In a bid to ease the transition from primary to high school, local primary school students have been invited to attend The Forest High School’s Friday morning boot camps.

The initiative, led by Principal Nathan Lawler, has seen around 70 students from Beacon Hill, Allambie, Seaforth, Balgowlah North, and French’s Forest Public Schools join with students from The Forest High School for a morning of physical activity, fun and forming friendships.

Future students who have applied from outside the area and those coming from non-government schools are also invited.

“Year 6 is really a time when students should be enjoying their final year of primary school while still looking forward to high school,” said Mr Lawler, who runs the hour-long sessions alongside key Forest High support and PDHPE staff.

“The idea of getting them doing some movement while meeting new peers makes the experience more natural than a traditional orientation day.”

Students arrive at 7.30am in their local primary school sports uniforms, which helps maintain a sense of familiarity and comfort.

The program reduces the nervousness often associated with orientation day by engaging students in active, movement-based activities rather than static group placements.

“We gradually chip away at building connections and relationships, leaning towards excitement for high school,” Mr Lawler said.

The boot camps also help manage parent anxiety around the transition to high school, especially for first timers, as support and encouragement during the exercises is a strong feature.

“This gives them an early opportunity to come into the school, meet the staff and see that there’s a sense of order and organisation as everything’s set up and ready to go.

“It gives them confidence that their child’s going to be well supported at the school, so they’ll feel happy and relaxed as well.”

Year 7 to Year 12 students from The Forest High School are also active participants during the boot camps, helping to provide friendly faces to the upcoming new Year 7s, as well as providing an innovative way to manage poor behaviour at the school.

“If I’ve got a student who has done the wrong thing at school, they’ll meet me before the boot camp and we’ll design the session together. They might run the warm-up, and they’ll help pack up,” he said.

“We count that as school service and it gives me the opportunity to talk to them about bringing things back into balance.”

While feedback from the Year 6 invitees’ parents has been positive, the impact of the weekly boot camps, a regular event since 2022, is showing in the school’s data.

“Our numbers for this year, in terms of sense of belonging and advocacy, are the strongest they’ve been since 2016,” Mr Lawler said.

Primary school students have now participated in two Friday morning boot camps, with more sessions to come later in the year.