pfb -in fact only child - off to secondary on Thursday...

DS enjoyed his lunch yesterday as well - chicken tikka masala (with half portion of chips).

He was a bit naughty yesterday morning - decided he would spend some of his dinner money on bubblegum before he even got on the school bus! So that meant he only had enough money for a half portion of chips.

I said it was different if he had money left at the end of the day, then he could spend it, but not before the day started.

Think my DH put the idea into his head (not realising) he was telling DS over the weekend of how he used to walk home from school instead of catching the two buses he had to (no bus pass) and spend his bus fare!

DS told me this morning he needs/wants some shin pads and goalie gloves for a football tournament they are doing at lunchtime tommorow (sigh, he thinks we have a money tree in our garden). Thing is I have been out this mornig and forgotten to go into the flippin sports shop and have come home without the said purchases. DH now having to call at the designer outlet on his way home now

Have been into TK Max this morning and picked up a (well I think it is) nice coat for DS, was £60 down to £20. If he does not like it I can take it back. I went into York yesterday and saw a really nice coat in FreeSpirit, it was by Animal but it was £45 and not that winterish.

the wine is rather nice!

and breathe.......... and have another glass of wine!

It is me doing the eye rolling and huffing as DS is taking toooooo long packing his bag as he is not concentrating enough on the job in hand.

He took the craft apron out of his bag last night and said he did not need it until the end of the week - I made him put it back in and said if it stays in there then he is less likely to forget to take it.

He went in search of the music teacher today to get Fridays homework - teacher has done a vanishing act! I asked him if any of his form were in his music class - no, so I said well what about any of your old yr6 friends - err yes mum there is - well bloody well ring them up then and ask if they have the homework. He could have done this at the weekend and saved some time. He rang a boy under duress and this boy has the homework so luckily he has said he will photocopy it and bring to school tomorrow.

He also told me tonight he forgot to mention he has to do a poster for Wednesday for his cookery lesson based on the pizza he made.

There is just so much to remember isn't there?

ds1 forget to tell us that he needed an apron for Design Tech, so tomorrow (along with a dozen others) he's got a 15 min lunchtime detention.

I'm really impressed by how the school are impressing on the children that it is their responsibility to get themselves organised.

Every night ds1 looks through his timetable and packs his bag for the next day, and also works out what extra things he needs to take in (dance uniform, PE kit, tech apron, art pencils, etc.!) I've just done a colour chart to help him remember.

He also checks as to what he needs to remember to do each breaktime, such as taking kit to/from his locker, ordering a grab-a-bag, going to a club, etc.

roisin - I think there are around 1200 children at DS's school and the older ones do go out, but still if there are say half of them going out - the lunch queue is still pretty long! As I said before, those grab-a-bag's sound great if you have something going on at lunchtime.

A letter arrived in the post on Sat morning from the school, headed Year 7 LPU/THRASS Programmes.

It was letting us know (DS did mention he had to go out of the Spanish Class) that he had to go into Literacy Progress lessons or Teacher Handwriting, Reading and Spelling Skills. He does struggle with literacy and these lessons are approx 25 mins long and consist of fast-paced, focues teaching with specially trained teaching assistans in groups of no more than 6 pupils. They focus on the building blocks of reading and writing and are designed to help pupils make a real and meaningful improvement in key aspects of literacy.

We have been invited to a Literacy Open Evening on Thursday.

Cheers Bellavita and you've jut reminded me to remind DD to revise her music homework!

DS1 has gone to catch his bus. I reminded him that if he wants to go to boys singers at lunchtime, he needs to order a 'grab-a-bag' at break and we'll have cooked dinner tonight!

I am glad you had a lovely trip to London magenta.

Just reminded DS that he has to go to he music block and get his homework - whether he will actually remember or not - who knows!

DD finally did her CAT tests on Friday. From what she says they ended up missing most of Fridays lessons and the one's she did go to it was for a reduce time. She also got a letter sent home telling us her Maths set and explaining how they'll be testing them again prior to half term to see if they are in the correct set. DD was thrilled to find out her set - 2nd out of 4 and naffed off at the thought of more tests! I don't blame her! The running total for 3 weeks of term is 9!

Hope your son doesn't gt into trouble over his homeowrk Bellavita.

DD informs me she has a sandwich and a pudding most days as in her newly acquired High School language she can't be arsed to queue!

Our trip to London was fantastic even if her beloved Chelsea was held to a draw by Man Utd. The Natural History Museum had her captivated for 4.5 hrs - not a I'm bored was uttered at any time - I was amazed! Just a shame we didn't get time for the Science Museum - we'll just have to plan another trip me thinks!

Seats allocated [hmmm] for cats tests next week (has seat number written in his planner) has to go to the 6th form block. Scary. Seat allocation sounds really formal!

We specify which year groups are on first and second lunch each week.

When I was at school over 25 years ago, we had fixed times for each year group to appear. It's madness for it to be a free-for-all. Kids are usually starving at lunchtime and will scramble for lunch as soon as they are allowed to.

Two weeks in and my Year 7s are doing very well. They seem to have all established friendship groups and no one is left out.

They are still struggling a bit with organisation - not in the end result of having what they need when they need it, but the length of time it takes them to sort out their lockers and bags. It took them 20 minutes at the end of school yesterday to sort everything out.

I do feel like a bit of a lost property monitor. I am forever chasing after them with missing kit and books, and they are asking me if I have found such-and-such yet (I'm not actually actively looking - that's their job).

about some of your lunch stories. We have two sittings at our school - 12.50 and 1.20, and we are usually ready for second lunch at 1.10. It doesn't feel frantic either.

Ds has music yesterday, was supposed to go back with the rest of the class after the break to pick up his homework.......... forgot didn't he

My dd is an amazingly cool and savvy year 8 now, but when she was a year 7, I (on the advice of a very experienced parent of older ones) I gave her a very cheap and basic packed lunch every day (marmite sandwich, water and an apple) That way she had something to eat if all the plans went wrong, but it was something she would"nt feel guilty if she didn't eat it because she got a better offer.

ds1 loves his canteen, but there can be long queues. There are 1050 children in the school and just one lunch hour. The oldest students are allowed out for lunch, but not all of them do. So it's understandable there are going to be serious queues.

He's getting the hang of when he has a lesson near the canteen and has a chance of getting to the queue early. If he has a lesson at the other side of school then it's better to do any jobs (put things in his locker, pop to the office, take a library book whatever) first, and then go and join the lunch queue when it's died down a bit.

He's only mentioned them running out of his first choice of meal once, and he was happy with the other option.

DS had a cheesy gonzales - said it was not very nice - some kind of cheese concoction in a wrap!