Have we got a starting Secondary School Support thread?

We haven't had much homework yet, either. She had a bit to do as part of the transition which her primary school classmates at other schools didn't have. They appear to have loads now by comparison. And tests. Which dd had on her transition days.

Hope your DD is OK Sasitude

Glad aren't doing too much homework yet, DDs old grammar did 2 hours per night from day 1 last year. Getting nothing much here.

Thanks Sassitude Found lunch menu online.

I've told him to up the lunch budget 😂, they seem to do gluten free but not lactose free. Most expensive meal is £2.50 anyway for roast dinner which he loves and its today. Saw he didn't eat on Tuesday, queried him and said I don't mind not eating, I had lost my card but he never said on Tuesday. He did rush out for emergency biscuits though, must have been why. We got him tested for gluten neg, he says he's lactose intolerant but not sure if its just general bad diet but doctors advised us to feed him whatever we could get down him as he starves himself and went down to 4th percentile BMI. He's lovely at home, DD is being very moody and biting my head off which I am struggling with especially as work have made me sign off sick so got no job and in lovely house but no friends here yet. I hope she will improve, she was like this whole of last year so moved schools. Seems much happier with school and friends but still mood swings but its week 1.

Both gone off happily so looking hopeful. DS mentioned he has friends though when asked him said I told you before there's 12 of us, they seem all to be hitting the gym together on Mondays and Fridays. I asked DS if he would come back with big muscles and he said compared to my size, he only weighs 5 stone 4 and is tiny. 😎

Well DD is looking extremely tired this morning. I hope she's OK. Quite pale but still keen to go. I am half expecting a phone call from the school at some point!

Pleased your son had a better day yesterday penguin, hope he manages today OK.
Hope the PE kit shows up cheminotte. My friend's son left his on the bus the other year. It turned up at the bus depot, fortunately, with everything still in there. It's the sort of thing that is so annoying because of course you don't want to have to replace things but they also need to have the clothes for PE otherwise they will probably get into trouble for not having them!

DD is starting to get homework that doesn't involve decorating a book but we've got to go and get some sticky backed plastic as she's been told to use that for her English book. She has a spiral bound notebook planner which has various useful bits of info in it such as their timetable, plan of the school. They're supposed to write their homework in there and we are supposed to sign it each week. Nothing has been done online yet. Interesting how different schools do things.

penguin that is good news, although maybe he can find a bargain on the lunch menu that won't make him ill! DD's school has the menus online so you may be able to have a look and guide him a bit. Your nerves must be shredded when you don't know whether it's going to be a good day or not!

DD seemed to have a good day so she was OK. Did go to bed a bit earlier tonight so probably the effects of the longer school day and the out-of-school activities kicking in now. Still not much homework here, will be a shock to the system when it does start properly!

That’s good about the laptop Titsywoo . DS is meant to be getting one as well but his typing is currently even slower than his writing just a lot neater.
He can access an area away from everyone at lunch and break but he says it’s too loud and so far has been to the library, wandered around and homework club.
DP was at home when he got in and made him type up his homework as the handwritten version was illegible.

Oh I hope the PE kit comes back cheminotte. I think we all need a homework bunker to hide in.

DD2 came home very upbeat today. I'm just hoping it lasts.

We have 2 lots of homework now . Although ones as predicted by wise MNetters it's a sticky back plastic one

Dd was rather tired today having gone to a netball club after school I've had to wash ( multiple loads cos of colour differences) her pe kit to take back tomorrow .

Still waiting on a planner though...

So far so good. Dd is enjoying it has friends and for the first-time in 7 years is walking to school by herself and no longer restricted by my work patterns as to what she does after school. I'm sure the novelty will wear off when the monotonousness (is that a word? ) and the real work kicks in however

Wondering what exciting things Frayed has posted under other NCs. 😂 We do some homework swapping here!

Hope the PE kit returns.

Titsy glad its all going well. Hope the homework is getting sorted Giles

DD had a big grump as I said on Friday she could do gymnastics for 2 hours or the gym not both as we would like a family meal. This was the height of unreasonable behaviour according to her as she wants a social life, so far this week she's had 8 meetups with friends. [roll]

ooops N/C fail! (nothing exciting under that one)

Hope DS gets his PE kit back o.k. cheminotte. DS2 managed to get his back as it was still where he'd left it.

titsywoo That's great DS is getting on well and has started using the lunchtime room. I hope the school can help with the handwriting.

I spoke too soon about the homework. The Geography homework needs DS2 to write a short story (centred around extinction and what he would do) and he really struggles with this kind of thing. DS1 (ASD) could probably write a novel on something like this, DS2 finds even getting started nearly impossible then agonises over every word.

