Life skills for children starting secondary school

[ProbablyFault]

I was just wondering what other people think of as necessary life skills for starting secondary school.

I suppose I think of tying laces, some degree of self organisation, ability to walk to / from school if needed, but I'm sure there must be a much longer list really.

Learning to tell the time on an analogue clock (secondary teacher here; so many children can’t tell what time it is in my classroom clock!).

*on my classroom clock

Wow I’d have thought tying laces and telling the time were primary school skills?
Using public transport- reading a timetable.
Taking care of own belongings
Organisation

How to keep a diary for things like homework and what books to bring in.

Looking at timetable for next day and packing school bag with correct books.
Using planner to log homework, record music lessons, diarise events etc

Lots of organisation skills required for checking timetable, making sure hw is done, tests are studied for, pe kit is remembered, lunch is sorted

Social skills - how to make friends, not be part of any bullying and do the right thing if they witness anything, not to film anyone without their consent

Read a bus/train timetable.
Follow school timetable and organise their books etc.
Tell time on an analogue clock is a biggie!
Be able to manage money “on their thumb” or whatever system the school uses.
Have the social skills to be able to ask pertinent questions of an adult politely ( verbally or via email if local lockdown possible. I have sixth formers that address me as “Hey Mrs” online that wouldn’t dream of it in real life.
A few street smarts (road safety, staying away from trouble etc. What do you do if you miss the bus type scenarios)
How to use their mobile phone, and the discipline NOT to when not appropriate.
How to tie a tie if relevant to uniform.
How to smarten themselves up after break/PE (hair/mud etc)

These are all great, thanks. And yes, I was thinking of social skills etc. as well.

Thanks, this is useful.

Our DC will probably get a phone halfway through this year, so that they're comfortable using it when they go to secondary school.

As a teacher I’d say that planning and prep skills are the most important. Loads of kids lose hours of their time a week when they could’ve been doing useful stuff like bits of homework purely because they didn’t put a bit of thought into when they were going to get stuff done. Leads to no end of hassle.

Loads of other good suggestions here too.

Oh, I thought I just found this thread, but I see now that I actually started it 😄😳