Transitioning to secondary school alongside primary school peers helped children settle, while transitioning without peers could lead to difficult transitions¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Studies in the review found transitioning with primary school peers helped children settle into secondary school, whereas transitioning without peers could lead to difficult transitions. → Bagnall 2026

Evidence¶

Bagnall 2026¶

Bagnall, C. L., Edge, D., Banwell, E., Seymour, R., Garnett, N., Mason, C., Panayiotou, M., Jindal-Snape, D., Packer, R., Hodgkin, K., Skerritt, C., Donaldson, C., Birchwood, J., McAreavey, A., Cunningham, E., Symonds, J. E., & Holliman, A. (2026). A Mixed-methods Study of How to Improve Primary-secondary Transitions in England: Combining Academic Research with Policy and Practice Consultation. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-026-10174-z

q2 · i? · review · r3

Peer-relationships finding from the systematic review's Relationships theme; the review attributes it to the included primary studies it synthesises. No effect sizes are printed in the review's report.

"many studies noted that transitioning with primary school peers helped children settle into secondary school (Evangelou et al., 2008). Equally several studies found that transitioning without peers could lead to difficult transitions (Brewin & Statham, 2011)."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• A UK-focused systematic review identifies six key priority areas for primary-secondary school transitions: familiarity, relationships, intrapersonal skills, pastoral support, collaboration, and families — related
• Children (59 across 10 focus groups) conceptualise transitions-context emotional wellbeing around adapting to the unknown, fitting in, and signs of positive wellbeing — related
• Most primary-secondary transitions research articles neither clearly define nor operationalise transitions, and nine conceptualisations appear across the 96-article literature — related