Have we got a starting Secondary School Support thread?

The Head has sent lovely reply but denying they lost him. He says he was alone and DD says she was told he was lost 55 minutes after he says he left..

How do they explain asking your dd if she knew where he was then? If they didn't know where he was then they'd lost him in my mind.
If they did know where he was then why were they asking your dd?

It reminds me of something my head used to say he was taught in the RAF/army "Man is never lost. Simply uncertain of his position on planet Earth".

DD went to a friend's birthday treat the other day. It was a trip to the cinema.

For DD's 11th birthday we did film at home with pizza tea. We'll see what she wants to do next year for her 12th.

She is still enjoying school. There does seem to be more gripes/complaints among the girls now (it is a girls school). I think that is because their early 'be as nice as you can to everyone' attitude is starting to wear off.

Aornis maybe try to encourage your daughter to try another club as well. My DD started off saying she wasn't going to do any clubs but she's started going to a couple in recent weeks.

Dd has a trainee teacher for Maths I think apart from two lessons a fortnight. A more experienced teacher is in the classroom a lot with them and her name isn't on the staff list as a teacher. Dd said she gave her a big telling off for talking and threatened to tell her form tutor when she definitely hadn't been talking. I did believe dd. Dd didn't answer back and just took it which i think is right as it could have escalated and she could have got into more trouble. I hope it doesn't happen again. I suggested if it does to go up at the end of the lesson and politely say that when she was told off she hadn't been talking. Maybe it's just a one off mistake. Hope so

Oh but that happens all the time Penguins! Schools have 121 TAs just crying out to be used...

Dd has joined one lunchtime club because her friends were going. She missed it this week due to upset.

DD2's had a better couple of days at school. After taking her in on Monday, she's been spending some time with the inclusion TAs at lunch time and has been able to see the school dog a couple of times, which really boosts her self-esteem. She's also got back in touch with a girl who she was friendly with from the year above who left the school last year to go to secondary, who also has some additional needs, which is nice for her, as she missed seeing her.

My team-sport-hating, PE-kit-losing DS has decided he’s going to try the rugby club as he’s actually been enjoying it in PE lessons!

I suspect so Aornis - nothing happened that day apparently but suddenly next day they went from having no money to a full-time 1-2-1 for no reason. Quite surprised the Head admitted in writing they send him home unofficially and they plan to continue it.

Clubs can be good if you can persuade her to go to one or two - at least there are adults to referee the drama. Though in our case it was all night on WhatsApp and this was at all girls super-selective grammar.

That's a whole pile of arse covering there Penguins

Dd could go to inclusion but she has taken a dislike to it for some reason

The Head has sent lovely reply but denying they lost him. He says he was alone and DD says she was told he was lost 55 minutes after he says he left so . They agree with time he left.

Sorry to hear that Aornis hope school can help with a solution and your DD becomes happier.

There was constant drama in DDs year 7 class last year, all petty, but constant squabbling Aventurine If you can keep her out of it that's good. Clubs can sometimes help as there's an adult but think some kids just like drama, suspect DD is one of them.

DS had another good day with 1-2-1 so has it again tomorrow. He did 2 lessons with class today and rest in support hub. Not sure how long they can keep this up without an EHCP but its a good start and we'll apply for one. In past he hasn't needed long term TA but secondary in a new area is harder than primary. Found out their old primary Head has left immediately for personal reasons. Last one left immediately for personal reasons. They are about to get 5th Head in 6 years.

Sorry to hear that. Could she go to the library if she feel like she's standing out to give her a break from the crowds and so she has something to do. Or join a club.

Sounds like the little group dd knew are going off without her now so she's struggling and people are noticing she's 'odd'. Feeling very down this week. In to see school tomorrow at their request...

There seem to be a lot of dramas going on in dd's year at the moment. People being unkind to each other and arguing and asking each other out. Luckily dd hasn't been involved so far. My year 10 dd at the same school is in a group of friends that aren't argumentative and aren't dating yet and i hope things will settle down in year 7 dd's year soon too, or at least that she will manage to continue not getting involved!

red we don't have to worry till next year but will probably do cinema/ meal. This year we booked Go Ape.

*red" dd loves a pizza out and a sleepover for a few friends. Tesco vouchers and a Netflix sub make it lovely for everyone 😊

When i say Thorpe Park i mean any theme park with rides. Depends where you live obviously

Red I've got a 14 year old. Her friends aren't the cool crowd so i don't know what the cool kids do, but cheaper birthday options (what we do) is have friends over for a bbq or pizza and then they just play video games/hang out/watch a film. More expensive options that people do is Thorpe Park, Bowling, trampoline park, cinema and meal

@Witchend I know - I'm really unhappy about it :( Hoping it will act as a kick up the backside for him because he really does prefer his old set.

what are you guys doing about birthday parties?
last few we had 5-6 kids at home for games & cake. but I wonder if that's too childish.

We have a nightmare with comprehensions when DS decides he knows better than the author and the questions are phrased as why do you think? They then get a A4 page of what DS thinks
Wouldn't get that from ds. He might tell me what a rubbish question it was but when it comes to writing it's the minimal words possible.

Spider that sounds so hard. I hope it encourages him, for ds it would probably demotivate him and then he'd find he could cruise and enjoy it and before you could blink he'd be cruising at the bottom of the second set.

It seems a silly system to rearrange them so frequently. I'd have thought very unsettling. It's not just a case of change forms. It's new teachers, new class, new timetable, catching up/redoing work...

I live in a super-selective grammar area and even they are careful with pupils when they start, because they know that they may have breezed through Primary but it's very different when the top few percent are gathered together - someone is always going to be bottom and if that person used to be near the top it's going to be hard on them! Secondary schools are so much larger nowadays.

Well, that went sort of OK. Major major tears and then a calm chat. I've booked a couple of sessions with a maths tutor to see if there are any gaps that can be addressed and he's going to do a bit more reading and writing at home and a bit less YouTube. The head of maths came to see him this afternoon and is going to arrange a time to go through the maths assessment with him. The head of Y7 promised on the phone to have a chat with him tomorrow and he's going to ask her where he went wrong with the English assessment, because he was so sure he'd done well in that.

I hope DS takes the news ok spiderlight. DS2 tells me that Set 2 are ahead of them in English as his set has more disruptive pupils in it. The teacher split up the 4 main talkers but now they have conversations across the room and it's worse than before(!)

Glad DS is having a better day Penguins.

DS2 is seeming a bit better. Not sure about tomorrow, I think he could do with another day but will see how he is in the morning.

I get the impression they set quite heavily in DD2's school, which is good for her. Certainly, having seen the homework of another child, it's a whole gulf away from hers in maths, which is a great relief!

Only 2 weeks until half-term, here.

I don't think DS school set for anything in y7 though only got kids word for that. DD should be in top set everything but as they forgot she was arriving they had to put her in middle set for 2 subjects as top was full and they would have had to move her down. She took it well saying I can bum around in 2 subjects but I wasn't overly impressed. She thinks they adjust at half term.

Just had 2 messages from school saying DS is talking to staff today and having a good day so 1 on 1 seems to be working.