to think secondary school goes so fast

[macbooksticker]

DD is about to do into Y11. Feels like yesterday she was a tiny Y7 with a massive blazer. It’s gone so much quicker than primary school did and it’s quite said to be fair. I mean it’s almost been half a decade and she only has one year left!?

Where I live, primary school is Yr R to yr 6 (7 years) and secondary school is Yr 7 to Yr 11 (5 years).

None of the secondary schools in my town or the 2 nearby towns have 6th forms so after GCSEs everyone goes to 6th form college. The colleges have a completely different feel to them compared to the schools.

Here you have to apply again to 6th form based on grades, even if an the same school, so not a certainty to staying on after GCSEs, different requirements for different schools as well.

I agree too - someone told me that "It will fly by" once they start secondary and I didn't think they could be right. My babies became small children so fast.

However, in Sept I will have a Y7, Y10 and Y11 and I almost feel as though I blinked and missed it. But, equally, I am loving seeing my children becoming young adults and gaining in confidence, and becoming independent.

I loge the way it is online (homework etc) and less parental emails etc- they have to find stuff out for themselves a bit more. Mine is just finished Y9 and seems no time since started in Y7. Whereas last years of primary are just dragging for the younger DC.

I wonder why it seems quicker.

love, I mean

I think primary seems so long because as a parent you are still so involved. Then they start secondary and suddenly you are pushed aside. There is so much less communication to you directly, so much more is via the student.

Friendship groups become more fluid and again dont involve parents arranging things.

I know what you mean. My ds1 is also going into year 11 and it's all flown by. Ds2 is going in to year 9 and dd1 is now year 7. Time just seems to be flying, I wonder if it's down to looming gcses? They seem to be coming up very fast now and seemed so distant when he was year 7.

I still have dd2 though, she's only 6.

My DD is going to college this year.
Time does fly but year 11 is a long one when you're in it.The pressure from schools is immense.

Agreed. Ds is going into Y11 and it seems no time at all since his Leavers party at the end of Y6.

I’m finding that secondary school is rocketing along whereas the primary years seemed to take forever.

If secondary school is 7 years why do they have a prom in Y11?

And I agree is goes really quickly, I have DC going into Y10.

Primary School did seem to be slower apart from Y6 which whizzed by.

Yes absolutely flies past. Before you can blink they’re through university and you are paying out for weddings.

If the secondary school has a sixth form then clearly that sixth form is part of the secondary school. Kids going to college for A levels (or to do other qualifications) aren’t at secondary school. So there isn’t a clear cut “one definition fits all”. Round here there’s no sixth form colleges and all schools have a sixth form so unless they go to the local further education college or leave for a job / apprenticeship then their secondary school time is 7 years. Reason for year 11 prom is that it’s the end of their compulsory schooling - after that they can choose to get a job (with training) or get more vocational education or take a limited number of A levels at the college. In practice, round here most stay on though quite a few swap to a different school.

And I agree it goes fast - Y7 in particular has just gone very fast for my youngest.

Agree it all whizzes by, but the whizzing accelerates becsuse contact with school decreases after the end of primary. Suddenly instead of all those assemblies, sports days, plays, world book days, it''s just twice a year for parents' evening.

Years 12 and 13 are NOT part of secondary education though, whether they take place in a 'secondary school', 3-18 academy or FE college.

Officially the education stage delivered in Year 11 and Year 12 (A levels, Btec etc) is part of the tertiary stage, which includes both FE (further education i.e.beyond secondary....A levels and Btec) and HE (Higher Education I.e higher than further....degrees, diplomas, certificates at university etc).

Prom is a US import and compulsory education no longer finishes at 16 so it just muddies the waters a bit. As do counties with the tripartite 'middle school system'

Yawn....sorry, I am boring myself!!

Stepson is going into year 10. I was taking pics his first day, full of optimism and pride
He's since grown 2 feet, uses about 5000 less words and speaks more deeply than my partner.

It gets worse. Y12 only seems to last a few months. Can't believe DD only has 1 year left before uni and I bet that flies by too

Just a thought - I think as we get older time goes quicker anyway. Maybe that adds to the whole thing as well.

When I was pregnant with DC1 my Grandmother told me to make sure I treasured every single moment because it goes by so quickly. She couldn’t believe her own son’s were middle aged men and said it truly felt as though it had flashed by.

I thought she was being twee and sentimental but my eldest is now nine and I understand what she meant. It completely does flash by.

DS's school starts at yr9, and finishes (obviously!) in yr11.

He's known he will be attending this school from the time he started his education, it's been a huge build up and sense of anticipation to get there and now he has yr11 left

He will likely stay there for sixth form but that is a different thing, not real school and I'm astounded it's nearly over.