Transforming Pupil Transition with SixIntoSeven

THE NEED FOR A STREAMLINED SYSTEM

Ensuring a seamless transition for primary to secondary school pupils has always posed considerable challenges for Local Authorities. Lewisham Council were no exception. Their partnership with SixIntoSeven has streamlined the pupil transition process and paved the way for a collaborative success story.

This experience highlighted the need for a more streamlined and collaborative approach, one that would also support the wellbeing of vulnerable pupils and reduce workload for staff.

BRIDGING THE TRANSITION GAP

The COVID-19 pandemic further underlined the importance of effective transitions. With remote learning becoming the norm, pupils faced increased anxiety about moving to new schools. Lewisham’s leadership team recognised that a digital-first solution was now essential to help schools manage transitions in this new landscape.

“Transition is one of those major milestones in a child’s life. We asked ourselves, how do we do things better? We started working on ways to improve the transfer of pupil information in a modern and digital way.” – Ruth Griffiths, Head of Access, Inclusion and Participation at Lewisham Council

THE SOLUTION

Implementing SixIntoSeven

Following a recommendation from their Head of Learning, Lewisham Council began working with the SixIntoSeven platform. Over a two-year period, they rolled out the system across their schools.

Working alongside Ruth, Safeguarding and Inclusion Manager Natasha Orumbie and their wider team, Lewisham explored ways to improve their processes. They initially attempted to enhance existing paper-based systems but found them cumbersome. Sharing and editing PDF files proved slow and inefficient, taking up much of the summer term with limited success.

Natasha recalls:

“The feedback after the first year was that it was still a bit time-consuming, but much better than what we had. I’d say 98% of users thought it was absolutely brilliant!”

“We found that most of the summer was wasted on an activity that didn’t fully work,” reflects Ruth.

EXTENDING THE BENEFITS

Lewisham Council envisions extending SixIntoSeven benefits through collaboration with adjacent neighbouring Local Authorities (Greenwich, Bromley, Southwark, Lambeth, Tower Hamlets).

The move to SixIntoSeven marked a shift from manual processes to an automated, standardised approach. Data transfer became more consistent, tracking of pupils improved, and errors were significantly reduced.

Transition from manual to automated

A high percentage of pupils’ transition into and out of their own Local Authority schools. By including surrounding boroughs, more vulnerable pupils can enjoy the benefits of SixIntoSeven, helping us ensure that no child is left behind.

The initial efforts were directed at refining the data transfer process itself. Previously, Ruth and her colleagues struggled with collating and forwarding information, leading to inefficiencies, increased workload and errors.

The adoption of SixIntoSeven digitised and standardised this process, ensuring consistency and enabling efficient tracking of pupils across the local authority region.

COLLABORATION BREEDS SUCCESS

Reflecting on the journey, Ruth highlights the positive impact on communication and the strengthened trust between the council and schools. The move from manual to a digital automated process has significantly benefited both pupils and schools.

Positive impact and continuous improvement

The implementation of SixIntoSeven produced immediate positive results. Despite the inevitable initial time-consuming onboarding challenges, around 98% of users praised the streamlined process and ease of use of SixIntoSeven. The subsequent year (2023) brought an improved user experience which reduced the time taken to upload data.