About to start year 7?

Couple of other things.
Parents of girls, please send them in with a period pack including sanitary towels. We will happily provide stuff but I know students find it really embarrassing to ask, especially if they are new to school and don't know who to ask.

Your child should have a named form tutor. This is their first port of call if they need help. Same for you, tutor first, then head of year if it needs escalating. Please don't expect this relationship to be the same as their primary school teacher. Primary teachers saw them 5 hours a day, form tutors at our place get 15 mins 4 times a week.

They will probably need a device for homework, whether phone, laptop or tablet.

Get them a casio calculator not just any old scientific one. They're a tenner in morrisons at the moment.

Completely agree with getting them into the habit of organising themselves the night before. Also trying to do homework the day they receive it to stop it building up. We've always done that and it works, in the early years it helps to keep weekends free which gives them a nice break.
I work in school finance and I would also say get into the habit of topping up/checking their school accounts at the weekend for the coming week, the amount of kids that come into me and say they have no money on their accounts for lunch.

lettuce we are in London too although thankfully there isn't too much knife crime in our part. A couple of years ago my older DD was walking home from school and two boys ran in front of her followed by the boy chasing holding a large knife and she just froze. So no matter how many times you tell them what to do in that moment it can all go.

They have to stick to the main roads, phones in bags, if they are approached they hand over, if they feel threatened they go in the nearest shop and call me. I work in a nearby school so could get there quickly. Shops in our area display stickers in their windows showing they are a safe space if a child feels vulnerable. They hopefully will make friends that can travel some of the route with them but ultimately they have to gain independence and this is all part of it, I don't bat an eyelid now when DD16 is out and about, we all use iPhones so I use Find my iPhone to keep an eye on whereabouts.

Yes it is a real issue.

My son has a neighbour going to the same school, but this neighbour is the kind of kid who will answer back and I am concerned that he will attract some issues. His friend is very cocky in some ways and completely unaware in other ways.

You have to know how to act around here, to avoid certain people, to always take a route and not take a short cut, not flash your cash or phone, and don't be cheeky and always be alert.

So part of the issue will be ensuring our boy can not be too unduly influenced by his travel partner.

My son has already seen the police helicopter too many times.

It is my main worry, not for while he is at school, but the travel to and from and when he is late due to some extra activity.

My son raises what to do and I just try reassure him it will be ok.

Eatenpig I do agree with stepping away from organising stuff for our child, but I feel I still need to keep in touch for the social side of things, but that is partly because there has been the most horrendous anti social behaviour at school.

What I have been doing is arrange some calls with a relative to go through school stuff (when school was on or home learning) and trying very hard not to get that stuff ready for my child.

I also made my own lunch at primary school so want my son to make his own packed lunch too.

See we are in London but honestly the knife crime is an issue, so we know children who are kept in because it simply does not seem safe.

So that is a conundrum. In fact school encouraged children not to walk home along precisely because of crime concerns.

Any tips for that?

We are city but family friendly area. Yr6 from all 5 local primaries generally walk to and from school. They all allow it from yr5 and Covid encouraged more to do it as then less parents at the school gates etc.
Phones became normal in Yr5 and defo 6 as a result and for keeping in touch / FaceTiming in periods of home schooling. In the cities SI and time home schooling have prob been more common also. Some kids have had up to 18 weeks at home this school year

That sounds a lot more independent than yr 6 here (many of whom are just beginning to walk home!) But we aren't super urban/that independent would be less usual. Locally at least. Ours had TT rockstars which I think could have been done on a phone maybe but most used laptops/parents computer etc. Never expected to us a phone at all in yr 6 here, but some did get them if they walked home. The switch was moving into yr 7 almost universal!

I think it's worth preparing for stepping away from organising things for your child. In my group of primary parents there is one parent who is already trying to takeover everything about / interfering in their child high school transition. Everyone else is preparing their child to stand on their own two feet in all aspects. The school has really stressed this. The kids need to organise themselves. If they don't, they'll enjoy detention lol

I think it also depends upon the school. Some schools let children bring devices in for research.

I think for us the mobile phone is needed because the commute could go wrong.

Noshow I think nearly all my daughter's class had phone's for yr 7. 10min cycle rather than walk but I think they swap details before/after school, have a class whatsapp and share info about homework as well as chat...

Taswama my daughter is autistic too. We practiced every few days last year, and in our case drove that way often,pointing out "landmarks." There was more than one route so they often cycled it (weird summer last year so used excuse of "needing exercise") a lot too.

I think repeating the journey a lot so it isn't so "new" is really important for ND kids. So week before we practiced it at the correct time in the morning so aware of noises and people at that time...

Are all these children taking phones to school purely due to the commute?
We live 10 mins away from the secondary my ds will be attending in September and I wasn't planning on allowing him to take it with him- or am I being naive?

I really don't see why our school has to have uniform skirts /tailored trousers (girls) as that could easily save money.
All secondary schools locally have branded pe kits now, and blazers. Although those costs vary too. It really does vary a lot.

Ds2 is going in September. He has visited the school a few times, recently for 2 x 1 hour visits just for SEN kids.
He is autistic and a very young 11. He will get a lot of support in lessons, my biggest worry is the walk there and back. Need to practice it over the summer.

GiantToadstool - it is interesting how different the prices are.

Our uniform (but we doubled up on some items including the blazer and sports tracksuit etc) but without and shoes and bag it came to £280.

My youngest is going into Year 7 and is so ready for it! Much easier being the youngest as you have more of an idea of what's coming.

Get a smart phone if you can afford one, rather than a brick, as otherwise your child will really stand out and feel different.

Practise the journey and go with them for drop off and collection the first few days. We did and so did lots of other parents.

Enjoy it - it's fun!

Yr 6 here dont use for school work at all. Actively discouraged! Those bringing phones to school habd them in on entry. Shows how different schools can be.

Wow Eaten ours is double that but nearly everything has to be uniform shop 🙄.

We had basic hawawei for yr 6 and 7.

Lots of going through different scenarios. Who to contact, looking at photos on website/map/etc.

happycamper3 we are planning on an older version iphone, but we have lots of family sharing that we can put into place so it makes sense our son has an iphone.

We definitely are not the only parents who have not got their child an iphone yet, i would say in my year 6 only a third had a mobile phone.

More pupils had devices at home obviously but not everyone had phones.

Our uniform is around £100 for blazer, PE top, tie, jumper. The rest is supermarket standard stuff luckily.

I don't know any Yr6 that haven't had a phone all year. Smart phones are the norm as is WApp for chats. All the Yr6 I know use for school work / uploading work etc They mainly have second hand or reconditioned ones.
High schools near us just insist not visible on school premises (confiscated) but understand that they all have them in bags and blazers.