The Regional Director for RISE South West is Lucy Livings.

It was great to meet with so many of you on Tuesday 19 May, for our final SWAN meeting of this academic year.

If you weren’t able to attend, please do take the time to watch the recording and discuss your learning with colleagues. We are extremely grateful to Ben Pearce,  Deputy Headteacher at Somervale Academy in Radstock and Cameron Shaw, Executive Principal at CLF, for attending and generously sharing their insights and expertise.

The meeting included:

• Somervale’s attendance improvement journey – Ben shared some of the academy’s work, including the strong focus on relationships with students and families during Y6 - 7 transition and throughout secondary.
• Transition data mapping – Cameron walked us through a mapping approach to support the transition of children from Y6 to Y7. (You can rewatch the recording if needed!)
• What we are learning about transition (and attendance) - Kate also shared some thoughts and reflections about the vital work of transition. 

The meeting recording and slides are available via this link: ​Tuesday 19th May 2026​. We will email again in T6 with the additional resources from Ben at Somervale School.

Thank you for the feedback, ideas for next year, and offers to present that were shared in the chat. Please continue to get in touch with any further thoughts and suggestions, as we want to continue to ensure these network meetings are as useful as possible. And remember to get in touch if you have great practice that you would like to share with the network.

Do continue to signpost the SWAN to others - it is open to anyone with a role in attendance - just pass on this link: Registration Form

SWAN meeting schedule for next year

Please put the following dates in your diaries, the Teams links will be sent out in due course:

Tuesdays 3:30-5pm via Microsoft Teams

• Term 1: 22 September 2025
• Term 2: 1 December 2025
• Term 4: 2 March 2026
• Term 6: 18 May 2026