About to start year 7?

I honestly think they'll all be fine.. my DC missed summer school. About 50% did it. But I'm sure by Oct 1/2 term it will all be a memory

No summer school offered here and no transition events in school, just an on line thing so all quite anxious.

DS1 starts Year 7 in September and is at summer school this week. Been a bit of a funny time as even though he got the school he wanted his friends didn't get in so he only knows a couple of people. Yesterday went really well. He said he'd made some friends and managed to get the bus back in one piece with a girl from his primary school and a friend from a hobby so that was a big relief. They've been doing fun lessons - mix of sport, music, science, history etc so all sounds great to me.

Tonight he seemed more subdued. Turns out that he's been talking to his primary friends who are now going to a different secondary together and have their summer school this week too. They've had an outward bound day today and are doing a trip to a local attraction later this week so think he feels a bit short changed! I've talked to him about how what his school is doing seems to be more typical (certainly based on the other local schools), the point is to get to know other children/staff/the school building which is what's happening and his school has a Year 7 residential so he'll get to do the outdoorsy stuff then. Think it's tough though it's brought home the reality that he's going to a different school to his friends which he's been surprisingly chilled about so far.

He has spent quite a bit of the evening gaming with the friend from his hobby who is going to his school and seems much brighter so fingers crossed it'll all work out.

As you've probably guessed he's my eldest so this is all completely new to me! This thread has been great for tips. Hope everything goes well for everyone else.

Just found this thread! Not long to go now - DS1 starts a week on Thursday. I'm washing all the new uniform today so that I can get it all labelled etc... I love doing that!

Our school did a summer school at the start of the holidays. Most children went, I think, about 150 out of the 180 new starters. It was a bit more like school than I had expected - they did maths, English, humanities lessons, but also cooking and PE. I think it was a good chance for them to get used to the building and meet others starting at the same school. I think also it was a chance for the teachers to see the kids interacting and work out what forms to put them in for September. At least half of DS's year 6 class are all going to the same school so he's bound to have people he knows in his class, though I think he's looking forward to making new friends having been in the one class bubble for the last year and a half and not being able to mix with other classes. He's summer born so only just turned 11 but I think he's more than ready for secondary - he was getting so fed up with the relentless focus on maths and English at primary at the expense of everything else. I think he'll really enjoy being able to do lessons in all the other subjects! The school is really near us, just a few minutes' walk, so at least we don't have the journey to worry about.

All my DC & mates seem to be raring to start. Busy comparing what bags/stationary etc they have bought. I just need to label the uniform now!

DDs school did a virtual intake week. Teachers did videos for them. She seemed to get on OK with it.

Just bought her a calculator, Amazon have the Casio ones on offer for £10 at the moment.

I'm trying to help her realise she needs to be a bit more organised come September.

Definitley can't believe how quick it's come round, it's scary.

New adventure for them though.

DS loved his summer school they had a selection of lessons, but very relaxed. They had drama, cookery (made us dinner) maths (doing origami) English, science - filtering water. Meeting teachers and being shown around the school. They came out so happy and relaxed I’m really glad they did it.

Jumping on this even though I’m a bit late to the party/thread.

Ds is starting year 7 in September and only knows 1 other girl going from his school. Luckily he knows a couple of older kids who go from his scouts group and a primary friends older brother so he will at least see a few friendly faces around and know a few people as approachable to ask if he gets lost.

Thankfully we were able to look around the school right back at the start of year 5 but no induction day and they aren’t doing a summer school either which I was disappointed about.

He was so lucky in that they made it to the end of term with no isolating and got to do quite a lot of normal leavers activities, and had their residential in June.

Dd is currently at her summer school induction. She's missed the first day so hoping she makes friends easily

I opened an over-11s account for DD with Natwest last week - it was really quick and easy actually as I have online banking with them and they did the ID verification via an app.

She's getting public transport to school, so I wanted her to have access to a contactless card in case she loses her Zip card.

@TheSockMonster The premium school shirts from Next are decent quality - a lot less see through than most. I would still recommend a little crop top underneath though.

Lots of the banks do cash or current accounts for over-11s. We use TSB as they have a 2% interest rate. We pay in pocket money by standing order, and then DS can get cash out or pay for things by card in shops if needed (I think he can also use his card to pay online, though he hasn't done that yet). He never really spends any money, but he's just starting to take an interest in being able to do so recently (he's 13 now). At school, his lunch is all paid for, but we have a deal that if he wants a snack, he can either take something from home, or if he wants to buy something from the shop then he pays for it himself (he normally chooses the free option but occasionally treats himself!)

pink - No that's with Barclays but I assume most banks do the same? We have their video banking app so just did it that way, was really quick.

When our DDs started secondary we switched to a monthly system direct to a Nationwide bank account. They started with cash cards and upgraded to debit cards when older. They walked to school so didn't need cash or card on them normally.

@UncomfortableSilence is that Santander we are planning on opening an account for DS?

Thanks for the replies! Good to hear what other do

I'm about to move onto a weekly allowance plus chores based system with my DC. Just need to decide the amount! This is for non essential stuff like sweets, hot chocolates in park etc. Next year I'll prob include clothes and trainers

Do your kids get pocket money @londonsaint? If not you might find it cheaper to do that and let them save to pay for their own social life than to provide (or argue about providing,) money on tap.

Fab thread - thanks for all the tips.

Can I ask whether people give their kids money and if so, cash or some form of card? DD will have a bus pass and thumbprint pay system for the canteen.

I'm also thinking through to weekends / social. What do people do then? This is all a bit new to me!

Yes expectations will vary. Here it's the norm that Yr6 become very independent to get them ready. The high schools really stress that they need to be accountable.
Most parents I know have tales of short detentions for lateness, forgetting books etc and they learn very quickly lol. Also tales of DC having to get organised at lunch to avoid missing a club they want to join, or having to remember sports equipment for after school stuff etc.
By half term they've nailed it.
Apart from announcing at 9pm they need cooking ingredients for the morning haha

Fingers crossed next week goes well for minipinkcattydude. No summer school here (the school isn’t doing one). We are in Wales though so maybe a bit different.
Expectations on being self sufficient may vary - having spoken to parents with older kids round here most seem to help them with getting up on time/ organisation quite a lot at the start as it’s so different from primary but step back over the year so they are independent by the end of yr7 (in theory).