Have we got a starting Secondary School Support thread?

Sorry DD got squished Giles. It does sound a very physical group she's in. DS2 is still complaining of a sore throat, it's been over 2 weeks now. Was just red last week but think I'll have to get him checked over again.

Whoops. anyone else lost paragraphs?!? School have put support in place for those who need it. What the family must be going through.

Glad the teacher has changed the seating Giles. School

Glad they left your DD alone, Giles. Frayed - that's so sad :(

Sounds stressful frayed hope the rest of the day was fairly uneventful good news is that the teachers she had today followed the instructions 're seating and she didn't get any problems really. Although obviously there's still tomorrow.. bad news is she did end up with another kid significantly bigger than her fall onto her during a fight/scuffle/ boys mucking about that they seem rather resigned to happening.... but an improvement I guess it at least this time wasnt aimed at her

Oh I'm sorry to hear that, FrayedHem. So early in the term.

We had homework dramas this morning. DS2 remembered at 7.50am that he hadn't finished part of his art homework. Argh. He got it done and made the bus, though I dropped him around the corner to be sure he'd make it. He has since texted to say he can't get his PE stuff back in his bag. I've ordered a new one. I'm trying to be zen, particularly as school had to share the saddest type of news last week.

We've had a tortuous weekend with homework. Mostly due to DD2 not seeing the point of it. Famous exchange of the weekend: "you need to research X's work and write what you like about it..." DD2: "And what happens if I don't like any of it? What do I write then??" "Well I think the idea is that you find something you like about it...."

Last night she couldn't sleep because she was anxious. Well she thought she had chest pain and felt sick. She didn't believe me that it was anxiety, but I pointed out that a) I'm her Mum, b) I'm a nurse and c) it only came on when she went to bed and started thinking about school, and she feels better when she gets out of bed and comes back down to us. I won

Yes very. What ever happened to holding people accountable for their behaviour

Giles i hope things improve for your dd. I've got a friend who blames mean boy behaviour on "immaturity" and mean girl behaviour on being "because girls are such bitches" Exasperating!

DS woke up this morning saying he didn't want to go today but was ok once up and has art and music which he enjoys.

He is also hypermobile with terrible handwriting. He is using a laptop for lessons with a lot of writing but I wish he would use it more. Looking at his maths textbook I can barely understand what he has written. Luckily when it comes to revising they tend to email out loads of info and we have textbooks at home so will use those instead. I'm not sure how understanding the teachers will be when it comes to homework. He is doing a big DT assignment at the moment and I persuaded him to type one bit but he handwrote some sections and it looks awful!

Thanks everyone. She hasn't text yet so hopefully that is a good sign..

I hope that sorts it out Giles.

DD has actually left something behind today - I hope it's not needed during the day. Have just texted her because I thought she'd have noticed and she hadn't - I've probably panicked her now!

hmmm something to keep a close eye on Giles. Hope they at least leave DD alone from now on.

So do I. Dd is supposed to be calling or texting me at break or lunch to let me know how it's going

Giles I hope they leave her alone now.

Well I've had a response. Mixed feelings really as I felt that there was still a degree of explainimg the behaviour as something boys do as they are still rather immature...

However they have been spoken to apparently and informed of the next steps they will be subjected to should it continue and teachers have been informed not to sit them with her.

So we will see what happens from now.

He already gets extra time. Nessy do a dyslexia pre test for £10 which we did 6 months ago and he came out high in one area.
Have just got him a spelling dictionary which is great.

I think you get extra time in tests if he doesn't already. I saw a free online test but did it and I came out as dyslexic so think it maybe putting everyone as dyslexic, I only have trouble with left and right, clocks as a child and spelling a bit and those moving shapes around tests but pretty certain I am not. You can just have it with spelling as kids can memorise words, when I was at school it wasn't taught phonetically.

Yes I think so Penguin but we’d have to go private as school have already said they only test if issues with both reading and writing. As he already gets loads of support I’m not sure what benefit it would bring.

Sounds like might be worth getting a dyslexia test cheminotte.

Had fun and games with DD yesterday where she wouldn't come home as agreed so we have taken phone away. She told me to put alarm on for 5am, said no as she doesn't need to leave for school until 8.15am. Anyway 5.30am her phone goes off and she finds it. Great though now been rehidden with sound off. Thought she was planning on escaping early but is apparently doing homework so could be worse. I think I am resigning as mother, just get one settled then other start off, non stop drama. I would be bored without them though.

Same here Spider . DS1 did as little writing as possible in primary and they did a lot of scribing for him when the content was more important than writing as he’d just refuse or write hardly anything when he knew loads about the subject. He had a scribe for his SATS.

He’s got a TA at secondary school who can scribe for him but hates it and insist on writing himself as much as possible. But he’s really slow and very messy so sometimes can’t read it back himself. We did handwriting practice most days over the holidays and he was getting quicker and neater but he really struggles when he has to think of spellings himself rather than just copying. I think he may have mild dyslexia (reading is fine, but spelling age of 7).

We’ve just done a test with the with the pen and our log burner. When the writing on the paper touches the stove it totally disappears - but as soon as you remove it from the heat the writing comes back!!

DS has perfect handwriting and has done for years but DDs is terrible. She is probably hypermobile, can bend fingers and body into very weird positions, never thought about that but might be why.

I didn’t know that either! Will do a test tonight!