What do your Year 7 kids do after school when you’re working?

Mine went to a childminder after school for yr 7 (& possibly yr 8).

Good grief.

I think he’ll be at the age when he needs to learn some independence and managing his own time.

I was always home for a few hours before my parents, and would let myself in the house, make a snack, watch some TV, and then play music (piano, guitar etc.) for hours and hours until they got home. Sometimes I’d go for a walk or run if I felt like it.

But I was an extremely responsible teenager. My Dsis was definitely not the same, and once she started secondary I definitely had to become her babysitter or else she’d get up to all kinds of mischief!

Mine was getting 2 trains into and across London at 11 on their own.
Thousands of children are on their own after school in Y7 - they're not 5.

In your opinion.

I think it comes down to the individual child - some love it, some don't. If they are natural joiner-inners and like being with people it helps.
And you get to like your parents loads - as they're not the ones telling you to go to bed, or why haven't you tidied your room, or why are you wearing non-regulation uniform...

For some DC afterschool care may be appropriate but I don’t agree with this blanket statement and it’s not helpful. An NT 11 yo (and in yr 7 they may be almost 12) is not too young to be home alone. Plenty of DC are left for short periods from an earlier age

Mine went to a childminder after school for yr 7 (& possibly yr 8). Just turned 11 is too young to be home alone. They did homework and messed about until I collected them at 5.

At our high school they finished for the day around 3.20, and in y7 we encouraged them to go to after school clubs as much as possible or the library for homework; these usually went on till half 4. Then they’d walk home and be back by 5. Flop and homework.
Then it was Covid and we started working from home a lot more, so were around for more of after school.

But for the past few years of secondary, they’d come home straight after school, flop for a bit, then do some homework, all without our involvement. We probably had screen time limits when they were younger so they had to choose what time they’d be online for; as they got older and more sensible we took away the actual limits but they had to get their homework done. One would usually do it straight after school and the other would usually do it later in the evening after dinner.

There are quite a lot of them.

A lot of the boarding kids have parents in the armed forces or who are crown servants and it provides educational stability. For them, the boarding fees are covered.

I went to one - a lot of the non-military parents were things like rural GPs or hospital consultants where the hours made it hard to provide extra curriculars without some kind of full time nanny, or lived in very remote areas. The boarding fees were private and the education free. Some are comprehensive and some are grammar.

In my day there was no weekly boarding - we had Saturday school and loads of sports and activities at weekends. We went home at half term and exeat weekends. I had a great time there and am still friends with most of my year group almost 40 years on.

School i taught in finished at 3.10 (and that was a few years ago); my dc’s school was similar and another local school was 2.50.

Lunch breaks are shorter to control behaviour and often school starts at 8.30. Research shows afternoon lessons don’t go so well. .

My DD is at a school that has state boarding - a rural school - though she gets the bus and isn't home till 4.30. DH is at home as he's retired.
However some of the Y7 who used to go to her primary school went to the after school club for an hour or so and then walk the younger sibling home.
We use parental controls on phone, gaming and TV so if they are home alone I check their online work and then turn things on.

Until your DS has demonstrated that he doesn't want to get his homework done and submit it on time, I would give him some trust that he will self regulate. I think most children learn to self regulate homework and breaks after the first couple of weeks, especially if they've had their first few punishments for failure.

When he's settled in and got to know people he might want to hang out with friends after school - in the park, in a cafe, browsing the shops, in the public library, at someone's house.

There was an open air pool near my school so in the summer term we often went swimming after school.

DC's school finishes at 3, but they also start at 8.15, which is much earlier than schools used to start.

Being home alone is normal at secondary school age.

You'll probably find that he hangs out with friends after school and therefore isn't home as early as you think he will be. I would definitely suggest that he preps dinner (working up to cooking dinner) at least one day a week.

I'd also say pick your battles and if he does spend most of his after school time on xbox, is it really such a big deal? Encourage evening clubs, so that he will work out for himself that he needs to do homework earlier if he wants to go to the club as well.

My DD finishes at 4 but her school is definitely an outlier. I don’t know any around here that finish before 3 though.

All the Secondary schools I’m aware of finish between half 2 and 3.15