Y6 Transitions 2026 · Post-SATs to Summer

Six weeks left.
Make them count.

A free, ready-to-run primary classroom kit for the post-SATs Y6 window. Five daily themes built around Plan Their Future’s six activities — Big-school Feelings, Dream Big, Skills Audit, Pathway Planner, Future Me Letter — with KS1 and KS2 lessons, a Mo Farah real-story anchor, a parent letter and a transitions wellbeing resources directory. Print, copy, adapt — or just open it on your IWB and run.

Open the 5-Day Plan → Skip to Future Me Letter
Y6 Transitions 2026
Post-SATs · June–July
Spark2 angle
Plan Their Future — whole-school, Y6-anchored
Whole schoolEYFS–Y6, Y6 anchored
5 daysOne activity per day
Free templateFuture Me Letter included
FreeNo sign-up needed
Spark2 Plan Their Future workshop in action
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The 5-Day Y6 Transitions Plan

One activity per day across the post-SATs window. Y6 anchored, but every year group can join in. Five days that turn the empty term into the most useful one of the year.

Mon · Day 1

Big-school Feelings

PSHE-circle work

Name the worry first. Children list what they’re scared of about secondary — and what they’re excited about. No judgement.

Try this: The Worry & Wonder wall. Two columns — sticky-note both. Read out a few. Almost every worry is a shared one.
Tue · Day 2

Dream Big

Activity 1 of 6

Open-ended dreaming. What could you be? Children explore careers, interests, and futures with no “wrong” answer.

Try this: Dream Big posters. Each child draws or describes 3 possible futures — one realistic, one ambitious, one wild. Display every one.
Wed · Day 3

Skills Audit

Activity 3 of 6

Build confidence before the leap. What are you already good at? Skills are evidence — you take them with you.

Try this: Five-five-five. Each child lists 5 skills they have, 5 they want to grow, and 5 they could swap-teach a friend.
Thu · Day 4

Pathway Planner

Activity 4 of 6

The journey from primary to adult life is rarely a straight line. Many routes are valid. Maps, not race-tracks.

Try this: The wandering map. Children draw a path from where they are now to a possible future — including detours, U-turns, and surprises.
Fri · Day 5

Future Me Letter

Activity 6 · Flagship

The one teachers say sticks for years. A sealed envelope. Opened on the first day at secondary — or kept until Year 9.

Try this: Use the template below. Read aloud one line each. Seal them. Photo for the parent newsletter.
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Real Story — Mo Farah

The story to read aloud during Day 1 (Big-school Feelings) or Day 5 (Future Me Letter). It works hardest when the children are about to seal their letters.

When Mo Was Your Age

A Y4 boy arrived at a UK school. He didn’t speak English. Twenty-four years later he was Britain’s greatest ever distance runner.

Mo Farah came to the UK at 9. His PE teacher, Alan Watkinson, noticed him running around the playground and entered him into a school race. He won. He kept winning.

Twenty years later, Mo had four Olympic gold medals, was Sir Mo Farah, and one of the most loved athletes in the country. He didn’t know any of that was coming when he was your age.

“When you’re nine years old in a new school, you don’t need to know what you’re going to be. You just need to find one thing you love doing — and one person who believes in you.”

Y6 transitions are scary because you’re asked “what do you want to be?” and you don’t know. You’re not supposed to know. Mo didn’t. Most of your favourite people didn’t. The job is just to keep showing up, keep being curious, and pay attention to what makes you light up. The rest is years of small steps.

Mo Farah · born Mogadishu 1983 · arrived UK aged 9 · 4× Olympic gold · knighted 2017 · founder of the Mo Farah Foundation
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Classroom Activities

Two ready-to-go activities per phase. 25–45 minutes each. Materials are basic — paper, pens, sticky notes, envelopes.

KS1 · EYFS–Y2

Big-school Visit Letter

Time: 30 minutes · Day: Best on Mon (Big-school Feelings)

KS1 children are getting ready for their own move-up day in September. A mini-Future-Me-Letter to themselves — what they hope, what they wonder — sealed and opened on the first day of the new year group.

  1. Talk about “moving up.” Y2→Y3, Y1→Y2, Reception→Y1. Same idea, smaller scale than secondary.
  2. Each child draws a picture of themselves in their NEW classroom on the inside of a folded card.
  3. On the inside, they dictate or write one sentence: “Next year I hope to…”
  4. Seal each card with a sticker. Hand to the next teacher to be opened on day one of September.
Materials: A4 card folded in half, felt-tips, stickers, envelope or paper-clip per child.
KS1 · EYFS–Y2

Dream Big Posters

Time: 25 minutes · Day: Best on Tue (Dream Big)

Open-ended career-and-interest exploration for the youngest. Children draw three things they could be when they grow up — and have permission to be silly with one of them.

  1. Show pictures of grown-ups doing five different jobs (vet, baker, engineer, footballer, teacher). Talk about each.
  2. Each child folds A3 paper into three. One realistic. One ambitious. One wild (an astronaut-mermaid-baker).
  3. Draw or stick a picture of themselves in each future job. Caption with their name and the job.
  4. Display the “Dream Big Wall” in the corridor. Brilliant for prospective parents on a tour.
Materials: A3 paper, felt-tips, optional magazine cut-outs of jobs, glue sticks.
KS2 · Y3–Y6

The Skills Swap Shop

Time: 35 minutes · Day: Best on Wed (Skills Audit)

Children list their skills, then trade them across the classroom. The activity reveals every child has skills worth teaching — even the quiet ones. Confidence-builder before the secondary leap.

