Summer School - August 2021

A five-day summer school was offered to all 180 students transferring to Croxley Danes School in September 2021, that focused on three key aims:

1. To explore key academic skills from the Year 7 curriculum across a variety of subject areas, with a deeper focus on literacy skills via the means of a creative writing task.
2. To provide students with a series of practical activities and challenges that would promote teamwork, build confidence and self-esteem, and facilitate socialisation across the year group.
3. To complete some essential transition tasks to reduce student anxiety in preparation for September 2021.

The summer school was promoted through letters to prospective parents, a Year 6 bulletin created by the Deputy Headteacher, and on meeting students during the primary school transition visits. Parents were invited to sign up for either the whole week, or specific days when their child was available to attend. On average over the five-day period, 70.8% of the entire cohort expressed an interest in attending, and 63.2% attended (see the full review below for further details).

The summer school ran from Monday 9^th - Friday 13^th August 2021, and comprised of a total of 15 engaging activities led by existing teaching staff or external providers. Each activity linked to at least one of the aims listed above, and was designed to develop the students’ sense of fun and interest in the KS3 curriculum, and the experiences offered at secondary school. There were also a series of lunchtime extra-curricular clubs.

The document below provides a comprehensive review of the Summer School programme: