Have we got a starting Secondary School Support thread?

Can you get tracking devices, I am hopeless with technology, but that sounds like what we need. DD has a mobile and would love the job of tracker. 😎

If not sounds like someone should invent them to market to secondary school parents 😂 Thankfully DS doesn't want a mobile to take to school, he's got one just to play on - DDs old one - but says they are rip off devices and refuses to have a phone contract even though we would pay it. He took it on holiday and every place had to remind him.

My DD was like that with homework at the grammar, I felt like putting a tape recording on of my voice to repeat the same have you done your homework each night then you haven't really started it have you?

I worry that he or other kids could end up getting detention for things that are really not their fault, that are down to scatty parent oversight!

To be fair elkie at this age they really should be sorting all this out by themselves which is what teachers will expect.

A tracker device is a good idea. Dd1 lost hers in year 7 and i had to replace it. (A skort, top, socks and trainers) It did get returned as was named but it took months!

Morning. DD was tired and ratty this morning and so was I.

Items up for discussion include:

*Lost sweater
*Came home in PE kit last night and left clothes at school
*6 lots of homework o/s (not late)
*Swimming kit not returned since Monday
*Mobile lost and she hasn't bothered looking for it.

Has moved from state to Indy and expecting a few teething troubles. She coasted last year and now is having to DO SOME WORK.

...we shall see

The joys of trying to keep track of PE kits! I think at DD's school it is during the lunch hour games clubs that some stuff goes missing because they are all in a rush and someone picks up the wrong or an extra top or shorts. I'm not sure what you can do about losing the entire bag apart from putting a tracking device on it!

Dd2 is settling in happily and has made new friends. With dd1 it was a huge relief when she settled in well at high school as she felt unpopular with her class at primary. Dd2 was happy socially at primary but you never know if they'll end up in a mean class! Easier for them to move class at secondary though. There was still movement between classes in year 9 in dd1's year. One girl moved out of a class because her relationship with the form tutor had broken down and another girl prmptly moved into it as her friends were in that form/house.
The school feels less strict this time round than it did with dd1, but it may just be that dd2's form tutor is less detention happy than dd1's was.
Dd2 got a strike for forgetting a book this week (3 = a detention) whereas i remember dd2 getting kept in at break the first time i forgot to sign her planner. I remind mine that a detention is "just sitting in a room" though as don't want them to be in floods of tears/petrified if they do get one! They did have to stay and do homework at lunchtime if they forgot it in ks2 so i remind them it's the same as that.

DS's school has a selective sports academy within it which is how he got into the school. We have had a letter that the sports training will start next week for 1.5hrs before and 1hr after school 3 days a week. If he thinks he is shattered now he better think again!

DDs old school was 15 minute detention per lost piece of PE kit, we may never see DS again if current school do this 😱 though would imagine they won't enforce it for DS as they presumably want to go home at some point.

Hope they all have a good day today. DS loves to go to the local shop about 5 times per day so not sure whether portions are small or he's just addicted to shopping, at least he's stopped waking me at 5am to ask what he can get. 😂

Asked DS about going to gym with friends today, said I can't I have lost my PE kit, argh. Said where did you lose it at school or home? No idea. Say to DH oh yes school told me yesterday. DS clearly worried so asked DD what she knows she said its lost at school and she think its his fleece, socks, shorts, t shirt, trainers and we forgot to name it. Neither of mine have been able to get a locker at school as joined late.

Trouble is we have a stupid system you can only order stuff online and takes 5 working days. DS loses everything other than his giant soft toys. 🐼🐧. I have something to attach key to him but I can't attach a whole bag to him but its about £60 worth of stuff, can't be doing that each week either. Only hope is it was in an Adidas bag and its tiny sized. Told DD to put her name on hers no I will never lose mine, hmm, you did last year. So joining the fun game of hunt the PE kit. DD says a French teacher found a PE kit so she's asking them but would imagine there's a fair few lost PE kits. She said she would give him hers but she's size 6 shoes, he's size 4, she's a good head taller than him.

That's harsh about the missing kit, elkie, I thought DD's school was bad - they keep track of a number of things that the pupil should be doing (stuff like uniform and having the right equipment, being on time for lessons) and after a certain number of infractions you get detention (but not for a first offence!). DD is quite worried about it tbh.

Good to hear that the roast was worth the increased budget I hope there is something else on the menu to pad out the main meals if the portion size is a little mean!

My DD is still shattered. She has a planner and the online homework, I've just checked it and she has her first big piece of homework coming up but a fair while to do it. Will get her to start over the weekend.

Hope everyone has a good day!

