Most often, we consider the move from high school to university to be one of the most trying times on a child and their family, but we forget another transition that can be just as stressful on a teen - moving from middle school to high school.

“We call this the roller coaster ride because when they come to middle school the kids are all over the place finding themselves, meeting new friends, etc.,” explains Zina Francis, guidance counsellor at Clearwater Middle School. “It’s definitely a time where you have to jump in and say: ‘What do we do with these children, what direction are they going in?’. It’s quite busy so if you really want to help them you have to be involved.”

To help prepare students for their transition into high school on the academic side of things, the Department of Education has developed a Bermuda Career Planner, where students can write down their goals and plans in relation to their education and future careers.

“These planners give students a chance to actually talk about what they’re probably not talking about on a regular basis, like why they’re failing or how they feel they can do better,” Ms Francis notes. “We start them off with questions that help us to get an idea of what they feel about themselves - what their strengths are, or what characteristics they portray.

“Some kids don’t ever talk about this and even forget some of the awards they may have received and some of those things could help them get scholarships, etc.”

Ms. Francis notes that a lot of students transitioning into high school will do so without a plan and those students tend to fall through the cracks, especially when they may be less academically inclined than their peers.

“Some kids struggle in academics and talking to them now is good because you can find out what direction they’re going in,” she says. “In the public school system, the two high schools have different programmes - CedarBridge has a more extensive programme for learning support for students that need modified programmes, and Berkeley is still not there.

“Sometimes I have to explain to the parents who think Berkeley is the only option that they may be doing their child a disservice if their child needs learning support.”

In addition to meeting with the students to discuss their plans, parents are invited to attend the meeting to get an idea of what’s going on with their children.

The planner also touches on occupational career goals in order to get the students thinking outside the box.