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Starting Secondary School: A Guide for Students (Year 7 Transition)

Guides from the Positive School Culture Project

These short guides share research about how school culture develops and how students help shape their experiences of school.

Starting Secondary School: A Guide for Students (Year 7 Transition)

Starting secondary school can feel exciting, confusing, and sometimes overwhelming. This guide brings together a series of research-informed articles exploring belonging, relationships, school rules, and students’ experiences of the Year 7 transition.

Each article draws on research into students’ experiences of starting secondary school across multiple schools and reflects on how everyday interactions shape what school feels like for young people.

How to use this guide

You can read these articles in order, or choose the ones that feel most relevant to you. Each article explores a different part of the experience of starting secondary school.

Articles in this guide:


Together, these articles explore how students experience the transition to secondary school and how a positive school culture develops through everyday interactions between students and teachers.

Other guides from the Positive School Culture Project

The Positive School Culture Guide for Teachers/School Staff

These articles were written to support teachers and school staff in understanding how students generate and experience school culture, reflecting on what these experiences might mean for practice.







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