OUTLINE This interactive online masterclass equips educational staff with practical strategies to support young people through transitions, focusing on managing anxiety, behaviour, and neurodiversity. Participants will explore key transitions, identify at-risk students, learn school and home-based support strategies, and develop resilience-building techniques to help young people adapt to change successfully.
Transitions—whether starting school, moving between key stages, or preparing for post-16 education—can be overwhelming for young people. Poorly managed transitions can lead to anxiety, school refusal, disengagement, and worsening mental health. This essential online masterclass equips educational staff with evidence-based strategies to support young people through these critical moments, ensuring smoother, more inclusive transitions.
Aligned with key policies such as the SEND Code of Practice (2015), Mental Health & Wellbeing in Schools guidance (DfE), and the Keeping Children Safe in Education framework, this session provides practical, legally sound approaches to transition planning.
KEY LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of this masterclass, participants will:
Understand the different types of transitions young people experience.
Recognise which students may be more vulnerable to struggling with transitions.
Identify signs that a young person is struggling.
Understand the consequences of poorly managed transitions.
Learn evidence-based strategies to support students through change.
Explore how parents and carers can be involved in the transition process.
Gain practical coping strategies to help young people develop resilience and emotional regulation.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
Teachers, school counsellors, SENCOs, teaching assistants, pastoral staff, and other professionals in educational settings supporting young people through transitions.
FACILITATOR
Alice Newton-Leeming has worked and studied within the field of wellbeing, mental health and suicide prevention for over 18 years. Completing her psychology degree in 2011, and volunteering as a Samaritans Listening Volunteer, Alice quickly moved into a role for a national Suicide Prevention Charity in the UK, and progressed to managing a national helpline and training team around the country delivering training relating to mental health and suicide prevention.
Alice has worked for organisations such as Mind, Mental Health Learning, Listening Ear and Every Life Matters providing emotional support, suicide bereavement support and training to equip communities to spot signs of concerns and provide support to those around them.
Alice also has a passion for supporting others to understand how to look after their own wellbeing. She is a fierce advocate for self-care and implores anyone she meets to make time for themselves, because we all deserve it.
In her spare time Alice enjoys reading, yoga, country walks, running, cycling and spending time with her husband and two young children.
