Tuesday 10th March, 6-7.30pm
Location: Online (Zoom) – Limited Spaces Available
We know that moving between stages of education – early years to school, primary to secondary, and into post-16 – can be exciting but also challenging for children, young people and families.
As part of our FED National Education Futures Projects on Inclusion, we’re holding this conversation to hear directly from parents, carers, practitioners and the learners themselves about what really helps, and what gets in the way, when children move from one stage of education to another.
We’re particularly keen to hear from people whose voices aren’t always heard in education consultations. There are no right or wrong answers – we want to understand real experiences and ideas for making transitions smoother, more welcoming and more supportive for every child and family.
We’re interested in what happens in real life, in practice as well as in policy. What makes a difference day to day? Where do things work well? And where do systems, processes or expectations make transitions harder than they need to be?
Your experiences and insights will help shape The FED’s practical and policy recommendations about how transitions between stages of education could work better for children, families and those who support them.
Key Questions:
- Thinking about a time when a child moved from one stage of education to another (for example nursery to school, primary to secondary, or into college), what helped that transition go well – and what made it harder?
- What do schools or services often not understand about children and families during transitions?
- If you could change one thing to make transitions between stages of education easier and more supportive for children and families, what would it be?
Chair: FED Practitioner Council Co-chair – Dr Kate Bridge
Special guests:
Rochelle Wong is an education and equity advocate committed to expanding opportunity for underrepresented communities. She serves as Alumni Engagement Manager at the Royal National Children’s Springboard Foundation and Co-Chair of the Learners Council at the Foundation for Educational Development. Through public forums, board service, and volunteering, Rochelle contributes locally, nationally, and internationally towards driving greater inclusion and innovation within education. She has led impactful student development and wellbeing campaigns, pioneered DEI initiatives across schools and universities, developed practical student toolkits, and shaped policy recommendations advancing equitable education reform.
Siân Lewis is Head of Parent Participation at Parentkind, the largest parent charity in the UK. Parentkind has a network of 13,000 PTA fundraisers, they represent parent voice and champion the role of parents in education, to support every child to thrive and reach their potential. Siân’s focus is on delivering content to parents to support them to navigate parenthood and to participate fully in their child’s education and school life. Siân’s team produces regular webinars, blogs, toolkits, guides, newsletters and campaigns to provide the information, ideas and advice that parents tell us they need. Siân hears from parents on a range of pressing challenges but with a clear demand for information and guidance around SEND, inclusion, mental health and wellbeing, behaviours and safety. Parents readily share their views and experiences on their weekly webinars, polls and national surveys and share their support needs in managing schools, processes and systems. Siân is a parent to a child with SEND who has recently started secondary school, and has experienced first-hand the difference an effective transition can make.