Y7 in Sep 2019 - support

My DS is very nervous about starting, as am I.
He has dyslexia and struggles academically, so I'm anxious around the support he may or may not get.
Have not bought anything as yet and transition day is in July.
Thanks for the thread.

DD will be going to a school none of her friends are going to due to EHCP for her speech.
Lots of worries from our end but she doesn’t seem too bothered. Haven’t got anything new yet- need to sort out a homework area. I don’t think she’s ready- she still plays with little toys and was super excited at getting a monster high doll last week. She has a nice group of girls in her class that are v similar and share toys so unless she finds a group like that, I don’t think she will stay like this for long.

DD Is about to finish Y7. A couple of things I found helpful so far

Keep a second set of maths equipment at home, our school is hard on losing items so DD always has something to replace immediately.

At induction day she took some paper slips with her phone number with her and gave it to girls in her new form. She managed to meet up with some over the summer holidays and texted with others, a good way to ease anxiety esp, as she wasn’t in a form with girls from her old school.

Forget about decent information flow from school, we get a lot less paperwork and DD learned it the hard way to tell us if something is needed. We have to sign her planner each week and she has to transfer all homework into a family planner so we can see that she is on time.

Think about a fixed space for your child to do homework and keep books and equipment. We have around 1/2 of all homework to do via websites plus another chunk where she needs it for research so DD will get her own laptop by next Christmas.

We allowed 2 weeks of eating rubbish to get used to the canteen system.

If the school is not around the corner do a test walk/bus trip so they know exactly how long it takes and how buses work. Get a bus app if you can get. Organise bus passes, think about keys and phones.

Dd2 is very much looking forward to it. Her older sister is at the school and she takes a dance class and used to do gymnastics there, so it’s a familiar place to her.

She is very much ready for it. She attends a small village school and the majority have out grown it by y6 and are very ready to move on.

I’m not in the slightest bit apprehensive about it. Dd2 is more than ready and I’m excited for her.

I have her uniform ordered and she will collect it on transition day. Will get everything else in the summer hols.

My youngest is y9 so have done this twice.
It seems very scary but it will (probably) be fine.

My tips:

• work on independent travel skills suitable for how they will get to school
• think about organisation - where will they do homework, where will any school books that come home be kept
• talk about what ifs (what if the bus is late, what if you get lost at school, what if you see someone being bullied)
• aim to have a pencil case at home as well as one in school bag

Is DC (not) looking forward to it. - DD is looking forward too it.

Is DC (not) ready for it. - Yes very ready. As she is not getting a lot of teaching at the moment due to her academic levels.

Are you (not) apprehensive about it. No she be fine and she has the bonus of her older sister will be in year 11.

Have you got equipment, etc, sorted yet, or are you leaving it until the summer hols/last minute. - She has some pieces of uniform that older dd grew out of, but won't get the last bits until end of summer holidays.

How have the transition days been going. - That doesn't happen until 4th July.

Anything else that is relevant.
Thanks.