Anyone want a thread for starting year 10 this autumn?

Thanks bluebird for your lovely kind words! And I know you're right and I'm making baby steps in both not projecting and remembering that comparison is the thief of joy

But yes, agree too with a pp - buckle up folks!

I'm in. Son has become a sloth over the holidays, too much screen time, no friends around and me and his dad are at work.
I think it will be an eye opener the next couple of years as he hasn't really had homework since year 7!

Hold tight, we're in for a bumpy ride! 😉

@tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz

Welcome.
If she's doing all she can then that's all you can ask. Despite what people may say, not everyone gets 9s.
It's actually what makes the world a more beautiful place as there are so many different ways of thinking and contributing to life. It's a shame our school system hasn't caught up with that!
I know several people who did poorly in exams but have gone on to do great things - e.g. one absolutely tanked his GCSEs but is a fantastic nursery practitioner, two who are severely dyslexic so really struggled with school but one is a brilliant mechanic and the other is amazing at woodwork. (I'm in awe of these skills as I'm great at academics but cannot figure out practical things like that at all!)
We need all types of people to work together. 😊

@Gazelda

The more people I talk to the more I see the same experience for girls of this age. It certainly hasn't been helped by Covid.
My DD was so confident in primary but is so stressed by the friendships now.
I don't think Snapchat etc help either as it's throwaway comments galore. They don't even have to be particularly mean or anything to make them overthink. It's also not as nuanced as how the comment is read makes a huge difference to the meaning but kids don't seem to see that. Sigh.

Found you

I know I shouldn't let it but hearing friends kids excellent results today (and I'm chuffed to bits for them) I'm so worried for DD. She works so hard (currently with a tutor for maths as this is so tough for her) but at absolute best results are mediocre. Tracking end of last year shows just passing many subjects is going to be a slog. No underlying processing issues.

I know I need to give my head a wobble but it's tough at times .

Aaaanyway - self pity over and really glad to have found you all

@Rockbird I feel your pain re the gaming!!! Too much gaming here too……..it’s going to be quite the shock to his system getting up early again from next week!

Signing in. DD1 attends school on a very reduced timetable, two hours per day which she manages maybe 3x per week max. They have more or less said that they expect her in full time now, not quite sure how they think that's going to work. She is awaiting assessment for ASD and PDA, suffers extreme anxiety.

But she's talking the talk at the moment, God knows how it's going to go but she realises this is where it gets serious.

Oh I've got one of those (a DC going into Y10), thank you for the thread! DS is oldest of two so it's all new. He's bright but his general attitude in life is to take the path of least resistance. And there is far too much gaming going on (it got a bit out of control during the lockdowns when it was the only way to socialise with friends). He's doing maths, English x 2, science x 3, geography, history, Spanish and music. No homework during summer but finally got him to revise a bit of maths (the subject he struggles with the most) yesterday. He has no idea what he wants to do at uni onwards yet, but it's got to be something talking-related as he can argue himself out of any situation

Hi all! DS1 is starting year 10 in September! He’s the eldest of three, so a bit of a Guinea pig too! I’m excited and terribly nervous about it all. He is very bright but the teenager phase is kicking in well and proper! He’s managed to start doing some revision cards for science topics he has already covered. A bit of bribery has worked. We started off the summer really well but it’s all slowed down now. Hopefully at least having a few topics covered will help in the long run!!! I just don’t know what to expect. Am
so grateful for this thread!!! He has chosen history, German, Spanish and computer science as his options. Though not interested in them, he scores very highly in languages……

DD’s been used to daily homework throughout Y9, often done collaboratively via WhatsApp, but hasn’t touched a schoolbook over the holidays. I’m not sure whether she was supposed to! She has spent a lot of time on her MFL though - her passion - including a summer school in France, as well as lots of leafing through grammar books for difficult conjugations to ambush us with.

Her physics and chemistry would have benefited greatly from a similar level of investment, but there you are!

Mine has had 3 hours of homework for 9 different subjects (3 hours each) to do this summer. I think it's probably a bad omen 🤣 they do have 8 weeks off though so it's not been too bad.

DS seems to have had minimal homework over yr 9 and nothing much over the hols. He says he gets most homework done before the end of the lesson so it's only bigger projects that he has brought home.

Since lockdown some homework seems to be a communal effort as they have got into the habit of discussing it online.

I've tried to encourage him to look at the syllabus for yr 10 to see what is coming up and then do some reading. However most of the reading he has done so far is Manga comics 🤣🤣 He has been looking at some Maths past papers but that's probably because he likes maths and find it relatively easy. I do hope he will get back into routine soon as he has been getting up after lunch most days.

