A support thread for those DC who are embarking on the scary world of secondary school in September...

[Iamnotminterested]

Anyone want to join in?

[clutteredup]

Count me in - don't we find out where soon - it seems so long since we applied.

[KS2L6]

I absolutely can't wait. Secondary school cannot come soon enough for us!!

[clutteredup]

Why/ Just wondering. We're ready for secondary but I'm not sure I'm that excited - I suppose it's different if you already know your DC is going to a good school - we're still a bit on tenterhooks - though it shouldn't really be a problem it's not guaranteed.

[Iamnotminterested]

1st March here, clutterdup

[clutteredup]

Probably the same here then I think it's all as one now isn't it to cover people who stray over county boundaries.

[IndigoBell]

I'm excited.

DS is doing brilliantly in Y6, and his teacher is fabulous, and I don't want it to end.....

However I'm still really excited about him moving up to secondary school.

He really wants 'more responsibility' now, which I hope secondary school will give him, and I also think he'll enjoy streamed classes more. ( :( - I don't approve of his attitude to some of the other kids - but I'm not him)

I'm also looking forward to drawing a line in the sand and saying 'Now you're responsible for school / homework yourself'. To me, once he goes to secondary I'm no longer going to be speaking to teachers, or SENCOs, or worrying about him, or reminding him about his hw.....

He's learnt to read and write and add up. He has all the skills he needs to thrive in secondary, and I'm going to stop worrying about him :)

Which is great, because a few years ago I was very worried about secondary school and him.

[LittenTree]

Mm. I have mixed feelings about secondary and DS2. Y6 hasn't been an overweening success, really. I am disappointed in his teacher; I don't feel DS has been given sufficient support as he should scrape 4s in his SATS/job done. I think DS has mild dyslexia but he school will not test him (and I can't afford to!). He goes to English tutoring once a week as it is.

DS2 just hasn't really been at all excited about this year, unlike other years. He's the smallest boy on the year and is as innocent as the day is long. I am really rather worried about how he'll cope in the 280 DC entry, academic secondary he'll be going to (and where his DB, Y8, is) especially as I know he'll have trouble accessing the syllabus as his reading is quite poor (tested by his tutor last Easter as being 7.5 years when he was just 10).

As for 'now you're responsible for....' we'll have nightly tears.

I really wish we could send him to a small non-selective private school, tbh!

[IndigoBell]

Litten - Have you tried something like [http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0952256401/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=0952256401&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21 Toe by Toe]] to improve his reading?

If you've already tried that, I have loads of other suggestions.

[IndigoBell]

Toe by Toe

[geogteach]

DS hasn't enjoyed year 6 either so we are looking forward to a change, but he is profoundly deaf and I think he is going to find a much bigger, noisier environment tough and getting to know new people will be challenging.

[LittenTree]

Indigo

Please tell me more about Toe by Toe.

Would a 10 3/4 year old with the reading age of a say 8 year old benefit? Is it so 'back to basics' he'll feel he's re-entered Reception? What do you think?

[maizieD]

I know he'll have trouble accessing the syllabus as his reading is quite poor (tested by his tutor last Easter as being 7.5 years when he was just 10).

It would be helpful to know what reading test the tutor used. Most tests that I know of tend to test comprehension rather than word reading skills and it is difficult to tell from the result whether the problem lies with decoding skills (the ability to work out what unfamiliar words 'say') or comprehension skills (knowing what words 'mean'). A poor score on a standard Reading & Comprehension test could indicate that one or the other of these skills is poor, or that both of them are.

If decoding skills are poor, then Toe by Toe might help (though some children find it very boring and are very resistant to it). If it is vocabulary he will need introducing to a wide range of words (in reading and conversation), working on word meanings and where/how to use them.

Sadly, although vocab. skills are enhanced by reading, poor readers in schools are often given very little reading to do, and that of a very simple nature, so they don't get the opportunity to extend their vocabulary. It ends up as a vicious circle.

Having said that, if he has a extensive spoken vocabulary I would suspect that it is the decoding skills that are lacking.

For decoding, another programmme worth looking at is Phonics International, which is completely 'age neutral' and can be accessed at whatever level is needed. I find that most 'struggling readers' are perfectly familiar with the 'simple' letter/sound correspondences that they were taught in YR/1, but don't know the more complex ones. Phonics International has free assessments which help to identify the gaps in phonic knowledge and resources to address this.

