Year 7 (and older) Reference Books For Home?

I always wondered the same, why we don't use standardised textbooks that follow the national curriculum here.(and I did not grow up here) They're great for parents to keep track of progress, promote educational equality, handy for review or homework, and serve many other benefits.
I also find it shocking to hear that textbooks are too costly to distribute to every pupil.. in a country considered so much wealthier than many other countries who give out textbooks every year, every subject for everyone. And then people who could afford to, go to bookshops to buy additional materials and workbooks. It's really sad.

I agree, CGP books cover the material they need to know. But it's not very exciting reading.
The school library should have books on most topics, as will your local library. BBC Bitesize is a useful resource online and there are videos on Youtube for just about anything you can think of. It's helpful to add "KS3" to the search bar to ensure it's relevant and appropriate.

Academies and private schools do not need to follow the national curriculum.

There aren't any standard textbooks.

Closest you'll get for years 7-9 is cgi revision guides.

My dd uses Bitesize for topping up school’s materials. In addition I hopped on Vinted and bought her a handful of KS3 guides and practice question books so she has some alternative resources.

There is mountains of information online so I agree having just a few trustworthy sources is handy.

Text books are £30 each, schools can't afford to give them out and have children forget them and keep more in school.

Any CGP books will be useful or just BBC Bitesize, take a trip to WHSMITH or Waterstones and have your child look at the layout of the study book to see which format they prefer.

When they are in GCSE years once you find out the exam board you can buy the matching text books.

When I taught science we used the Activate Series which has an accompanying workbook for home use but I wouldn't advise getting them if your school doesn't usually use them unless your child misses a substantial amount of time off school due to ill health and needs to teach themselves to keep up. He should be able to d his homework from what has been taught in class, it should be a review exercise.

Does he not have access to online textbooks? My DC's school didn't allow books home either, but this was on the basis that they had access to lots of online material.

If they are struggling to manage homework, I would be asking the school what resource material they are expected to use.

Even though they follow the National Curriculum, there is nothing so rigid as a standard textbook (thank goodness!).

Schools use textbooks (I did) but in a more ad hoc way. In any case schools cannot afford to supply them to individual students as many would never come back.

I typically had one set (so 20-30 copies) of each book in my MFL classroom.

I suggest two options; try using the internet to research a topic (this is harder than it seems for 11yo so you may wish to guide) or look at CGP KS3 study guides - the MFL ones are certainly good tho topics in science and geography will vary.

Google is your best friend with any homework. Also teaches them how to search for reference material.