How to organise a Year 6 leavers’ event

Leaving primary school is a big rite of passage. Most schools will go to a lot of effort to mark this for the kids – with a school residential, a party, a leavers’ play and a leavers’ assembly, for example. But many parents and families want to mark it in their own way and organise their own Year 6 leavers’ event. If done well, these can be really memorable and special, but they need a bit of work.

Here’s my top tips for organising a Year 6 leavers’ event…

Start early – like really early. Like just after Christmas. If you want to book limos etc, they get booked up fast.

One person should take charge – yes, delegate, but one person should take overall charge so that things don’t get confused and fragmented.

A good old-fashioned letter – is the best way to communicate with parents as not everybody is on Facebook. Set out the options clearly and give parents a date to come back to you with a deposit.

Don’t forget ‘the other class’ – if your school has two classes, invite both of them! After seven years at school, friendships often cross into the other class.

Don’t leave anyone out – the whole year group might not have been the best of friends, there might be one or two people that aren’t that popular, but leaving them out is just wrong! This is the time for EVERYONE to get together. If people don’t want to go, let them make that decision themselves.

Include parents and siblings – sometimes siblings will want to join in, sometimes they will need to be there for childcare reasons. Including them makes it far easier for all families to get involved.

Budget carefully – how cheaply can you get a bulk order of pizzas? Companies will often be happy to give you a good price at a time of day when they are usually quiet.

Think about the weather – an outdoor picnic or party is a lovely idea, but what if it rains? And what about toilets?

Don’t start proceedings too early – on the final day of school, children will usually want to hang around for half an hour or so, getting shirts signed and taking phone numbers. Give them time to do this and really enjoy their last moments at primary school.

Relax and enjoy!

How to organise a Year 6 leavers' event, Primary school, Leaving primary school, Year 6

I’ve had two experiences of Year 6 leavers’ events over the last two years. While both enjoyable, one went more smoothly than the other. We’ll call them Event A and Event B…

Event A

One parent took control and wrote to all families in the year group. She offered the limo as an optional extra and came up with an incredible price to cover: pizza, drinks, party games, an ice cream from the ice cream van and hire of the village hall. The party was held in the park, with the use of the hall for toilets and bad weather.

Event B

One parent initially took control and contacted families through Facebook. Others were unhelpful and kept chipping in their own ideas (until there were too many ideas) and moaning about people that hadn’t been ‘invited’, rather than take the initiative and pass on the information themselves. A limo was booked, but there wasn’t enough interest for a second limo until it was too late and there were no limos left to book. So there was more moaning from parents who didn’t get a place in the limo, but weren’t willing to put themselves out and offer any positive help.

One parent booked a restaurant and asked who wanted to join her. Again, others moaned that they hadn’t been ‘invited’. A picnic in the park was offered as an alternative. Some kids who were going to the restaurant moaned that they would prefer the park and vice versa. Both the restaurant and limo ended up splitting up friendship groups because parents weren’t quick enough to respond and say yes or no.

A good time was still had, but I think it’s easy to see which event ran more smoothly.

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Author: Sarah Mummy

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15 Comments

  1. Let me guess, did you organise event A by any chance? Event B sounds like a shambles it must have been very frustrating!

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  2. I didn’t organise it! I’m actually really bad at organising stuff (but I didn’t organise event B either!). I was in awe of the woman who did it and thought it would be useful to share the experience for future generations of Year 6 parents.

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  3. This is a lovely idea. Our school do refreshments on the village green after the leavers service on the last day of school, but all other year 6 entertainment seems to happen during the final 2 weeks in school. Day out at a local park and outdoor pool, and day out to a theme park etc.

    I remember the only thing we had at primary was a dinner and disco at a local random hotel, but it didn’t seem to be actually for the leavers stage, just a few weeks before that for the final year group.

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    • Refreshments on the village green sounds lovely! Our school does a few things in the last few days of school, but it’s nice to have something for the kids to do when they actually finished. Can feel hard for them to just go straight home after such an emotional last day.

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  4. Good advice, which event was this year’s I wonder? It is often better if the school organise something. Our first school team up with the other schools in the cluster and organise a leavers prom (disco) for any children from the five first schools and it is always lovely. The middle school organise a prom so you just have to sort out some amazing form of transport and nice clothes.

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    • I couldn’t possibly comment on which event was this year’s, although I will openly admit I didn’t have a hand in either of them! The school do organise things in the last few days of school, but it’s nice for them to have something to do when they actually finish school as it’s such an emotional day and going home would feel like an anti-climax.

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  5. This is fab, I have a few years before I get to this stage again.I think you’re totally right about too many cooks spoiling the broth so to speak and letting 1 or 2 people take control is so much easier.Love that you’ve said include all kids, all or nothing in my eyes!

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    • Thanks very much. So important to include everyone! Doing separate events for friendship groups inevitably leads to kids being left out.

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  6. What great tips – this will be coming round for me again before I know it.

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    • Thanks very much. It certainly will!

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  7. This is a lovely idea. We have the P7’s decide what they’d like and depending on the size they do something. Last year they got the boogie bus and a red carpet party in the school. The teachers mainly organise ours with some help from parent council, but we usually do the activity days. This looks fab and some great tips for my turn next year. xx #mondaystumble

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    • It’s nice that the kids give their ideas and it’s arranged jointly by teachers and parents. Our school do organise some lovely things for the last few days of school, but the parents like to give the kids a good send-off too! x

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  8. A personalized trip from the ice cream truck sounds fabulous and is like a kids dream! Lovely!

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  9. These are great ideas Sarah and I agree about starting early. We had one person in charge for organising our year 6 party, and everything went incredibly well in the run up to it and also on the night. We hired a small nightclub from 7pm till 9,30pm and it worked out brilliantly for the kids. There was a DJ, soft drinks and pizza and the best bit was the parents were next door in the bar area, and so we took it in turns to keep checking on them. They had independence and more importantly the parents enjoyed a gin (it was the same day as the leavers assembly so it was needed). Writing this comment and reading your post it actually seems like a lifetime ago now x

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    • It does seem like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it? Hiring a nightclub and keeping everything in the same place sounds amazing – especially as the parents can relax and enjoy it too!

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