  1. Each child writes 5 things they’re good at on five sticky notes (one per note). Anything counts — football, listening, drawing, comforting friends.
  2. Stick all notes on the front wall. As a class, scan: who has skills you want to learn? Note the names.
  3. Pair-up by interest. Each pair has 5 minutes to teach each other ONE skill from their notes.
  4. Reflection: who taught? Who learned? What surprised you about a classmate? (Pre-secondary confidence reframe: everyone has something to offer.)
Materials: Sticky notes (5 per child), wall space or board, pens.
KS2 · Y6 Flagship

The Future Me Letter (Y6)

Time: 45 minutes · Day: Best on Fri (Future Me Letter)

The one Y6 teachers say sticks for years. Each child writes a letter to their future self — sealed in an envelope, addressed to be opened in Year 9, or on day one of secondary. Use the template in the next section.

  1. Read the Mo Farah anchor story aloud. Set the tone: you’re not supposed to know what you’ll become. You’re writing for a future-you who’s already become a bit of it.
  2. Hand out the Future Me Letter template (next section). Quiet writing time, 25 minutes. Music optional.
  3. Optional: each child reads ONE line aloud (whichever they want). No judgement. Often the most powerful 5 minutes of the year.
  4. Each child folds and seals their letter in an envelope. Writes their own name + “OPEN ON FIRST DAY OF Y7” (or Y9). Hand back to teacher.
  5. Teacher posts the envelopes to parents in September — or hands them over at the leavers’ assembly.
Materials: Printed Future Me Letter template (next section), one envelope per child, pens, optional sealing-wax stickers, calm music.
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The Future Me Letter Template

Print, copy, hand out. Children fill the gaps in their own words. Sealed in an envelope at the end of the lesson.

Future Me Letter Template

Dear future me,

I’m writing this on _______ June 2026, when I am 10 / 11 and about to leave [primary school name].

Right now, I’m worried about: _______________________________________

I’m excited about: _______________________________________

My favourite memory of primary school is: _______________________________________

One thing I’m good at right now is: _______________________________________

One thing I want to learn at secondary is: _______________________________________

If you’ve forgotten what it was like to be 11, here’s what really matters to me: _______________________________________

I think you’ll have changed a lot. I hope you still: _______________________________________

Be kind to people. Be brave. Be a bit silly when you can.

Love,
[Your name]

Now seal it

Fold the letter in three. Put it in an envelope. On the front, write your own name and: OPEN ON THE FIRST DAY OF YEAR 7 (or Year 9, or 18th birthday — choose). Hand to your teacher.

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Parent Communication Template

A short letter you can send home in the post-SATs window, or paste into the school newsletter. Tells parents what we’re doing for transitions and how to support it at home.

Letter / Newsletter Insert

Y6 Transitions at [School Name]

Dear Parents and Carers,

The post-SATs term is one of the strangest in primary — SATs are over, summer is in sight, and your child is six weeks away from leaving us for good. We’re using the time to do something we believe really matters: preparing them for secondary — properly, not just logistically.

Over the next five days we’ll work through a Plan Their Future plan: Big-school Feelings, Dream Big, Skills Audit, Pathway Planner, and the activity Y6 teachers love most — the Future Me Letter, sealed in an envelope to be opened on their first day of secondary (or in Year 9, depending on what your child chooses).

Three things you can do at home this week:

1. Ask: “What are you actually nervous about?” Listen, don’t fix. Most worries are shared and most fade once spoken aloud.
2. Tell them one thing about your own move to secondary — the bit that scared you, and what turned out fine.
3. If they’re struggling, the resources we’ve listed below are excellent and free.

Useful resources for parents include YoungMinds (transition anxiety), BBC Bitesize’s Year 7 Survival Guide, and Place2Be (in-school mental health support).

With best wishes,
[Headteacher / Y6 Teacher]

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Transition Wellbeing Resources

Trusted UK resources for primary schools and parents. Use alongside this kit.

YoungMinds

Transition anxiety — for children and parents

The UK’s leading children’s mental health charity. Free guides on starting secondary, parent “how to” pages, and the Parents Helpline (0808 802 5544).

youngminds.org.uk →

BBC Bitesize

Year 7 Survival Guide + Starting Secondary

Free, primary-friendly explainers. Perfect for the bridging-summer reading. The “Coping with change” page is a quick parent share.

bbc.co.uk/bitesize →

Place2Be

School-based mental health support

Free training and resources for primary schools running transition programmes. Excellent if your school is already a Place2Be partner.

place2be.org.uk →

Anna Freud Centre

Schools in Mind — transition resources

Evidence-based transition wellbeing resources for primary schools. Includes the 5 Steps to Mental Health and Wellbeing framework.

annafreud.org →

Premier League Primary Stars

Free schools content — ambition + role models

Curriculum-linked, free, primary-targeted lessons featuring real footballers and football-club staff. Perfect Day 2 (Dream Big) supplement.

plprimarystars.com →

Childline

Free, confidential, 24/7 for any child

If a child in your class is struggling with the transition, Childline (0800 1111) and the Calm Zone activities are confidential and primary-aware.

childline.org.uk →

Want more than a one-week kit?

Make Plan Their Future your transitions term

Our “Plan Their Future” workshop is a whole-school day. A specialist facilitator spends the day with you. Every class — EYFS through Year 6 — gets their own age-appropriate session covering all six activities: Dream Big, Career Explorer, Skills Audit, Pathway Planner, Role Model Research, Future Me Letter. The Y6 letters get sealed for them.

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