Year 7 Starters

Feeling pissy right now as after two days of 'homework due tomorrow' as were told (until Xmas) DD has science homework due next Wednesday. And it's a honker of a homework as well, homework by Wikipedia. Plus she's being really non-committal about extra-curricular, I've been a bit snippy and she's accused us of forcing her to do clubs ... I've spent seven years running her all over the place while she refuses to give up anything (bar ballet, which we insisted she drop and she guilt-tripped me for a year.

I'm sulking in the kitchen until GBBO starts.

Moosemama to be fair to your son he couldn't have known the French log on wouldn't work so they will need to sort that out for him. I am sure there will be others who have left it until the last minute who will also have trouble logging on.

As for Maths, you're right, he should have asked the teacher but it is early days. Could he ask first thing and complete it in his lunch break? I think it would be a bit harsh personally to give him detention for not doing a worksheet he didn't receive but if they do, it won't be the end of the world and like you say might make him more proactive.

I am so cross with ds2. He told me he'd checked and there wasn't anything he needed to do to catch up from missing Monday. He also said all the homework was on the school's virtual learning site, except maths, but that the teacher had explained that and he knew what he had to do. (This was yesterday afternoon.)

This evening he tried to do his French homework and his logon for the external website they're using wouldn't work. Then he told me that during yesterday's lesson quite a few pupils said they couldn't log on, so the teacher took their names and said he'd sort it out. Ds said he didn't know his logon wouldn't work at that point, because he was away on Monday when the homework was set and he didn't think the teacher realised he'd been off sick.

Then he told me that he can't do the maths either, because he doesn't have the questions and thinks the class must have been given a worksheet when he wasn't there on Monday. So he hadn't been to speak to his teachers about catching up at all.

So, he hadn't been to speak to his teachers about catching up at all and he clearly didn't know what he was doing with his maths either.

He's being all sad faced and teary with me, because I got cross about it. We talked about the importance of him showing the initiative to go and speak to the teachers and actively catch up what he'd missed and he said he would, but then he clearly didn't bother. I doubt either teacher is going to be impressed that he didn't approach them about being off on Monday and that's if he manages to get hold of them, as he says he doesn't know how or where and there isn't any time.

If he doesn't get hold of his Maths teacher he will undoubtedly get a detention for not doing his homework, as it's due on Friday and he won't be able to do it. Unfortunately they were put into sets last Friday and he none of his close friendship group are in the same set, so we can't even text anyone to ask for the questions or where to find them.

To cap it all, we're busy all weekend and he's put off some homework that's due Monday and Tuesday, when he won't have time to do it over the weekend. He was fully aware of this at the beginning of the week and promised to get it all done on the nights it's set.

So after all that, he then looked at me and said "Can I have computer time now."

I give up. Perhaps he needs to be given a detention to wake him up.

I know he's tired and under the weather, but he has to do this himself. We can't email teachers like we can for ds1's school, so if he doesn't sort problems himself during the school day he's stuffed.

Blimey Don'tCallMe only 50 places. 200 of ours go. Also have to put down a big deposit to secure the place though, which is obviously not great if you have a dc that's not 100% sure it's what they want to do.

balletgirlmum Hope he's enjoyed his trip. We have the opposite problem, ds1 does most things on the computer and struggles with Art because he's not allowed to for that.

Ds went off on his year 7 team building trip on Monday & comes back tomorrow.
Meanwhile I had a message about a slight change to school play rehearsal schedule tomorrow after school (Ds is the only year 7 needed) but I emailed the music teacher who will make sure ds is told about it when the trip arrives back.
With regards to homework he's supposed to get 2x 20 min pieces each night increasing to 3 x after half term. All homework is explained in class but instead of writing it in their planners the teacher Puts it on the intranet.
I noticed the maths homework said attempt xyz questions which I thought was good.
Ds did get told off because his art mood board was supposed to be done on the computer not cut from magazine/fabric samples/colour sketches.

DD also has info about next year's MFL trip - just a letter, no meeting. Paris proper, Disneyland and Le Touquet (lunch on the beach). I want to go! Just 50 places, about a quarter of the year, but it's activities weeks so a fun week for those who don't go. First come first served, slips to the MFL office from next Monday - will it be a scrum?! She's very keen, but wonders if we can back out if none of her friends get a place - £95 non-refundable deposit so officially not. I've tasked her with gauging tomorrow how many of her friends still think they're going after giving their parents the letter (it was everyone today).

Oh - and he coped ok at school today. If anything he seems better this evening than he was this morning.

Unfortunately, his tutor gave out the application forms for the two Minecraft clubs (late, should have been given out last week) while he was off yesterday and they had to be returned today. He said his tutor was run off her feet and too busy for questions today, so he's ended up not applying for either, which he's really disappointed about. I suggested it might have been an idea to write a note, to be given in with the applications, explaining that he didn't get a form because he was off sick, but would still like to apply and suggested he tries asking his tutor tomorrow if she can tell him who he needs to contact to ask if he can still apply. I doubt he will, but he needs to learn to use his initiative a bit more if he's not going to constantly miss out.

Meeting for MFL trip next summer this evening. Seems it's changed quite a bit since the problems we've heard about. They don't even go to the same part of France and to be honest it sounds fab.

