The Trinity-Whitgift thread of 2013 continued

I thought my DS was fine talking but lacked much oomph/ excitement in his voice.
He was happy though but I think he's a little homesick

He did also say every day they've been busy and they had had an early start that day so I think he's tired.
A friend of mine whos son went on LG trip said he came home tired!!!!!
See you all Saturday!

Thank you all for your words of encouragement cheered me up no end. I'm sure ds will be fine he's just normally so upbeat it came as a bit of a surprise. fatal didn't even give him a phone he's been borrowing someone else's!

Croydonmum - my DS sounded a little tired tonight - he said he was having an "okay" time but I think the 5.45am alarm call this morning (v early start for Venice trip) knocked him for six a bit. I'm sure they are all having a good time, but probably feeling totally worn out and emotional at end of a very long day. Not the best state of mind for a call home! Fingers crossed your DS has a better day tomorrow.

That's a shame Croydon - perhaps he is a little home sick. Maybe this eve and tommorow he will brighten up and have some more fun. Not long before they are heading back now.
Tween - never thought of that - good idea, puts the pressure off for now.

We won't be doing the ski trip. At almost £1000 before the kit's even bought, not a chance! Don't think ds will mind tbh; I don't think it would really be his thing...

Hope your ds is feeling a bit better tomorrow croydonmum. I think they're very used to the boys feeling a bit homesick so I'm sure he's being well looked after. I've not heard anything from my ds (rubbish phone,bad mother) so will just have to hope for a good blog update tonight . Am having a rare night out tomorrow as I don't have to worry about sitters, which will be fun, but am really looking forward to seeing him again!

Spoke to ds today and he's not enjoying trip as much as he hoped but ok. I'm away too so feel a bit helpless. Never mind. Won't be doing ski trip this year anyway. Looking forward to seeing ds Saturday.

I am planning on saving the Ski trip for year 7. Just had a nice chat to the boys. They are having a great time.

Just got in to news of a forth coming whitgift ski trip! Ds not back from current trip yet.
Starting to feel a little jealousy creeping in - he seems to be living the life.
Anyone planning to send Ds on ski trip? Is it the case that most go or a small group usually? Do those that don't feel left out? Don't know about these things.
What are your thoughts?

YAY!! Tuesdays blog is up!!! LOL

Checks LG website for updates

Frazzled - that's reassuring to know! My ds was taught French from Year 1 I think at his primary - but was not particularly enamoured by his french teacher in the last year, so think that curbed his enthusiam for it! I'm hoping / sure Whitgift will get him interested again. He seems to have really enjoyed his Italian lessons / at home practice so far. Nothing like a large chocolate gelati to inspire him to have a go (ordering one!) :)

DS claims they are starting languages from a basic level in U1, as if they have never studied them. I was worried he would be very far behind because he chose French, which was non-existent in his state primary, but he says it makes no difference (of course it must be easier for the boys who already know the language, but he certainly doesn't seem to notice.)
So I wouldn't worry too much - but others may have a different experience. DS isn't too always too aware of what's happening around him.

allnew - you could be right, I thought though that Homefield for example do Introductory Italian and on to Latin before year 5-6.
in any case Im not that concerned really as im sure the school know exactly what they're doing.
re Italian this week - Im hoping that Ds doesn't just learn another 5 ways to order pizza!

Regarding forms, I was also wondering whether there was some method applied to class allocation. I did wonder if they had grouped together sports scholars (would maybe make some sense for Games lessons) but can't really see a pattern forming anywhere! My ds seems to have a mix of state primary and prep boys in his form (from hearing about his new friends / talking to parents), although that doesn't reveal anything about any allocation criteria of course. Since they will all be mixed up again in U1 surely doesn't seem to make too much sense to stream them at this stage?? If there is some kind of setting then I suppose that's not a bad thing either - I know I'd like my DS to feel that he was in a similar place to other boys in his form. BoD - I did read on the website curriculum pages that they offer L1 boys Italian and Latin because it is unlikely that either of these have been studied before regardless of previous schooling, thus putting boys on as equal a footing as possible to begin with. Then further language options to be introduced in U1 which, as Frazzled explained, becomes the starting point for class allocation in that year. My ds went to a state primary so was sort of hoping that he would be able to develop French or Spanish this year as he is likely to have had less focus on this than those coming up from prep. Let's hope he is putting his Italian phrasebook app to good use this week at least!

think i spotted my Ds in background too .
Ive been really anal and looked at live webcam of LG just to see the weather! it does look lovely there. keep thinking im going to see a raft full of hyper boys come floating past .

Crossed posts; that makes sense frazzled.

Very interesting bod - I did notice the discrepancy between the form sizes and thought it was a bit strange, but I guess there must be a logic in there somewhere... You're jolly good at asking the questions I never realised I wanted the answers to!

Looks as if they've had some lovely weather in Verona today anyway (and plenty of amazing Italian gelato, lucky boys!) I can just spot ds in the background of one of the Sunday photos by the pool

afaik - in upper first - classes are determined by language choices and setting then happens within that class. (For example, those choosing Latin, Spanish and Japanese will be in a class etc .. rather than ability)

Someone told me the classes do get mixed up again next year, presumably to prevent bullying/cliques. The latter may or may not have any bearing on the truth. It does seem logical that the lower first group will be shuffled around next year though when all the new boys in upper first join.

Hott - I had heard that there used to be some kind of loose streaming/setting from the outset based on entrance resultd (primarily VR I think) but get the impression that W do not like to talk about this.
When I enquired I was told it was based on a number of aspects including similar interests etc. Doesn't explain differences in class sizes though.
I can imagine that there is a gap between the state and independent primary boys in terms of languages etc so maybe thats taken into consideration when planning too?? Although I think the forms are quite mixed in that regard (not sure just assuming).
Do they stay in same form group all the way through?

Mine are having a ball.