This week has been a shock to his system as he has had pre season rugby training at school for 2 days. He left at 8am and got home at 4pm today and went straight to bed. I think he will probably sleep all day tomorrow at this rate.

Yes, it's going to be interesting! He's used to working at home due to lockdown but not in the evening on a weeknight when he's already been at school all day 😫

This sounds so much like my DD. She's an only child and is quite mature in many ways, but immature in others which I think has been exacerbated by covid isolation.
She's really struggled to build strong friendships. She's starting to feel 'different' to those she's hooked up with and I've been encouraging her to widen her friendship circle. I hope that the new options groups will give her the opportunity to find more people she gets in with. Whether she takes that opportunity is another thing 🙄
We live miles from her school so she's not seen any if her friends during the hols. I don't work locally , and she's too anxious to use public transport, which makes it very difficult to encourage her to arrange meet-ups.

My DD attitude is we will see how it goes 🙄😳

I'd like to join - my son is autistic and in a mainstream school. Seems to be doing ok so far but I feel that homework has been extremely light during and post covid so he might be in for a shock shortly!

He's doing alongside maths and English x 2 he's doing triple science, music, computer science, art (3D design) and French.

He is hoping his choices and sets will largely get him away from the mean boys who have plagued him since Y7. We are waiting for his timetable to appear on the app and he is starting to get anxious about whether he will be with his friends in lessons. Fingers crossed 😫

@Snowdropsarelovely
You're definitely not alone. Mine has 'friends' IE people she can talk to in class, sometimes lunch but they're not loyal, or interested in meeting up outside of school.
She just hasn't found her group and she says it's so lonely.
She also finds the two-faced nature of many of the girls really difficult to cope with as she isn't like that at all.
She is so matter of fact and just can't be bothered with the drama. I've had to point out that it does her no favours to call out poor behaviour when the target then defends the mean girls and goes back to hang out with them instead of her. And then comes back to her when they're too mean, rinse and repeat.
I'm hoping she'll have more opportunities this year as they've mixed the groups up again.
I was so fortunate to make real friends at 13/14. They're still dear friends now but I see how unusual that is.
You just have to hang in there I think and encourage where you can.

Thank you for your message, I'm finding it really helpful knowing that other people understand! We looked at other schools, but unfortunately the only other one she would get a place at is a really shocking school in terms of academics. Because of where we live we are out of catchment for many of the secondary schools in the area. DD herself says what's happening isn't bullying as such, certainly no cyber bullying, she just doesn't feel that she's got a friendship group of people like her. She is fairly studious, works hard and doesn't vape which seems to be marking her out as unusual! I would say she is very strong to her own beliefs and morals, which doesn't always work well with other teenagers... On the rare occasion she has been out with people from school she has sometimes chosen to leave them and come home because she doesn't agree with what they're doing. I'm hoping that different classes this year will help her form new friendships? The one helpful thing she does have is a very strong friendship group out of school, geographically they live quite a distance from us because it's through a hobby that she does but I'm happy to drive her to meet up with them and they really are her saving grace.
So glad I found this thread!

Sorry to hear that @Snowdropsarelovely . DD had a very miserable time at a previous school (we moved her for Y9) and I vividly remember all the tears when a return to school loomed. The school did very little and saw it (social exclusion) as a friendship issue rather than bullying - despite their bullying policy saying all the right things. They still had little to offer when it then escalated to full-throttle bullying and cyber-bulling. It was awful, and I really feel for you and your DD.

(Sorry to raise this now…but I don’t suppose there might be another school with a place she could take up?)

Thank you, I'm trying so hard to get a balance between listening and being supportive but not feeding the drama!! I feel like I'm sending her off to the slaughterhouse. Why are teenagers so mean? I have spoken to School about but they are limited in what they can do to help with friendships, and they describe her as an academic highflyer... at this point I want her to be happy and less anxious. My worry is that she must spend so much time being anxious about break and lunchtime that she can't concentrate on lessons

Oh no, I was hoping that year nine had been the worst! DD going back this week, she's absolutely dreading it, really struggles with friends and is just in tears constantly. I'm trying so hard to remain calm and positive but it's really really hard...

My ds is another one starting y10. He’s an only which means I only have him to think about and get far too stressed! Even reading the posts here makes me worry that he’s chosen the wrong options. He’s doing both history and geography - loves them both and is good at them. Predicted 8/9s. I’m hoping that’s not too much hard going.