Apparently it's usual for all but 20-ish of the Y7's go and the ones that stay behind attend school, where they try to find some fun things for them to do.

We need to put the deposit down very soon, so ds has to make up his mind pretty sharpish. Daftly, he's saying he doesn't want to go because he can't speak French . I've just been trying to explain to him that he will have had a year of lessons by then and they're not going to be dropping them all in the middle of rural France, on their own and expecting them to be able to fully converse with everyone. They will have French 'buddies' who help them speak in shops etc and all the MFL staff and form tutors go as well - not to mention he'll have his little gang of friends with him.

I've told him to talk it through with his friends, who I'm pretty sure will all be keen to go, tomorrow, have a think over the weekend and let us know next week.

I'm feeling echoes of his Y4 and Y6 residentials. He didn't want to go on either, but actually loved both. He's a bit of home body and not one for 'adventuring' really.

I'm ok with all this too var123 especially to stamp out low level behaviour issues. I just think it's a bit harsh to threaten already nervous Y7s with detention for non completion of homework when the teachers don't put the stuff they need to do online.

Dentention for non-comletion of homework, talking in class, gazing out of the window, failing to keep to school rules (even the petty, dress code ones), poor time keeping, absent-minded / careless packing for school is all OK IMHO.

However, did I read right up-thread that kids are being threatened with detention if they don't understand what they are being taught?? That is definitely not acceptable!

If teachers are threatening kids with detentions for non completion of homework they should at least make sure the homework task is clear and easy to access. Let's hope all this becomes less stressful

shebird the first piece of homework ds was supposed to look up on the school website caused no end of stress for us across the first weekend. Turned out the teacher had forgotten to upload it.

Trying to get used to the increased homework is bad enough but trying to determine what needs to be done on the school website takes up as much time as the homework itself. I thought technology was supposed to make life easier or is it some sort of sadistic test the teachers set to see who is clever enough to find the homework

Three to four pieces of homework a night here too, although some are pretty quick. It would help if his form wasn't the only one that hasn't been given a homework timetable yet. We're still getting used to the two-week timetable and what that means for planning homework.

Ds has gone back to school today. He's still not well at all, but was so worried about missing any more time I felt so sad for him stepping out into the rain this morning when he already has a stinky cold and feels generally rough, but he insisted.

Ds1, has just gone into Y9 and they've gone from hardly any homework at all in Y8 to suddenly tonnes, including prep work that they have to finish and hand in next morning. It's come as quite a shock to his system and we're getting lots of resistance and meltdowns, as it's always been possible for him to do his homework at weekends in the past, which makes this a major change to his routine.

DS doesn't seem to have much homework. Last night he didn't have any

Most nights it's 2 or 3 pieces, generally take 10-15 mins each. Two pieces only so far have taken longer.

Just as well as he's really taken to the rugby and training and matches take up a lot of time.

Ditto, my DS has gone from 30 mins homework per week to over 5 hours per week. He too is in sets already and doing 'proper' work. He seems to be coping fine so far though which is a big relief.

She is getting more homework than her three siblings (Y7, Y9 and Y11, at a different school from her) put together.

DD is being set three pieces of homework a day (sometimes four), which is OK if each only takes 30 minutes, but she wants to make each one into a masterpiece.

I agree shebird
Ds is doing at least 20 minutes each night
He's terrified of forgetting anything & comes home everyday with a story of some poor kid whose been told off for forgetting something

DD seems to have quite a lot of homework already, some are longer tasks to complete by half term and some are weekly tasks. It's a task in itself to keep track of it all and to access the stuff to do on the school website. The teachers have scared them to death with threats of detentions for missed homework deadlines, forgetting books or PE kit or for not learning stuff. I can see the teachers point in coming down hard at the beginning but it all seems a bit harsh when they have to adjust to so much.

It may not be that much work this whole year. I have a child in year 9, so not exactly a universal knowledge of the school system but in my experience, there isn't much difference between year 6 and year 7 in terms of the amount of work they get.

In fact, if you add in homework, there's a lot less work in year 7.

I believed the hype when DS1 was going into year 7. I thought he'd be worked really hard, and he even gave up a couple of extra-curricular activities in anticipation. However, in the end, there wasn't that much to year 7 at all, especially the first term. (And year 8 was even less... but I have high expectations of year 9!)

Oh no moose , hope he feels better soon xx

They went into their sets for the first time on Friday, which I suspect means work is going to move up a notch this week.

I'm hoping he'll be better tomorrow, although it's not looking good at the moment, as he's still running off to the bathroom regularly.

Are they doing so much already that catching up is relevant?

At DS's school they are still working out what sets to put them in and each page of his workbooks just says things like "What is Geography"!

Not the greatest start to the week. Ds2 is off sick.

Ds1 was off on Friday with a temperature, really sore throat and generally coldy/fluey.

Ds2 started with an upset stomach yesterday, then developed the temp and sore throat last night.

This morning he got himself up and dressed and had some calprofen for his throat. He was ready and waiting to go, but by the third dash to the toilet in less than half an hour it was obvious that school wasn't really an option. There's no way he could cope with being in lessons with an upset stomach like that.

He wanted to go, because he's worried about catching up, but actually, as one lesson today is PE, it's not as bad as it could have been - at least that's one lesson less than other days to have to catch up on.