Moving up ready: How PESSPA can prepare Year 6 children for secondary school life
The move from primary to secondary school is one of the biggest moments in a child’s educational journey. The evidence suggests it’s harder than many schools realise.
Research consistently shows that a significant number of children experience what’s known as a “transition dip” after moving to Year 7. Attainment, attendance, confidence and school connectedness all drop. The effect can persist well into the first year of secondary school. The children who struggle most are often those who arrive without the social, emotional and self-regulatory skills they need to settle into a completely new environment.
Some of the most powerful preparation for this transition doesn’t happen in a literacy lesson. It happens in the playground, on the field, in the hall and through structured physical activity.
Yet PESSPA (Physical Education, School Sport and Physical Activity) is still too often treated as separate from the “serious” business of transition preparation. Done well, PE develops the whole child in a way no worksheet can.
Why the Year 6 to Year 7 transition is harder than it looks
Secondary school is a dramatic change of environment. Larger buildings, multiple teachers, different peer groups, complex timetables, greater independence and increased organisational demands all arrive at once. They arrive just as children are entering early adolescence.
The UCL STARS study, one of the most comprehensive pieces of UK transition research, found that common pupil worries include bullying, making new friends, homework, organisation, unfamiliar teachers and simply the “unknown” of secondary life. NHS data shows that 22.6% of 11 to 16 year olds had a probable mental health difficulty, a figure that rises sharply as children move from primary into secondary school years.
Government data from 2024/25 underlines the challenge. Secondary school absence sits at 8.44% compared to 5.20% in primary schools and 18.14% of secondary pupils are persistently absent. The transition itself is a known trigger: absence rises between Year 6 and Year 7 and rises again between Year 7 and Year 8.
Behind these numbers are children struggling to settle, to feel safe and to belong. Many of the skills that help children manage the move are developed every week in good quality PESSPA: resilience, self-regulation, confidence, teamwork and routine.
Five ways PESSPA can prepare children for secondary school
1. It builds social confidence and the ability to form new connections
One of the biggest worries children have about secondary school is making new friends. PE and school sport are environments where social bonds form naturally, through shared challenge, communication, teamwork and the experience of working through something difficult together.
Children who have experienced high-quality PE across their primary years arrive at secondary school with a practical skill set for new social situations. They know how to listen, how to cooperate, how to handle competition and how to recover when things don’t go to plan. When you’re 11 years old and starting at a new school, those skills matter enormously.
2. It develops resilience and the ability to manage setbacks
Secondary school will challenge children in ways primary school did not. Harder content, unfamiliar teachers, moments of failure in public. All of it requires the capacity to keep going.
Physical education is a uniquely powerful opportunity to develop resilience. Losing a match, not being selected, struggling to master a new skill and then coming back, trying again and improving: this is exactly the emotional rehearsal that builds resilience. The Education Endowment Foundation consistently identifies self-regulation and metacognition as among the highest-impact approaches to improving outcomes for pupils. High-quality PE lessons develop both.
3. It supports mental wellbeing at a particularly vulnerable age
There is strong evidence to suggest that physical activity and mental health are closely linked. Regular, enjoyable physical activity reduces anxiety, improves mood, builds self-esteem and gives children reliable tools for managing stress.
Mental health difficulties rise sharply as children enter the secondary years. Primary schools that build a genuine love of physical activity aren’t just improving fitness. They’re equipping children with a coping mechanism they’ll carry through the transition and well beyond it.
4. It teaches routine, organisation and adapting to different expectations
The organisational demands of secondary school can feel overwhelming for children who aren’t used to managing equipment, following schedules, moving between different spaces and adapting to different adults’ expectations, sometimes six times a day.
Good PE lessons teach this kind of executive function week after week: getting changed for lessons, caring for equipment, listening carefully to a specialist teacher and moving purposefully between activities and spaces. These are the skills that make the secondary environment less daunting. A child who has practised these routines twice a week for seven years arrives at secondary school with a genuine advantage.
5. It builds physical confidence and a sense of belonging in new environments
Feeling comfortable in your body, feeling physically capable and included, is a quiet but powerful form of confidence. Children with strong physical literacy move differently. They occupy spaces more confidently, engage more willingly and are less likely to withdraw when things feel unfamiliar.
Secondary schools are bigger, noisier and more physically demanding than primary schools. Children who arrive feeling physically capable and used to challenging environments have one less thing to worry about. That matters more than it might seem.
What this means for primary schools
In transition preparation, PESSPA isn’t a nice to have. It’s core work. Every well-delivered PE lesson, team sport experience and school games competition is quietly building the skills children will need when they move up.
For headteachers and PE leads, the question isn’t just “are our children physically active?” It’s “is our PESSPA programme building the confidence, resilience, social skills and self-regulation children need to thrive in Year 7 and beyond?”
That’s the standard we hold ourselves to at PH ActiveEd. Our curriculum-aligned lessons, delivered by qualified specialists, don’t just tick a box for PPA cover. They are built around the idea that every child should leave primary school physically literate, emotionally resilient and ready for what comes next.
How does your school’s PESSPA provision measure up?
If you’d like to understand how your school’s PESSPA provision is performing and where it could do more for your children, our free PESSPA Benchmark evaluates your provision in under 10 minutes. You get a clear picture of your strengths and areas for development.
Or if you’d like to talk to us about PE delivery, CPD for your teachers or wraparound care across the South West, we’d love to hear from you.
