Y7- 2023/24 support thread

First week finally over as DD just walked through the door.
Bad timing that I now have to rush her back out of the door to a family 18th birthday party when she could do with just chilling for the rest of the day! Hoping we can make a quick getaway by 5pm so she can have a PJ and movie night.

Well my boy has a Fab day and seemed so happy….

Apart from a boy who keeps getting kicked out of class...and who apparently the class are all annoyed at.

yesterday my was his target he apparently chucked a pencil at him at one point and called him c** for no reason…. My boy says he can't concentrate the boy is always swearing tripping up people… got asked what he likes about English and was banging his head on the side and because it's alphabetical order he sits quite close to him🫣

Teacher and Ta both seen it and gave him a immediate warning telling off so seem hot stop this behaviour.

my boy says he dosent really care and it’s not just him targeted… so…

I realise there is always that one disruptive kid so what can I do?

I’ve said just keep wel away best you can sounds like a waste of space and will soon hopefully be removed from normal classes.

Talking on he can’t wait for Monday and seems to walk around speaking to lots of people.

Raves about some of his teachers and could not believe in re that the teacher wanted to hear the classes thoughts on religion etc he said his teacher told him he was an atheist too! (His primary were attached to a Christian academy, he found re boring and was stopped At discussing his 💡 ideas and thoughts!)

Unfortunately they were told 1 was highest.
I am surprised they set them straight off with no extra test yet.
There are 9 or 10 sets in 2 halves so actually she would be set 7 or 8
She is quite difficult and doesnt /didnt get much work done in class in y6 so could perhaps be teacher opinion.
The other girl from the waitlist isnt in this class so it maybe down to lack of info from dd primary particularly.
Which isnt that surprising, they were very ineffective with transition and at no point did dd get anything sorted for the sen. So im not even convinced they send any info re that to this school either!
Im not convinced the sats should be used in this way. (Obviously tney are affected by age in year, but now there is not level 6 type paper the difference between 110 and 120 might just be accuracy and they arent stretched. The difference between her getting the 106 school predicted and 113 was just practise and speed. So actual potential was higher. Similarly in english i expected her to do better than the 110 she got on that tricky paper. She does work slowly and didnt finish.

But they arent set for English anyway. Primary did i think get 2/3 so maybe 40 kids to get exceeding on the maths sats, so that will affect slightly the sets over the 2 secondaries. But looking other local school data they get more like 10-15% exceeding. (The tricky bit being those schools would be more enthusiastic about the kid's ability).
For eg dc2 got exceeded on ks1 sats this yr with 111. But that wasnt put as exceeding on her report nor was she offered a special maths club.

@Busornobus67 could set 4 be a higher set? Ir 1 is lowest? Maybe they do mixed classes? My daughters school have 2 top sets then the remainder are mixed ability. They also don’t set in yr 7.

Definitely have a word with the school @Busornobus67 . In theory, anyone with a greater depth score should be in the top third.

Although at DD2s school they have been told that they're not in Maths sets yet, and they will have a test on Monday to see where they should be. I thought at the transition, they said that they only started setting after Christmas so they had a chance to assess the girls and not just rely on SATs, so we'll see.

Not doing so well now.
In maths told she was in set 4/5!
With sats result of 113. Not a grammar and i cant see that is right.
So 150 kids with 90 doing better?
but also her friend with 110 is in 2. ?
i cant see why but possibly they dont have her sats as late from waitlist.
or its because she really awkward in class.
Or shes confused.
she didnt query it. I think i would have if i were her.
but if its to do with predictions from primary just another reason to be annoyed with them.

Clear as mud that @gingeristhenewblack43 . Here DC’s school have just adopted ClassCharts this year - DC2 had homework on it before he had a login for it which made him very stressed yesterday. Got the login today and turns out it’s just to cover his books. Like @TeaandHobnobs think we can cope with that.

Generally DC2 had a bad day yesterday- not at all helped by his brother saying he would walk him home completely forgetting he had a drama rehearsal. He then went to his rehearsal leaving his brother to unsuccessfully scour the school for him……words were had. Luckily today seems to have gone better though he’s obviously really tired out. Also not sure he’s talked to anyone but his best mate from primary yet. Not sure how he’s going to do a whole week next week!

So grateful it's the weekend, we made it! Slight improvements today, not quite so exhausted and angry, some things were even deemed OK. There has been acknowledgement that he thinks it will get better. I really hope this continues, I'm so bloody proud of how he's doing. But time for a G and T for Mummy I think, I'm wrung out!

