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Secondary education

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Original poster

son thinks year 8 is pointless.

29 replies

caringdad66 · 06/09/2015 12:28

DS is about to start year 8.
Academically he achieved all his year 7 targets,it was attitude and behaviour that let him down.
Yesterday we were chatting and he said he was looking forward to going back to school because "year 8 is for having a laugh with my mates".
He also reckons the school are so busy looking after the new year sevens,and the year 11 GCSE takers,that they don't really care about year 8.
Is there any truth in his comments,and what can I do and say to keep him focused ?

OP posts:
Snowfilledsky · 06/09/2015 13:12

We have Middle Schools here so Year 8 is the first year of High School. DS2 did Year 8 last year and never stopped working. He got to drop a few subjects for Year 9 which he starts tomorrow.

Shiningdew · 06/09/2015 13:10

He's right Grin

taxguru · 06/09/2015 13:09

Sadly he may be right. Our DS was in year 8 last year and we all felt that it was a "coasting" year rather than actually doing much, for most subjects. In year 7, there was lots of emphasis on homework, even if it was mostly fairly tame and easy - certainly something every evening and a good couple of hours for the weekend. Year 7 teachers were "tame" as the school head himself announced at the starter's evening, chosen specifically because of their pastoral nature to get the kids settled in secondary. Despite us warning DS to expect more hard work and homework in year 8, it just never happened. We also noticed a much higher amount of teacher absences which were covered by supply teachers or whichever other teach was free - often with no work provided so the kids watched videos or even in some cases just allowed to play with their phones for the lesson. He's been back and in year 9 for just two days and already most of the teachers have hit the ground running, handing out homework etc- he's had a very busy weekend already so it does look as if they're ramping it up again ready for GCSE years.

howabout · 06/09/2015 12:33

Subject choosing comes around quicker than you think. f you pay attention and do the work you have a much better idea of what to choose and are much more likely to be supported by the school in your choices.

If he will be set for gcse and wants to be in the top set he needs to work now.

Other than that I would say as long as he behaves in class, pays attention and does his homework there is something to be said for not taking an "all work and no play" approach.