The purpose of the programme is to give students in year 6 the learning skills that will enable them to face their life in secondary school with confidence. In addition, it is designed to show each student that learning is fun and by so doing make a major contribution to raising their self-esteem.

How does this programme fit into the Stage 3 National Strategy?

A quote from the Dfes on why a transition strategy is required:

• “Currently there is a significant difference in standards between Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3. The following table shows the percentages of Key Stage 2 pupils reaching the expected Level 4 or above, compared with the percentages of Key Stage 3 pupils reaching the expected Level 5 or above in 2001“

The Dfes listed the following key areas:

Expectations

• By Training the students to raise their self-esteem they widen their expectations of what they feel they can achieve. They will have the skills to face challenging targets in learning that Secondary School will impose upon them.

Progression

• In a poll that we carried out on a group of year-6 students, their fear was that they may not be able to cope with the amount of learning they were expected to achieve. This was because they had not been taught the various learning strategies that would make the transition easy. This programme overcomes that problem.

Engagement

• The biggest factor in engagement is the delivery of the topic by qualified teachers. To this end, BAAT specialises in training teachers in Classroom Immersion. However, from the student’s point of view, engagement is a function of interest in the subject, that is, in turn, a function of the ease in which they learn a subject. The programme will give them a battery of learning techniques that they can use to achieve deeper engagement and immersion in the topic.

Of What Does the Transition Programme Consist?

It incorporates Dr. Paget’s new paradigm of learning that states that for any learning to take place we must first input data to the brain, whether this is through language, numbers, sketches or drawings. It is the efficiency of this action that will determine our rate of learning. It is also highly affected by emotional inputs.

Stage 2 of the paradigm states that all inputs to the brain create neural maps, the strength of which controls and determines our understanding of any topic or information. The more we can facilitate the strengthening of these neural maps, the greater our understanding. Students will also be shown techniques to ‘power write’ reports.

The third and last stage of the paradigm is how to recall this information at will, particularly in times of stress. Without this phase, all information input is a waste of time.

The programme is run in 3 sessions of 3½-hours which allows for the efficient internalisation of material for efficient knowledge transfer. Throughout all of the sessions students are totally immersed.

Session 1

• Each student will be shown 2 new methods of comprehension and reading. We would expect to see all students improve their comprehension by more than 100% from existing values calculated at the start of the programme. They will be shown how to use 'Guided Imagery' to improve their understanding of the visual inputs.

Session 2

• In this session students will be shown how to construct neural maps to further develop their understanding, as well as further developing the skills taught in session 1. Students understand why it is critical to use the visual side of their brain which is estimated at 85%. In addition, students’ explore different thinking processes and are encouraged to turn text into schematic maps to enable them to concentrate solely on the meaning contained within the text. In the analysis of text, students are taught how to define the key action words contained within the text and so becomes the basis of memory triggers.

Session 3

• This session is devoted to the process of developing memory systems that work for the individual. It is a known fact that since the development and consequent input of computers and calculators, our memory ability has been deteriorating to almost critical level. These basic memory skills are essential for all students. In addition, in this session all delegates will be shown how to go into deep relaxation at will to develop their memory using a unique music surround.

What will students receive?:

• Full training for 10½-hours in 3 sessions
• Workbooks for each session
• Access to our 600-page E-Learning site on learning techniques
• Each student will also have access to their trainer for the following 6-months on an individual basis, through email

Advantages of the Programme:

• 68,000 students have proven that this system changes lives
• Slow-learners find their answer in the system
• Those with mild dyslexia find that it improves their learning rate
• Those who find learning boring or tiresome change their minds
• Increases the added value of all topics taught because of the improvement in comprehension and retrieval
• Pass rates of SAT and GCSE examinations improve
• It is easy to adapt to any learning style

Cost of the System

£60.00 (+VAT) per student - please note our prices have not changed for the past 5 years!

Therefore, for a typical course of 30 students the cost to the school would be £1,800 (+VAT) for the programme and the follow-up.

If budget constraints are an issue, the school should involve the parents to fund the programme. In our experience, even in the most socially deprived areas, parents are willing to contribute all or part of the fee to give their children these essential learning skills.