Successful transition of secondary school students into tertiary study is a priority for secondary schools, tertiary institutions and government alike (see, for example, Bazerman, 2007; Batholomae, 2005). The National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) has, as one of its goals, the effective preparation of senior secondary students for higher education; the Tertiary Education Commission's (TEC) "Tertiary Education Strategy 2014-2019" highlights student success (particularly of at-risk students, including Maori and Pasifica) in higher education as one of its goals; and universities are responding to this strategy by implementing enhanced transition and retention strategies. This research was a response to anecdotal evidence that, despite best intentions by secondary schools and tertiary institutions, the transition of students into tertiary education remains problematic. The authors' hypothesis was that a significant gap existed within the educational experiences of students bridging the transition between secondary and tertiary education, and that the key to addressing this gap was academic literacy (Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008). By focusing on academic literacy pedagogy in both the senior secondary and first year tertiary sectors, bringing teachers across sectors together to engage with academic literacy pedagogy, and supporting transitioning students' academic literacy, the report aims to reduce the gap in the transition between secondary and tertiary study.