//www.phonicsinternational.com

You'll also find lots of advice on the website on supporting reading and spelling.

I know it is a bit late now, with choices already made for secondary places, but, when you looked at his prospective secondary school did you find out what support they would offer for struggling readers?

[IndigoBell]

Yes to everything Maizie said.

It's very age neutral - which is why I suggested it. It's even used in prisons, for adults with poor reading, and is really specifically designed not to be patronising.

It takes 10 minutes a day, and is easy to do at home.

[2kidsintow]

I'm in a quandry. My DD is not thriving in her y6 class in the same way she has all through the rest of primary, and I'm looking forward to the change on her behalf.

On the other hand, I still pick her up from school twice a week because I'm already collecting her younger sister, and we have a lovely time chatting on the way home, and sitting with her at the park when her sister plays or watching her and her sister have some nice time together (until we get home, when it is straight to her room and then she likes her privacy!)
I don't want it to end! To make it worse, this term I'm working full time so can't do that at the moment. Counting down the days til the Summer term here.

She is looking forward to moving on and making new friends and being more independent in Sept, and I'm hoping that I can stall the constant 'can I go here?' 'Can I call on X?' etc for a while longer.

[bizzey]

HI thought i would join in as well.My ds1 is off as well in Sept . Ithink he is ready as his school are preparing them well and they have all known they would one day have to change schools! Ithink it will be worse for me as i have 2 other ds's and they are all close in age (10,9,7) and our morning and after school routine will never be the same again...how sad do i sound!!!!!ha ha...plus i will have to accept my baby is growing up!!


But i think my two main concerns are the early starts and have i made the right choice of school(s)

He will have to leave for any of our choices at 7.15 am...He is still in the land of nod at this time at the moment!! we leave at 8.45 and have done for 7 years and with my boys less is best ..too much time in the morning and they want to play so i don't need to get them up early.

Choice of schools..well there is nothing i can do now but wait till next week and hope that one of the most important decissions to be made in a childs life turns out ok.

I am ready for the tears/tantrums/stropps and sheer exhaustion for the first few weeks..!!

[Iamnotminterested]

Counting down now...

[simbo]

Those of you who think that children can actually manage all their own stuff as soon as they start secondary school are living in cloud cuckooland. My ds is going in September, but if he's anything like his older sister I'll be taking things down regularly, or getting messages to say he hasn't done homework. My dd does do it but then forgets to take it in.

[Iamnotminterested]

simbo I am under no illusion whatsoever that my slap-dash DD will become Miss. Organised overnight; most days she can't find her arse with both hands.

[IndigoBell]

Counting down here too - even though I know which school we'll get :)

DS is super organised, and mostly pretty stressed. We had to make a rule that he is only allowed to check he's got everything 3 times before he leaves the house :)

and he does all his hw independently without being reminded.

So I am fairly confident he'll be able to organise himself.

However I'm expecting other problems. I'm expecting him to be very stressed. To get into fights. To hate some of his teachers. To not be able to handle PE......

But there is no way I'd ever go to school to drop off stuff for him.

Planning on spending all summer practicing buttons, ties, shoe laces and tying aprons :(

[teacherwith2kids]

Waiting to hear about school for DS...

He's not going to have any option other than to be organised, as everyone else in the family will leave at 7.15 am, leaving him to get up, have breakfast, get his stuff together and walk himself to school.

4 days a week he'll probably be the first home, too.

It's a big leap from the world of childminder and after-school club to the world of pretty much total self-reliance! I've been training him pretty actively over the last couple of years - I've never helped with homework (it's his repsonsibility), he has gone out on longer and longer errands, he can make breakfast for himself, he's done the 'get home to empty house, get ready for a sports club and get himself there on foot' thing a number of times (and will do it every week for cricket club this summer term). He's also a child who will follow a set routine rigidly, so once we have sorted out what that routine is I hope he'll be fine. It's what happens when things go awry that I worry about.

Hopefully one of his friends will call for him in the mornings, as we live right next to a well-travelled route to his probable school....

[IndigoBell]

Got 1st choice as expected. How about you guys?

[Divideandrule]

1st choice too but always expected to.

[Iamnotminterested]

Yay! first choice. Makes it all seem quite real now