My New School transition to high school for children with special educational needs in England – findings and ideas for practice

Whilst transition from primary to secondary school is an exhaustively research area, there is limited research into how children’s ideas and insights, particularly those with Special Educational Needs (SEN), could inform or guide successful school transition planning. The current article presents the final stage of an action research project, in which a transition intervention was designed by students in collaboration with their schools and educational psychology services. The intervention, My New School, was initially piloted in an inner-city primary school in England (see Bunn, Davis and Speed 2017) and since has developed into a working tool for several other schools. Children’s alongside school staff’s views were used in order to inform the final design of My New School intervention. The article explores findings from analysing the participating children and school staff, alongside relevant literature, and final discussions and implications for practice conclude.