Y7; 2 terms down, 1 to go. How are your kids doing?

[FiveHoursSleep]

This time two terms ago, I was so nervous for DD1 but she's loving secondary school and doing well.
She's an anxious sort but quite sensible and I was confident that she'd be able to handle the transition. DD2 is starting this September and she's a different kettle of fish, summer born with concentration problems so I am wondering how she's going to cope with the organisation required and the travelling.
How have your Y7s settled in?
And those of you who have older kids, what's Y8 like?

[ThreeLannistersOneTargaryen]

DS2 has settled much better than I could possibly have anticipated. He has made friends, joined clubs and tried new things, none of which happened in primary school.

For DS1, Y8 was a bit of a laid-back year. The work was fairly easy and there was less homework than in Y7. He used the time to explore new interests (baking, debating, woodwork).

[DottyDot]

Ds1 is doing really well academically but says he isn't enjoying it . He's adopted a weary resignation to being there for the next 5 years - kind of like a prison sentence...

I really hope he starts to find something to enjoy about it - I'm hoping that when he chooses his options and can concentrate on the subjects he likes that it starts to become less of a trial. Am also hoping he joins something like cricket or tennis this summer. He's not really made new friends - still sees old primary school friends at weekends and holidays.

But at least he's not struggling with the work and the amount of homework is OK - gets about 2-3 pieces a week and none too time consuming.

So all in all, could be better but probably could be much worse!

[ImAThrillseekerBunny]

DD is a disorganised summer baby at a v academic school. Happy, making loads of friends, coping with the ideas but struggling with the organisation and the homework. She'll get there.

[BackforGood]

dd is fine. She's disappointed in the lack of sports teams, and absolutely horrified at the lack of salad and veg in the canteen (to the extent she's switched to packed lunches), but she's enjoying life and doing fine. Very interesting Parents' Evening recently though, with all the teachers reporting a very similar picture, but very different from the picture we'd been given throughout Primary school.

Yr 8, as others have sid, tends to be a very laid back year, nothing much happening.

[ManateeEquineOHara]

DS has mostly really enjoyed it and is doing well academically, he loves getting the bus with friends and buying his lunch in the canteen and boasts about the size of the school (one if the biggest secondaries which was a slight concern but has been fine).
Only blip was his best friend from primary trying his best to turn others against DS (being a Wendy!? Never used that term before but I think it was the moment for it!). That all got sorted and the prev best friend is so obvious in his two faced behaviour that most have got wise to him anyway.

[OldBeanbagz]

DD is doing well academically but i still worry about friendship issues. Maybe this is just Y7 girls? She finds the girls from the feeder school quite cliquey at times though she has made one really good new friend and gets on well with several others.

She has been loads more organised that i ever imagined she would be and has so far managed to get all homework/projects in on time and is keeping on top of her weekly homework by doing it when she gets it rather than when it's due in.

Club wise, i wonder if she's taken on too much this year as she's doing clubs 4 afternoons after school and 3 lunchtimes too. This on top of homework plus 2 x instruments to practice means there's not a lot of free time but she seems to be coping so far.

We have just had an excellent end of term report so very pleased with progress so far

[5madthings]

Ds2 is doing ok, some friendship issues but the school have a great pastoral support team and they have been very good.

Few behaviour issues but again school have been great, he's generally managing homework etc and enjoying school.

[TeenAndTween]

y10 parent here
DD's friendships didn't really stabilise until the end of y8.
y8 work wise was about the same as y7. y9 similar again until summer term.

Then big step up for y10.

[FiveHoursSleep]

DD1 has been quite lucky with friends. She's at an all girls' school and they don't seem to have a Queen Bee; they all take turns at suggesting things and most people go along with who ever is suggesting stuff.
She has very little to do with the girls she used to go to school with in primary school as she went to a selective school about 40 mins travel from us, but transport links are good so it's easy to catch up with her friends.
They have quite a lot to do with the boys from the boys' grammar but only in a friendly way and are not too boy mad yet.
She's joined a lot of music based clubs and is playing some new sports too.

[Hulababy]

DD also started Y7 this year. She went from a small primary - 12 in class - to a bigger secondary - now 25 in class, but 5 classes in the year instead of one. She went up with 7 friends, one of 4 in her class.

She has loved every bit of it so far. She is still good friends with some of the girls who went with her and keeps in touch with them all via Instagram, and some outside of school. But she has also made lots of new friends, including a couple of now close friends.

It's quite an academic school but DD is enjoying it and not too daunted with the extra homework - she didn't have that much last year, especially once the entrance exams were over in January (no SATs). Mind, I think she still goes to school for the social life more than anything ;)

Main change is how much she has grown up. She is far more independent and mature in herself as well as now looking so much older too. My little girl definitely looks more like a teenager now.