Gulp re missing PE Kit. DS1 told dp tonight that a kid was asking all the other boys in the playground if he could borrow their PE kit. School booklet detailing expectations threatens 15 minutes detention if you don't have PE Kit, and an increase the second time. Also detention if you're not "prepared for learning with all the stuff you need to have in your pencil case". DS1 is quite organised, but I worry that he or other kids could end up getting detention for things that are really not their fault, that are down to scatty parent oversight!

DS had a good day. Had his first history lesson and got star student for putting his hand up and getting most of the questions right in a quiz they did. He got so many merits over the day he got star student for his form room as well! I'm so impressed at the moment. I know it can all change at any moment but he's getting on way better than I expected.

Still no sign of the money missing PE kit! And there’s a thread on here about uniform going missing and never turning up as it’s nicked.
I’m going to have to buy a new set but next time I will keep shorts and long trousers separate so at least if one disappears the other is available. DP has told DS if it happens again he loses TV for 2 weekends!

So would DD. She forgets her coat and umbrella most days unless I catch her in time (have got to her before the end of the road everyday until today), and has a 25 minute walk...

Welcome Howmany I'm not sure how you check either and DS just gives me a confused look when I ask him and says he's not sure. DS would miss an elephant going through the room.

Just found this thread. Dd started on the 5th. She seems to have settled in well, and reports 1-3 new friends a day which is a huge relief as she only knew 2 boys from primary who went there and they don’t speak much English. She’s very shy normally so I’d been worried. Apparently her and her “best friend” who she met in her form on her first day just ask any kids who are alone if they want to sit by them, so there’s around 12-15 of them in a group at lunch, plus groups of 3-5 in each subject to sit with/ work with. Fingers crossed it continues to go well!
She hasn’t had homework yet, but there’s no online portal unlike at her brother’s school so I can’t be certain that this isn’t just her being disorganised 😕. I’m not sure how to check, other than waiting for a call from school/ detention...

@Gileswithachainsaw I think some schools have the homework app instead of the planner. Dc's school has a paper planner but no hwk app

DS says it was worth £2.50, possibly even £3 though he has gone on an emergency chocolate mission so maybe not too big. 2 happy monkeys, phew.

My DD has arrived home, still tired but absolutely fine! She is currently having a shower and we are going to unpack/pack her bag straight away so she can 'chill' for the rest of the night and go to bed when she wants.

I forsee an evening of running around after her! Hope everyone else had a good day too, and that the roast lunch was worthy of the price penguin

DD was at one of the London grammars and it appeared stuck in the 1950s as a Swiss finishing school 😂 DD started talking with a very posh accent and had ballroom dancing lessons where she was allowed to dress as an c18th lady and after school clubs were things like knitting. The letters from the Head contained half words not used for the last 100 years, had to look lots up. It was all about results, think the quiet hard working students were fine but quite hard on even them as many had commutes of an hour each way, can't be late so arrive 30 minutes early, school day is 30 mins longer then 2 hours homework in y7. Think they vary, pastoral care was dire at hers, she was sad and they did almost nothing, got a message saying another girl had died day before school started back "unexplained" but so much pressure with no support I know what I would suspect. Its interesting to see differences, she's in top set everything at comp and says lessons are much easier but some at grammar were made like GCSE classes in y7. She got above average results there but the unhappiness wasn't worth it.

We have same issue with coats and DD, think they aren't cool. 😎

Oh I have a very dull wild side under my other NCs Penguins . DS is sounding like he's really finding his feet.

Hope DS returns in a better mood than he left spiderlight

DS2 did the Geography homework. Not sure he's written enough but he says he has so we will find out soon enough. He got properly lost yesterday. He went to the student reception as per advice but said everyone kept pushing in front of him, so he ended up being 5-10 mins late to lesson. Teacher wasn't impressed but no formal punishment. He was surprisingly o.k. about it.

He's desperate for maths to get going properly, as that is the subject he loves. They're doing a lot of v basic stuff. I assume the teacher is checking the base knowledge and his wish will be granted soon enough.

Upping the lunch budget has made me , I hope he finds things to eat that he likes. It's usually a rotational menu anyway, so he'll know what to eat after a few weeks.

I'd heard that about the grammar schools, a couple of hours of homework every night (we live in a super-selective area) and I was wondering how that would pan out as quite a few of DD's friends/school have gone to the grammars and at least one of them is not a fan of homework! Fun times for that family ...

I did offer DD a lift to school but she was happy to get the bus, I will text her at break to offer her a lift home as the school bus takes ages!

Oh, it's started. All blooming morning - 'I'm cold, it's so cold, I'm freeeeezing, put the heating on, I can't get out of my pyjamas, it's too coooold!'

As he's leaving the house - 'Put a jacket on - it's cold. ' 'What?! No!' Stomps off eyerolling and shivering

As I suspected the homework app is a bit hit and miss. DS seems to have a lot of homework not being uploaded to the app so they are basically relying on him remembering what to do and for when. Recipe for disaster.

Following to read later