Yr7 new starters

Sorry some of your DC are still having a hard time. I was hoping it would be easier by now but no such luck :( DD came home today in tears. Her new best friend has turned on her. Seems like one of the boys has been turning her against DD through jealousy and today it came to a head. Her best friend suddenly started screaming "Stay away from me" and won't explain why :( So sad for her and no idea what to do to help. Hopefully it will resolve itself.

to all those with DC having a hard time and hoping you get all the support you need.

DS seems to be doing ok though i did have to admit at Parents Evening that i'd barely seen him (due to 5 weeks spent caring for my dad whilst my mum was in hospital).

He's still ignoring his big sister in the corridor (much to her annoyance) , joined a few clubs and is hoping to be picked for one of the sports teams next week.

So i think it's a good start, if only he'd get on and do his homework!

Just found this thread and it's really reassuring to read. I'd been really worried about ds, a young year 7 with language disorder/mild asd. Despite his tutor telling me he's a popular member of class, he doesn't feel it and has been telling me tonight that he feels lots of boys dislike him, they don't pass to him in rugby or football etc.

Thing is, he's a kind, gentle soul, not a boisterous sort and likes to be compliant - he doesn't like rule breaking swearing and probably says so, which isn't likely to endear him to anyone.

I'm trying to equip him with coping strategies but he needs to find a little group of gentle geeks to hang out with really.

That's really crap :( We had to go private as waiting list was 2 years so got results in days. 12 weeks seems excessive as it is pretty easy to collate the info. I hope you hear soon. Just so you know aspergers is no longer a diagnosis so if she does get diagnosed it will be with autism spectrum disorder.

Why so long?!

She doesn't want to as she says there are no year 7s there and she doesn't want to go in alone. Her best friend lives quite far away and gets picked up by her mum so doesn't do any clubs. I think I will let her be for now and hopefully by the end of the term she will have settled down a bit!

I worry about ds too. He is in year 5 and has asd but high functioning. Not sure how he will cope with the change.

No but I will tomorrow. She said she was sent to a quiet room earlier because she got upset before her class - I think because one of the boys was being a bit nasty. She is fine with friends and ok with the work but I think the whole thing is still overwhelming to her and the idea of being a small fish in a big pond is hard for her to cope with. She finds the older kids intimidating and gets upset by their general messing around. She finds some of the teachers really strict too.

Basically she just needs to grow in confidence and get used to it. Not much that can be done about that but we are already dealing with the anxiety as that is a long standing issue and will find ways to build her confidence. Any ideas appreciated!

our school considered electronic parents evening organisation but decided against. They felt the keen involved parents would grab all the slots and then the parents they really want to see who maybe were more disorganised wouldn't book anything.

So it is up to the children, but the teachers can grab a planner and say 'I want to see your parent' and write them in.

We had fun on the first morning back when the bus didn't arrive, boy was texting from the bus stop "apparently if it's an hour late we don't have to go and get the day off". Not sure who started that rumour, anyway I offered to give him a lift! It eventually turned up an hour late.

I have to be ready by the computer tonight when they "release the slots" for upcoming parents' evening. I think it's going to be like getting tickets for Glastonbury.

Sorry to hear it Titsy you'll need to find a way of managing the anxiety - it can't be the work, is it friendships?

I had 'Parental Shadow' today. Got to go into assembly and 2 lessons to see how it's all done. Very interesting.

And we're back again! Realised during the half term how stressed dd must have been as her anxiety which was becoming severe just disappeared! She cried before school this morning. Said she is finding it boring and keeps day dreaming. Not sure how to help her really. She needs to improve her confidence but she seems to dislike half her teachers which doesn't help!

I would have thought that any school that does a maths test on 'what they will be learning in the next half term' would likely to be pretty hot on then extending the knowledge rather than re-teaching it. After all, if they didn't care what the children already knew, they wouldn't bother testing them on it first would they? So I absolutely see it as a good sign, not something to be worried about.

We have a parents' evening in the second half of this term at some point, I think.

Son seems to be settling in well, I was worried he'd find the place too big (nearly 2000 students compared to 100 in his primary!) and scary - but he's fine. Has managed to get the bus successfully every day but one, attend most of his music lessons, lose and find his PE kit, get lots of positive points and one negative, and make a friend.

He's not complaining about easy maths - on the contrary I think he's finding it hard for the first time ever.

No proper parents evening for us yet until later in the year (which I think is good as they get a good time to see how your dc are doing). However we've had an evening to individually meet the firm tutor.

I contacted dd's form tutor last week via email as I was anxious about her finding friends and fitting in. I was shocked to have her responded within minutes and act within the day. She then rang me for a good 20 min chat on the phone! She was really reassuring and I felt really confident in her - which made me feel less anxious. Compared to the awful communication at dd's primary I was stunned!

Our proper parents evening isn't until May.
But teachers are happy to be contacted by email if desired.

we have had a parents information evening, where we met the tutor and had a presentation from head plus a couple of others, including an e safety talk.

Then we had a 'bring your parents to school' day where the kids showed us round.

Then there is a proper parents evening. But I think it is after Christmas.