Transition to Havant

Welcome to Havant Academy

March 2025  

Dear Parent/Carer,

WELCOME TO HAVANT ACADEMY 

I would like to start by warmly welcoming you to the Havant Academy community. We are delighted that your child has been allocated a place in our school and we look forward to them joining us in September. I would like to thank you for placing your trust in us, we will do our very best for you and your child at all times.

I know, as a parent myself, that the transition from primary to secondary school can be quite daunting. For most children, changing schools is a seamless process; they are excited by it and the chance to be taught in specialist classrooms. Many look forward to meeting new people and having a  chance to make new friends. I also accept that the move can be challenging for some young people and their families. We will do all we can to make sure we support your child, so if you have any concerns at this stage please let us know so that we can help. We want to ‘hit the ground running’ in September and that means being ready. Our staff  will  all be visiting primary schools over the coming weeks to find out about every child to make sure the right support is in place.

To ensure the transition process starts as smoothly as possible I would ask you to note and action the following as needed. We would be grateful if you could please complete the attached acceptance form by Tuesday 1st April 2025. If you fail to do so it will slow the process of communicating with you effectively. Thank you.

To make this process simple, the form is online and can be accessed via this link: New student Registration Form. Please complete the form at your earliest convenience. If  you  no longer require your place with us, please use this form to inform us of this. Alternatively, you can request a paper copy of the form by contacting transitions@havant-tkat.org

The Transition Process

At the beginning of the summer term, colleagues from the Academy will visit your child’s school to introduce themselves in the classroom, enabling students and staff to get to know one another and giving everyone a head start for the new academic year. Teachers and the Head of Year will be able to learn about our new year group as a whole and about individuals, while students will have the opportunity to familiarise themselves with members of staff who will be responsible for their learning and wellbeing in the coming years. Our SEN team will also make visits to spend time with those students who may require support when they join in September.

We would like to invite all students to spend two days at Havant Academy, on Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd July 2025, the details of which will follow in later correspondence. During that day, students take part in a range of fun but informative activities to help familiarise themselves with the Academy environment. 

On the evening of Thursday 3rd July, parents/carers will have the opportunity to attend a new parent/carer meeting to meet myself and key staff. Our intention is that by the end of the day students and parents/carers will feel confident about the start of term in September.

There are some things that we always expect of our students. The number 1 priority is very simple: Work hard and Be kind – always. We talk about this in every assembly, every week. We know that children and sometimes staff don’t get everything right, but we always do our best to promote kindness. We expect our students to work hard. Lessons will be high pace, high challenge and it is likely there will be silent work in every lesson. This is proven to be successful, as it helps children to concentrate. We also set homework every week for students and your child should expect to receive this from when they start in September.

Our enrichment programme will run fortnightly, allowing your child the opportunity to follow their personal interests and maybe discover some new ones! We will ask your child to indicate the activities they would like to do during this time before they start with us. This will allow us to arrange it in good time.

After the Easter break, we will be in touch again with a more detailed transition programme and information about uniforms and all the essentials associated with Academy life. Parents/carers may know already that we run a Stellar group at Havant Academy, more detail about the curriculum and access to it will be provided in the next few weeks.

We are delighted that you have chosen Havant Academy and look forward to providing your child with a platform from which they can reach their full potential and become part of what we think is a very special community. In the meantime, we wish our new students a very memorable and happy end to Year 6 at primary school.

In the meantime, please keep in touch with Havant Academy news and updates through our website - https://www.havant-tkat.org/ and do not hesitate to contact the Academy if you have any further questions.

Yours sincerely,

Vicki Dillon-Thiselton

Headteacher