[BackforGood]

My experience with ds(now Yr13) and dd1 (now Yr10) is that there are a lot of changing friendships in Yr7. Suddenly there's a much bigger pool of people for a lot of the pupils (although ds went from a 3 form entry Primary to a 4 form entry secondary, so not much different for him) and hormones are starting to kick in for some, so things move around quite a bit.

[monicalewinski]

DS1 has settled in really well now.

Quite a few problems at the start of the year with the yr7 boys all trying to assert themselves. 6 feeder schools and (according to the head of year) a lot of alpha types this year.

By Christmas he had settled into the routine of it all, and was enjoying it but not trying as hard as he was able in classes; his report and parents evening before Easter was brilliant - he's trying hard, interested and has found his 'position' socially - he loves that the subjects are separate and has discovered a passion for science, design & technology(?can't remember its proper name ) and history.

I hope to god he carries on with that attitude throughout secondary!

[NotEnoughTime]

My DS has really seemed to settle in and he says he feels like he has been at his "new" school forever but in a good way.

He was a little bit nervous before he started secondary school but not half as much as I was but that has gone now.

He too looks like a teenager and I feel so Blessed to see him turning into a lovely young man-I'm very proud of him

[FiveHoursSleep]

Oh yes, the looking like a teenager thing! Don't they?
Also I meant to mention the phone/ social media thing.
We sent DD1 to secondary school with a bog standard text/call only phone but quickly saw that Apps like Instagram and the 16 rated WhatsApp are a huge part of their social scene. We dug our heels in about these at first as at 12 DD1 is too young to be using these 'legally', but she explained that everyone was on them, and they do seem to be.
We did caved and let her install them on her low level smart phone and she has definitely been involved in more things since.
We do monitor her mobile phone use though, have PWs for everything and check out her phone once or twice a week, especially if she's moodier than normal.

[HolidayCriminal]

DD loves everything about it.
DS may go to same school & I'm sure it will be a small nightmare for us all. Personality differences...

[DottyDot]

Yes ds1's also crashed into puberty which might not be helping the whole transition to secondary school - he's suddenly at least a foot taller, voice deeper and spots and hairs everywhere Poor sod. It's a lot to cope with...

he's got a Blackberry on request as all his friends had one and we've let him have an Instagram account on the agreement that he 'friended' me (which he agreed to but is mortified every time I comment on it..!).

[Hulababy]

I don't have Instagram but I let dd have it. But it's on the agreement that I have access to her phone and all passwords so can check at anytime. Also went over all the e safety stuff inc cyber bullying etc.

Dd went though the initial and biggest puberty changes in Y6 really, but she has grown up in so many ways far more in this last academic year.

Dd still loves spending time with me and her dad, and her grandparents and cousins. So at least we don't have the grumpy teenager stuff like that - hopefully never, I never really did and neither did dh. But we will cross that bridge as and when.

For now she is loving her new social stuff and although we still have to be involved with transporting them there/back most of the time it's all great. This holiday she had been to the cinema with a friend and today she is off swimming with friends. One thing I won't let her do yet it just wandering aimlessly round town/shopping centres - I hate that.

[mankyscotslass]

DS has settled in really well at his all boy school- I was worried he was in a form with none of his friends, but he has made new ones and seems really happy.

Academically he is doing well, he seems to have an ear for languages according to his French teacher, and is doing well with his other subjects too. His music teacher wants him to learn an instrument now too as his theory is good but no practical experience. He never showed any aptitude at primary, so I looked like this at parents evening. The first half term in Maths was hard for him as he has always done well in Maths, and his high school did not set for that until after the half term. He was very bored and a bit disappointed, but after October when they were set he has been much happier.

School don't seem to set for anything else til YR 8, when they set for languages and I think Science from Christmas, though that may change according to the Ofsted reports.

He has tried Rugby (hates it), Table Tennis (loves it) and has joined Choir - he says this has nothing to do with the trips out that the choir members get first dibs on ....Blackpool this weekend.

He has taken part in loads of inter form competitions when his form captain has asked him, and his Form Tutor has said that he has done very well in what he terms as a challenging form - "the most challenging form he has had in 18 years of being a Form Tutor".

The school bus is a bit of a zoo though, and I am waiting on a call back from school about an incident yesterday with one of the older boys, but he still seems happy to get on the bus so it can't be all bad!

I was worried when the school underwent an Ofsted Inspection in November and dropped from Outstanding to Requires Improvement, but they have really moved forward and our experience has been very positive.

I only hope DD is as happy when she moves to secondary in 2015. I have a feeling DS would have been OK wherever he went, but DD is a different kettle of fish and I don't think it's going to be plain sailing at all.