Transition Morning May 08
Children in East Guildford spent an exciting morning with their dads at St Peter’s Catholic Comprehensive School on Saturday 17th May as part of a new transition project run by East Guildford Confederation, a group of nineteen schools working together. Children who start at the secondary school in September were invited to the event but had to be accompanied by their father, uncle, grandfather or other significant male figure in their lives.
Over a hundred dads and their children from twenty seven primary schools participated with huge enthusiasm in this innovative event and learnt circus skills such as juggling, balancing, walking on stilts, and riding a unicycle. Some children chose to develop their dads’ culinary skills and made gingerbread men and then decorated them in their choice of football strip for Cup Final day. Other dads and children turned into budding Michael Jacksons as they learnt how to street dance and compose a rap, with their performance earning huge applause from all the other participants! Many of the children chose to turn their dads into robots by dressing them in boxes, foil and plastic and then encouraged them to compete in challenges- which did prove a bit tricky in the complicated costumes!
The morning provided an opportunity for fathers to meet each other, the children to make new friends and for both to find out more about the school and to establish links with school staff in an informal, fun, relaxed setting. Fathers were also given advice on the pastoral support and out of school activities available for the pupils at St Peter’s School and were able to discuss the best ways of supporting their children in the future.
Funding for this event – believed to be the first in Surrey was provided by Surrey Parenting Education and Support. Sue Giddings, Confederation Manager, and organiser of the event said ‘We organised this pilot morning for dads as it is usually the mums who attend school events. It was incredibly rewarding to see so many children and their dads participating in activities, laughing and having fun together’.
One of the dads summed up his feelings:‘This morning was a fantastic experience for both of us. When I am at work I will have this picture in my head of my daughter’s smiling face, enjoying herself at this school. I feel I can be part of her world at St Peter’s and am really confident I will be able to help her to be successful here at the school.’