DD has her induction at secondary school today

[Greengreenleaf]

The only child from her class going to that school

[Greengreenleaf]

She had tears in her eyes this morning when I dropped her off.

She'll be ok won't she?

[Leeds2]

She will be fine! She will find out what form she is in, and there will hopefully be at least one other child who is an "only" and they will be friends for today at least.

My DD was in the same position and it worked out absolutely fine.

[bojorojo]

Goodness me! These schools are excellent at settling children in. They do it year in, year out. Be positive. It is a new and exciting experience. I dropped my DD off to boarding school at 11 and she had previously had a "get to meet you day". She knew no-one but she was full of it! Loved every second and made friends for life - even on day one! There is no need for tears. Why is she so fearful?

[tiggytwig]

She'll be fine, my DS had his last week and he was the only one from his school.

[BananaL0af]

She'll be fine. Schools are well versed at dealing with this issue.

Whatever the size of the school, chances are there'll be many "single" kids from different primary schools.

I told my kids when they started secondary that everyone starts yr7 with a positive attitude and is keen to make new friends. She won't be the only one not knowing other kids, she'll make friends.

[Greengreenleaf]

She loved it!

Had such a good day and made two friends in her form

[hellsbells99]

Glad she had a good day Op!
My DD made a new friend at her induction day and 7 years later they have just celebrated their leavers ball together and are off on holiday next week!

[FreeFromHarm]

Fantastic, my dd went to a new secondary school last year all on her own, so happy your dd had a good day and made some friends, really helps for september

[LifeIsGoodish]

Our secondary has 4 or 5 main feeder schools, but takes in pupils from about 30 different schools. They spread the children from the main feeder schools across the whole year group and make sure never to put an 'only' in a form with many children from one school. One or two forms out of the 8 in each year are made up mostly of 'onlies'. One of my dc was placed in an 'onlies' form, despite coming from a feeder school, and it was a brilliant decision by the transition team. It gave my dc a completely fresh start in a new social group.

[TeenAndTween]

DD2 had her first transition day or two today.

She is quite a shy thing, and her friend from school placed in her new class is even more shy. Friend from school didn't even turn up for the day, don't know why. DD says she had lunch alone but seems OK about the day generally.

[TeenAndTween]

of two

[LockedOutOfMN]

At my school, our induction day is set up to integrate everyone (they're put into teams of children who don't know each other and set various challenges). The playing field is levelled by them all being new to the school (even if they have siblings there already) and therefore we take advantage of that to make them work together in their teams to find their way around the building, find out who certain staff members are, etc.

I expect most other schools do something similar. Year 7 tutor groups should also be set up to mix up students from different primary schools.