Coping with the big move from primary to secondary school

An accessible new booklet written by four enterprising pupils offers insights and tips on how to negotiate the transition from sixth class to first year

A wide shot of female and male teenagers chatting in school uniforms next to red lockers. They are all smiling and wearing full school uniforms. This school is based in the North East of England.

Michael Murtagh braved it alone last September — out of 12 pupils leaving his small primary school, he was the only one starting in Moyne Community School in Co Longford.

“It was a big change — I didn’t know anyone in my class,” he says of his arrival in a secondary school that had six times the population he was used to.