptoms and risk of drug and alcohol abuse to enable them to discuss this with their child or pupil.
Drug awareness websites, such as FRANK; offer advice; a guide to drugs, the risks, their effects and information on the law relating to the drug.
To date (26th Aug 2010), The Welsh assembly government has invested 8 million pounds over three years to establish and expand school-based counselling for secondary school age pupils – ref:www.waqles.gov.uk


Hope it helps x