Keeping notes and books from one year to the next - what to do

[Notcontent]

When dd was in primary school I kept a small selection of her notebooks, as I thought it would be fun for her to look back on in the future. But of course I knew that she wouldn't actually use them for anything!

She has just finished year 7, and we have to sort out her room at some point in the summer break. I am wondering what do most people do about keeping stuff for future reference and revision - do you just apply common sense? E.g. not keep maths work books, but maybe keep science notes?

We have a very small house so try to keep clutter to a minimum...

[RedSkyLastNight]

Not sure they ever refer back to Y7 books.
DS is in Y9 in a school with a 3 year KS4 so we have to keep his books - we've used a standard home filing box.

[crimsonlake]

Done the same here ever since my 2 were little, they are now at uni. Over the years I have thinned them somewhat, but on recently moving house I had to stlll take them in a trunk ! The things we do. Do not get me started on the football annuals and Guinness book of records, now they weigh a ton.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

DD has just finished year 9. From year 7 till now we were advised to keep all books with notes in them. We have now disposed of the books for subjects she will not be studying for GCSE.

[Trumpetboysmum]

They probably won't look at them but we did keep books last year ( 7 going into 8) and for some exams this year like maths and science Ds did look back in them for end of key exams ( they fit KS3 into 2 years ? - fun!!) Ds is now starting GCSEs in year 9 so we will get rid of the books for subjects he's not continuing with - not sure if it's worth keeping history etc as the course for GCSE has new content - so we might just keep maths and science ( I say we it will be me who sorts all if this out !!- I've hinted that he needs to keep his books sorted next year as it's the start of GCSEs and he'll need them - we'll see )

[sashh]

Photograph/photocopy them and store on a cloud, they are there if you need them and don't take up any space.

[Oblomov18]

Not kept books in secondary. Seriously most children will NEVER ever look back at anything. And these trunks of old stuff? Really? What is the real reason you are keeping it? I bet it's not seen in the same way as you see it, by any child!

[glitterbiscuits]

I don't think mine have ever looked back at their old books. Nearly all the information would be online or in a revision guide. I'd keep one or two for sentimental reasons but that's all.

[TheThirdOfHerName]

Mine kept them until the end of that key stage.

KS3: the exercise books from the current year were useful for revising for end of year exams. The ones from previous years were never looked at.

KS4: the older two (who have done GCSEs) used textbooks and revision guides rather than their class notes. The only class notes used were in Latin literature (Eduqas) where there was no textbook or revision guide available.

KS5: the one who has done A-levels mostly used textbooks to revise, but did also refer to class notes from the two-year course.

[motortroll]

I'm a teacher. It does depend on the school but I would say you don't need to keep yr7 and 8 books. My students often ask me and I give the option of recycling. The reasoning is that the to needed the notes for assessment and feedback but now they've done the assessment and feedback (which I keep) they don't need them.

We teach soft versions of our gcse topics in ks3 but in all honesty they're not going to be using their year 7 books when they get stuck into a similar topic in year 10!

[motortroll]

Also with ref to pp, I'm my subject (geography ) ks4 books are absolutely essential for revision as they have to learn case studies! And I would recommend keeping for a level too.