DS is still getting on ok. He is going to school without moaning and seems to be relatively happy which is great after many bad years at primary. He is now able to use his laptop in lessons which is great as his writing is awful. I'm going to talk to the SENCO soon about a handwriting program they mention on the SEN page of the school website. For lessons like maths and French where he needs to write I am struggling to read his writing in his exercise books. Today he tried the lunchtime room I mentioned on my last post. He said it was good and I'm hoping this is where he will start to make friends. He's starting to get homework now but so far no moaning about it. I'm making them both sit down for 30-45 mins after dinner to get bits done so it doesn't build up. He had spellings for science and writing a conversation for spanish and he has some english and maths to do which he has 2 weeks for as they are both a bit more involved. I'm feeling pretty happy at the moment as we were so worried it would be a nightmare transition and so far it's been far better than expected :)

Well DS managed to lose his PE kit today as he was having lunch with some new friends in the canteen. They didn’t have it in lost property apparently so I’ve told him to go back again tomorrow and ask again.
Whether homework goes on the portal is a bit hot and miss. He said he got 3 lots today but only one is on the portal.
Our school is also only 5 mins walk away but I send him out at 8 as he can dawdle for Britain!

So glad he had a good day pengine

What a lovely update penguins. at the macaroni cheese.

DS2 has homework! He helped DS3 do his but is going to do his own "later" . I've told him he needs to be organised as it will soon pile up. I'm dreading when he gets English homework as that is always a painful experience.

DS said today was good. 😱 He told me he's going to gym twice a week at lunch as its free and was very proud he got macaroni cheese for lunch and it was only 1.50, he loves money saving. I said but you don't like macaroni cheese and he said I know I am lactose intolerant but I don't mind being a bit sick. 😉

Spider DS would be very happy you called him mini penguins, he was much smaller than average at his old school and very proud of it. Was quite disappointed to find he was average height at new school. DD is really tall 5 foot 5 already. My DS also loves a missed lesson.

Sorry to hear of continued struggles. I managed to message senco yesterday told him all history as they weren't aware he is sen. DH had a meeting with senco, head of house and maths teacher today which is good, DS has apparently been talking a lot about logarithms already, started around 7. He's the mad professor type. DS and DD left for school at 7.40ish, we are 5 mins walk away

Lougle It's great you're able to walk her through the things that are bothering her and it sounds like she's feeling better about school compared to a week ago. Horrible that the boy scared her, but it's also lovely to read that the girls scooped her up and reassured her.

AornisHades Hope DD has a better day. DS1 goes into a panic when he encounters "unexpected social interactions", no matter how nice they are.

DS2 fell down the stairs this morning. Not the whole lot, but enough to end up in a heap at the bottom. Just a bit bumped and bruised fortunately but not the best start to the day either! He has texted me to say he has a really sore throat and I'm hoping it's not the start of tonsillitis again. He is still very up and down, and overreacting to the smallest things.

Bit of a wobbly day today. She was alone at break time and she seems a bit out of sorts. A girl in her form said something kind today to her and dd is too frightened to respond. I might ask the TA if she can find out the girl's name for dd.

It must be so hard to be really quite gifted but with additional needs as well, portakabin - expectations coming from everywhere with no release valve.

DD2 is seeming very contained, until I drill down gently and find that she's had little incidents through the day that have bothered her. She's coping, but little things like not knowing that the science room door was on the outside of the classroom so she was trying to get in from a corridor will panic her. A teacher helped her with that. A boy in another year came up behind her while she was on her way to a class and made some bizarre loud noises, apparently, which scared her, but some girls in the same year scooped her up and said that he was a really rude boy and not to worry, so she felt a bit better.

She really panicked about algebra today, but once I'd convinced her to look at it with me, she knew what she had to do, she was just panicking about not being fast. I told her that being fast isn't important, as long as she's getting it. Take her time, ask for help.

She made some nice muffins in food tech!

I think it will all hit the fan once homework starts.

(We don't have a planner either, or login details for the homework/behaviour portal)

Glad mini Penguins has had a better day.

So sorry your DD is struggling so much, PermanentPortakabin :( It must be so overwhelming for them and messing up something she's normally so good at was probably the last straw - so unfortunate about the instrument and she probably felt under pressure as well. How was she today? Hope she's had a better day.

Mucho excitement at DS's school today. A fire drill that turned out not to be a fire drill - actual fire engines and everything! It turned out to be a small pizza-related fire in the kitchens but they missed an entire lesson so DS was happy!

Well still no sign of any planner of any kind no log in details for homework app thing and dd wasn't sure if I had consented to the biometric payment system despite me telling her about it ages ago so she didn't get herself set up

But I guess it's not to bad really. She's tired but enjoying it so far

Hope DD had was o.k. when you picked her up permanent

Brilliant that DS went to all his lessons penguins. Hope all the missing bits get sorted soon.

DS2 found his trainers and football boots. Phew! He's still pretty over-sensitive and tetchy, the cold isn't helping. PE was apparently marginally better as they played football today. Still no homework or books home.