Summer holiday homework for yr 6 into yr 7

[babasheep]

On July induction day my dd's school asked the new dcs to read one of the recommended books and then do a couple of small projects based on their chosen book. They re expected to hand in the homework in the first English lesson in September. Just wonder do many schools do that?

[roguedad]

My son's new secondary school asked him to read at least two of the books on a (very good) list and to write down some thoughts on them. He's currently working through My Family and Other Animals, though he's laughing almost too much to think about what he might write.

[JustAShopGirl]

Ours did... DD13 read a book, made a collage and wrote a character profile. DD12 read a book, did a character profile and wrote an alternate starting paragraph.

Neither of them took more than 2 hours over the actual work - and they read every night in bed anyhow.

[mychildrenarebarmy]

DD was asked to finish a picture and learn The Lord's Prayer (it's a Catholic school). They were both presented as not actually expecting many pupils to do them, taken as a challenge by DD.

She would have loved to be asked to read though.

[17leftfeet]

Dd was given 10 tasks and told to do 4 of them

She did a book review, a fake diary entry, a presentation about her favourite tv show and a scrap book about what she did in the holidays

[Leeds2]

My DD didn't have to do anything. The school recommended "reading" but didn't specify any books.

[Kenlee]

My daughter went to the beach...

[bigTillyMint]

Mine didn't have to do anything, thank God!

[JustAShopGirl]

my girls loved it - it gave them something that "had" to be done, and all the results were displayed in the school hall on the first day back - they got a lot of older kids coming up and saying well done, love the ideas etc... a really sweet intro to the school.

[MilkRunningOutAgain]

Nothing for DS , but he has done a week's summer school at his new school and did a lot of quasi educational stuff during it, the summer school was excellent. But think he needs to spend a week or two unwinding now before starting in September.

[wilddogbert]

My DD has to find a poem she likes and have a paragraph saying why she likes it. She has to write one page about something she has done during the holidays, and she has to learn the Welsh national anthem.
She has already done them and she enjoyed it as it seems to have made her feel more prepared for 'big' school.

[babasheep]

So it s not uncommon. Never would expect dcs start year 7 before September. Are they normal above average sort of schools?

[afterthought]

I teach secondary. It has been normal in every school I've worked in. There is often an attainment dip in year 7 so it is good to keep the brain ticking over. As a year 7 form tutor I found it quite useful to see which children enjoyed doing work at home, and those who may need some gentle encouragement. However, I'm not a massive fan of homework, I would much rather children had time to be children.

[shinysparklythings]

I`m a teacher not parent, but I wrote the maths homework for transition. At our school they have English, Maths and Science homework do do over the summer.

[babasheep]

Dd usually good with homework but being summer holiday it s hard for her to put her mind into it. She may get down to it in the lastweek or so.

[reup]

I posted about this before but my child had a 22 page booklet covering 12 subjects. Some were easy some more projects. It was awful- there was so much he wasn't motivated to do anything really well. We have just about finished it bar 3 more books to read.

None of his friends going to other schools had any. A mum of if a child in the year above got it last year and said her sdron spent the first week trying to give it in and no one was interested. I will explode if that happens.

[GoodArvo]

At DS's induction, the were told that they could send in a postcard from their holiday to the school if they want to. The postcard should contain a picture of something of historical or geographical interest. They'll get a house point if they send one.

He's going to a grammar school and it sounds like they'll be getting plenty of homework when school starts. I'm glad he's getting a rest.

[Happy36]

Our school gave out a little booklet with info. from each subject they´ll study in Year 7 with ideas of things to do over the summer. The most recommended (not mandatory but more or less expected) are a suggested fitness programme from the P.E. department, a reading list from English and an interactive website from Maths.

[ThisIsLID]

Our secondary does that too. Last year it included baking a cake, writing the recipe down and taking a picture of the cake, recording how much exercise they do each day, so eg history stuff, reading etc. they were told that if the homework wasn't done during the hols, they would have to do that in the first week anyway as it will used as a starting point for the teaching in different subjects.

Personally I thought it was too much tbh.

[Hakluyt]

I have an 18 year old and a 13 year old. I think doing a little school type work over the summer holidays is incredibly helpful. Not so much probably for going I to year 7 because they are all super keen and ready to go anyway. But from then on- particularly if you have computer or outside oriented children- keeping the brain ticking over makes a big difference.

[pointythings]

Nothing here, thank goodness. There are better ways to keep their brains ticking over if you are a creative and engaged parent, it isn't rocket science.

[LeBearPolar]

DS hasn't been asked to do anything, which I am quite happy with. He reads loads anyway.

[queenofthemountain]

Wow! Never heard of that round this neck of the woods!
way to go if you want to put them off & create anxiety before they even start!

[pourmeanotherglass]

Nothing here, and DD hasn't done any maths or English since SATS week, so it's quite a long gap.

She's reading her way through the 'Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy series', but only really reads in bed, so will only have read 4-5 books over the holiday.

[AChickenCalledKorma]

Nothing here either.

She's just finished Year 7 and they have had some homework in each half term and at Easter and Christmas, including some very annoying projects that hijacked a lot of rest time.

But nothing in the summer - either before or after yr7.