What started as a good week ended up slightly disappointing as the caretaking team cut DDs lock off by accident when another student needed their own lock cut off. Now we've had to buy a new padlock off Amazon. We've got Prime and picked one that will be here by tomorrow. Fingers crossed it arrives on time so DD can use her locker again as she has a lot of stuff and uses it to keep books from later/earlier lessons throughout the day.

Good end to the week here. School bus ran on time and the misunderstanding about yesterday’s bus having been late was easily cleared up. The Head has decreed that summer uniform can be worn until half term. Photos taken. No homework in the first two weeks while they get settled. And the weekend begins!

This is the info we have had about homework. DD can drag 30 mins of work out to 2 hours with her procrastinating or get it done in 5 mins with her minimal effort 🙄

No homework here for first 2 weeks. Blazer was required! He has made friends ( well talked at people but remembered names) apparently this was at lunch.., which is huge for him! I am so pleased even if they don’t last past the first few weeks

Oh @BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz that’s not making things easy, is it?!
So far DS’s “homework” is to cover his exercise books… this we can handle 😂 Any form of written homework is always a huge battle for us, so I’m not looking forward to when it ramps up!

He came out happy at the end of the day, thank goodness! Said as soon as he got to his form room this morning, he got out his book and started reading, and that settled him quickly 🙏🏻

Hope all the DC have a nice chilled weekend, and are fresh for the new week on Monday

@Unsuredad123 it is a lot to take in for the first few weeks - especially with the commute. Hopefully she'll settle in soon.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz homework already???!

Does DD have any friends she can message to ask about it?

Or does school have an app where they can find out what homework they have outstanding?

@Stokey I'm sure she will be fine and it was just a wobble from a mix of tiredness, new school, new subject, teachers, friends, getting a bus etc. See how she fairs a few weeks then months in.

@Unsuredad123 that's not my experience of Grammer. DD1 goes to a "super-selective" one - just starting Y9 - and only just scraped in off the waiting list. The school are very aware that they have a lot of over achieving, perfectionist kids ( and parents!) & are keen to emphasize activities outside of class, and to tell them not to compare themselves to each other. DD1 has found maths a bit hard- she'd been fine anywhere else but there are lots of maths geniuses basically - but her teachers have been so supportive, I'm really impressed with their attitude. Homework has been very manageable and they barely had anything for the first few weeks of Y7.

Maybe have a chat with HoL or pastoral lead.

Thanks @Jellycats4life - I will do. I’ve met the SEND manager and the Y7 LSA previously, so perhaps I will drop them a line, once I’ve got the lowdown from DS on how he coped today

At primary, I’d have dropped his teacher / SEN 1:1 an email to forewarn them that he has had a wobble on the way in, but I don’t know if that is the done thing at secondary… and I’ve not even met his form teachers!

Have you had any contact with the SENCO prior to school starting? Even if you haven’t, I’d look for their email on the school website and drop them a line.

I totally understand feeling like you have to take a step back with your involvement once they reach secondary, but that doesn’t apply to SEN kids IMO.

I emailed DD’s school SENCO this morning just to give them a heads up that she was incredibly anxious about a swimming assessment this afternoon. She was really nice about it and said she’d give the PE dept a heads up.

Big hugs to those DC struggling 💐

I felt like an awful mum this morning - DS didn’t sleep well because of the heat, and was saying he was struggling to think / focus. That made him very dithery about getting ready, and we left 10 mins late. I got pretty cross, as DD has an earlier deadline for arrival, but his drop off is on the way to hers.
Of course he got really upset, and was crying when I dropped him off 😢😢😢😢

I hope once he got into the swing of the day, he will have brushed it off… but we will see. At primary, I’d have dropped his teacher / SEN 1:1 an email to forewarn them that he has had a wobble on the way in, but I don’t know if that is the done thing at secondary… and I’ve not even met his form teachers!

DS got to go in PE kit today, which was a relief in this heat but he did leave then run back one minute later because he forgot his student ID card he'd been diligently hanging up with his blazer.

@Busornobus67 I think that's my concern with DD. First week has gone smoothly (barring the forgotten swim kit today) and she has made a small group of friends so I'm now stressing about whether that is too good to be true and that issues will come over the next few weeks.
Maybe I just like worrying 😟 and I need to learn to chill out.