MOVING up to a different school is a natural step in a child's development, but it can also be a stressful time.

However, emphasis is now being placed on keeping any stress to a minimum, thanks to a project being piloted in North Hartlepool.

Close links are being forged between St Bega's and St John Vianney primary schools and English Martyrs Secondary School to ensure that when pupils move from the primary schools, the transition is as smooth as possible for them.

Although there has always been contact between secondary schools and the primary schools which feed into them, this project aims to strengthen those links.

This is the first year of the three-year pilot, which is being carried out by Hartlepool Borough Council's education department and funded by the North Hartlepool Single Regeneration Budget Partnership.

Under the scheme, teachers from English Martyrs will be visiting the two primaries to talk to the youngsters, who in turn will make visits to the secondary school.

There will be greater contact between the staff of the schools, so that the English Martyrs staff can start to build up a picture of the needs of individual pupils.

This will also help the primary school teachers to identify whether youngsters need extra support to make sure they are up to speed academically when the time comes to move up.

Alan Kell, the project manager said: "Moving from primary school to secondary school is a big step for youngsters, and if they aren't very confident, it can be a very stressful time.

"The more they can familiarise themselves with their new school in advance, the better these youngsters will cope with the move.

"This project aims to explore and maximise the ways in which the move from primary to secondary school can be made as smooth as possible for the youngsters."

The lessons learnt from the project will be used in other schools in the Hartlepool area.