Moving to secondary school

Moving to secondary school can be both exciting and scary, but don’t worry – everyone else is feeling the same way. Before too long you’ll know how everything works and have made loads of new friends.

There will be lots of differences between Harlands and your secondary school but it won’t take you long to learn how things work. Be ready to learn and, if you’re ever unsure about anything, there are always plenty of people to ask: your friends, your older brothers or sisters, your form tutor, your teachers or your parents. Your form tutor especially is a good person to ask as part of their job is to guide you throughout your time at secondary school.

Know before you go...

There are some things that are useful to know before you start secondary school. Firstly it’s likely that you’ll have a Homework Diary - a very important document which will need to be with you every school day.  It will contain your timetable, and lots of other helpful information, as well as containing space to write down all your homework!

You will have your lessons with different teachers in different rooms.  During the first few weeks it will be quite easy to get lost when transferring between lessons as the school sites are so large, but most schools have lots of prefects whose job it is to help you find your way.  Lessons will not necessarily be with the same people who are in your tutor group, but one thing is for sure - you will soon make lots, and lots, of new friends.

Homework should always be written down in your diary and make a note of when it’s due in as you don’t want it to be late. It’s also useful to make notes of anything you might need to remember for your next lesson.

It’s a good idea to make sure your bag is packed and you know what you are doing the next day before you go to bed so that you don’t have any last minute panics!  This is particularly important if you have a lesson like PE, for which you may need different types of kit on different day, or Design, where you may have to bring in all sorts of things like cooking ingredients, fabrics, pictures and so on.

Secondary school is full of lots of new experiences and opportunities which you can share with your friends from Harlands as well as all the new ones you will make.

You may like to have a look at the websites for our local secondary schools, www.wardenpark.co.uk and www.oathall.w-sussex.sch.uk