The five phases of school transition: A breakdown for SENCOs

August 12, 2026

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The aim of school transition is simple: help new pupils settle into and find their rhythm of school life.

Transitions are usually planned for the big milestones: primary to secondary, or a class teacher change. But they matter for the smaller moments too, like moving between lessons or activities.

You’ll know better than most the impact a quality transition has on how quickly a pupil and their family settle and feel secure.

As you’ll know, pupil engagement and belonging are due to be monitored more closely this academic year, and transitions sit firmly under this umbrella.

A framework you can trust

To help SENCOs and their teams, we’ve developed the five phases of effective school transition. A framework created by our content and inclusion expert Louise Jackson, an ex-SEND teacher who drew on research into neurodivergent cognition, attachment theory and the science of change.

The 5 phases of transition considers how children of all types respond to and manage transition and change. It sits alongside our deeper guide to how neurodivergent pupils navigate the losses and unknowns of school transition.

Before the five phases, a brief reminder of why transition can be so challenging.

 

Why transition is hard

For most pupils, transition day plants a seed of familiarity that settles over the summer. For neurodivergent (ND) pupils, the need for certainty goes beyond preference. It’s a nervous system requirement.

During primary school, pupils build an internal infrastructure that makes learning possible: trusted adults, predictable routines, known environments and a sense of the school’s sensory landscape. When the move to secondary comes, most of that disappears at once.

We’ve simplified the main barriers into four losses and four unknowns, all of which drain the executive functioning system whilst triggering the brain’s threat response.

A successive transition process has to account for what’s happening for the pupil and their family across every stage, which is exactly what the five phases below are designed to do.

Share this with your teaching team for consistency of understanding and approach.

 

The five phases of transition

1. Before the transition day
2. Transition day to the start of the summer holidays
3. Over the summer
4. The lead-up to the first day and week
5. The first term

 

Phase 1: Before the transition day

What this phase is for

This is where the groundwork is laid and initial contacts are made with pupils and families. It can feel like logistics, but don’t be misled, this is where you’re gathering information and building the early foundations of a trusting relationship.

What it should include

• A family consultation, ideally in person and prepared in a way that’s sympathetic to your workload. This can be led by you, a member of your SENCO team or a transition support assistant.
• A SENCo-toSENCo handover meeting, with clear parameters for what you want to know about the pupil. The digital ISP, once available, should help streamline these conversations.
• Contact with the named adult in the previous setting. If the pupil has a 1:1 support assistant, check the policy on direct communication. When managed well this can resolve concerns early, set clear boundaries from the start so it remains a positive relationship rather than an additional workload.
• Key adults identified in the new setting. If you don’t yet know the form teacher or head of year, work with what you do know. A visual factfile with photographs of the key staff the pupil can go to is a practical starting point.
• Personalised additional visits. Think beyond a standard school tour. After-school site visits, or visits during transitions like assemblies and break times, give the pupil a headstart on mapping the sensory and social landscape of their new school.
• Timetable structure shared early. The final timetable might not be confirmed yet, but the structure of the day is unlikely to change. Sharing a current Year 7 timetable with pupils and families gives them something concrete to hold onto.

Phase 2: Transition day to the start of the summer holidays

What this phase is for

The transition day is a big deal. For many pupils it’s the first time they’ll experience their new school without their trusted adult network around them. It’s the responsibility of all staff, not the SENCO and their team alone.

The build-up to summer is also where unanswered questions can take hold. Having a process for families to ask questions before the break protects both the pupil and your well-deserved summer.

What it should include

• A follow-up contact or visit for high-need pupils.Time in a new setting often generates more questions than it resolves. A second touchpoint makes a difference.
• The All About Me passport completed and shared with the new teacher before the end of term. Whether in ISP format or your school’s own version, the pupil and family must contribute to it, it shouldn’t be a professional summary written about them.
• A visual timetable created with the pupil and sent home for the summer where possible.
• A photo or video walkthrough of the new environment sent home. A video captures sound and movement in a way photographs can’t and can be replayed over the holidays to build familiarity gradually.
• A planned window for family questions before staff break for summer, calendared in advance so it’s protected time that doesn’t take over the last days of term.

 

 

Phase 3: Over the summer

What this phase is for

Progress made in Phase 2 can fade across the summer, particularly for ADHD pupils whose working memory struggles to sustain relational progress without regular contact.

As one parent of an autistic school-starter shared with us, the anxiety that builds over summer is active, not passive. The summer phase isn’t about placing demands on staff.

It’s a small number of deliberate, low-effort touches planned before the holidays begin.

What it should include

• A scheduled check-in email for high-need families, set up before summer so it sends automatically. A warm message with the video walkthrough attached goes a long way to filling the information gap without requiring staff availability.
• Families briefed to answer questions accurately rather than offering vague reassurance when their child asks about September.
• Minimal academic preparation tasks. A regulated pupil arriving in September with nervous system capacity intact is far more valuable than one who’s struggled through completing a pre-school activity pack.

Phase 4: The lead-up to the first day and week

What this phase is for

A neurodivergent pupil’s executive function system is already running at capacity before they leave the house on the first morning. Transport, uniform, equipment, lunch, the practical logistics of a new school carry mental load, and much of that weight can be lifted with specific, honest information shared in advance.

What it should include

• New teacher confirms to you that they’ve read the pupil’s profile and All About Me passport before day one. Not during week one when patterns are already forming.
• Adaptations confirmed in writing and in place from the first day, not being arranged as the term settles.
• Sensory needs shared with every adult the pupil will encounter in week one: subject teachers, TAs and lunchtime staff as well as the form tutor.
• A visual timetable on the desk from the moment the pupil arrives, ready before they need to ask for it.
• Transport, route and logistics confirmed with the family. Walk the route before the first day where possible. Confirm who to contact and what to do if plans change at the last minute.

 

 

Phase 5: The first term

What this phase is for

It’s often assumed that once pupils find their feet, the transition period is over. Research tells us otherwise. Academic self-concept and self-esteem both dip significantly after school transition, and for ND pupils those dips can be steeper and longer-lasting.

Many ND pupils, particularly girls with ADHD and autism, mask well enough that the absence of visible distress in school isn’t evidence the transition is working.

What it should include

• An early review at two to three weeks, focused on whether the pupil feels known and settled rather than on academic progress.
• Active monitoring across all four areas: relationships, environment, routine and academic confidence.
• Timetable changes and supply cover communicated in advance wherever possible. These are the daily unknowns that generate the most routine distress.
• Fatigue built into expectations. Navigating a new routine costs more neurologically in the first term. A pupil disengaging in the afternoons may simply be at capacity.
• Signs of settling recorded alongside problems. What does this pupil look like when they’re finding their feet? It’s worth noting.

Sharing the transition accountability load

The five phases of transition only work as a whole-school process. As the SENCo, you have strategic oversight and coordination. Every adult the pupil encounters in the first weeks has a role in how understood and known that pupil feels.

School leaders need to build the time and expectation into the school calendar, with the SEND link governor having oversight of the strategic progress being made for your most vulnerable pupils. This isn’t additional workload. It’s what inclusive practice looks like in action.

 

How IQM works with schools on inclusion

IQM has spent over 20 years working alongside schools to develop, recognise and celebrate inclusive practice that’s built into the fabric of how a school operates.

The IQM Inclusive School Award gives SENCOs and school leaders an evaluative framework for whole-school inclusion, with tangible evidence of where their school is strong and where there’s room to grow.

Find out more about how IQM works with schools

Found this useful? Pass it on, good transition planning starts with the right conversations in school.

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