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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

How much work is your secondary school child expected to do? (y7 particularly)

65 replies

StarsAndSnow · 30/04/2020 17:04

dd is 11. if she was 2 months younger she would still be in y6
her high school are setting their weekly tasks. they are expected to stick to their regular timetable, doing 4 to 5 hours of work a day. dd is really struggling with this, with organising and motivating herself.

she has easy access to teachers and they are very responsive to emails and help a lot but these are crazy times, my younger children are expected to practice times tables, spellings, keep reading and just do 'some' work. in comparison this just seems an enormous ask of dd11

so id like to know if its just because she is now in secondary and this is the norm?

thanks

OP posts:
flumposie · 30/04/2020 18:18

The school I teach at is setting 3 hours per day. Some of the work I've set might take a bit longer depending on how quick they read the novel before they reach the written tasks.

tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz · 30/04/2020 18:19

Y7 parent here ...similar story as we're struggling too. DD is a hard worker but needs support (a summer norm too) so she's missing class interactions and an actual qualified teacher and frankly, I'm a crap substitute. And I'm not even having to juggle work so F knows how working parents are coping!

We're finding a few deadlines are being missed (only by a day) or we forget to upload it to the schools portal. So I try not to get inwardly cross at the chase up emails (always the teacher who never bother either grading or commenting on good work ) and remember everyone is trying their best.

A few teachers are also standing out for me for the excellent and consistent quality of their feedback ((for good and not so good work), these lovely comments are so appreciated as I know they're bloody busy.

tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz · 30/04/2020 18:23

born not norm

mypoorfurbaby · 30/04/2020 18:24

I have a Y7&8.
Right from the start we kept the school days the same.
They set timers on their phones for each period and break. The teachers are setting work daily for their time tabled lessons.
It isn't perfect and the first couple of days was tough on the Y7 but it's working fine.
I think your real issue is the feeling she's missing out of her siblings are not working at the same level but that's part of growing up and something she'll have to deal with.

Have the school been in touch?
We've had a call from the form tutors and head of year since lockdown.

Booboodisney · 30/04/2020 18:28

I think you have to let go of the ‘if she was two months younger’ thing. She is in the year she is in. Eventually they all even out, and in adulthood no one cares if you were summer born or born on the 1st September!

Booboodisney · 30/04/2020 18:29

I say that as a summer baby who took all my GCSES ages 15 and graduated uni before I was 21!

BertieBotts · 30/04/2020 18:32

More than us here. We are in Germany. The children have a rough amount of 2 hours per week in their main subjects (3) and 1 hour per week in all other subjects (6). So around 12 hours per week or 2-3 hours per day.

FrangipaniBlue · 30/04/2020 21:10

DS y7 has about 5hrs a day - email from school said teachers were asked to set 45 minutes work per hour of lessons.

The reality is that some are setting more, but it's balanced by the ones setting less.

By contrast his best friend goes to a different secondary and has only been getting an hour or two a day Confused

Darbs76 · 30/04/2020 21:14

My DD is year 7 and she has 2 hours absolute max per day

Lougle · 30/04/2020 21:15

Year 8 - 5 hours of work per day. However, mixed messages from teachers - some threaten consequences for not completing work, then the HT emails to say 'This is a crazy time, don't worry if you can't do it all. It's up to you (parents) how much they do and there are no penalties for not doing it.'

DD2 was keeping up quite well. The last few days she's struggled, but hopefully will get going again.

WellTidy · 30/04/2020 21:18

Full timetable, so working a normal
School day. Three one-hour lessons in the morning (with breaks) and two one-hour lessons in the afternoon. No homework but plenty of co-curricular stuff still going on (but DS isn’t interested in it now that he isn’t at school).

He is very hit and miss as to how much he follows instructions and is accurate in the work he produces though.

SnowWhitesRestingBitchFace · 30/04/2020 21:21

My son is year 8 and is doing at least a full school days worth of work Monday-Friday. Sometimes more. If he didn't do that much he wouldn't be able to keep up with deadlines. He's honestly been given a hell of a lot in my opinion. From Monday he'll be started live lessons to follow his regular timetable so will be completing a proper school day each day. I'm assuming they won't be set as much work then because there is no way he would be able to keep up. I wouldn't be able to do half of what he's doing!

homeschoolmyarse · 30/04/2020 21:25

Year 7
Full timetable via Microsoft teams
He can’t organise any of it and it is killing us

lazylinguist · 30/04/2020 21:26

Ds is Year 7 and is doing a full timetable of lessons too. Some days it takes him a bit longer than the normal school day, and some days quite a bit shorter. It depends what subjects he has and what the tasks are like. He's getting through it fine tbh - only occasionally asks for help.

Popfan · 30/04/2020 21:26

Yes my year 7 has a full timetable each day - lessons come through at the times they would at school. There are virtual teaching sessions in some subjects. I think it's too much - especially where he is set homework on top of tasks in lessons. In science there is loads of new content and it's hard for him to deal with it all without the guidance of his teachers. He's not doing it all - we are prioritising aspects and particular subjects. The set up is fantastic and the teachers are working really hard but it is too much for my son.

Taswama · 30/04/2020 21:29

Y8 here. Work is being set for the full timetable but varies massively in content. DS has support in school which I can only partly replicate at home (younger DS and job). We started doing what we could of the lesson in the time available and then stopping. Even that was too much so I aim for 2/3 of core subjects (maths, English, science, MFL) 1/2 of history and geography and other subjects if we have time.
But most work doesn't even need to be submitted just 'marked as complete' on the portal. No feedback for the work that has been submitted either.

TattiePants · 30/04/2020 22:32

DS is in Y9 but KS4 and is on a full timetable of 7 x 50 minute lessons every day. He has SEN which means I also have 7 x 50 minute lessons every day as he isn't able to concentrate for very long. I may well be able to sit my GCSEs again after this! Fortunately my DM is doing a lot of DD's (Y4) lessons with her over Skype.

Sidalee7 · 30/04/2020 22:32

About 3 hours a day for my year 7.
Usually works 10-11 then either does Joe Wicks w/o or goes on the trampoline, then works 12-1, then lunch, then 2-3.

I need to give a lot of support but I read that you spending 20 minutes 1:1 equates to over an hour in the classroom so that made me feel slightly better.

Glittercandle · 30/04/2020 22:42

DS is yr7 and is being set a full timetable. He has ASD/ADHD and dyslexia - it’s hard work for both of us. He’s a visual learner, many of the lessons consist of reading and summarising- it’s dull for both of us and he’s not taking a lot in. One by one we are dropping subjects and are concentrating on maths, science and English (he’s set 4 hours a week for each of those) and typing skills.

Original poster
StarsAndSnow · 30/04/2020 22:57

Thanks everyone for your imput I think I'm going to have to take it into my hands more and see alarms on my phone for when she needs to do certain things.
Sounds like her school is doing very similar to most others

OP posts:
Runbitchrun · 30/04/2020 23:00

My daughter is in Y8. Her tasks are set on a daily basis, and I would say generally take her 3-4 hours a day on average. Sometimes less, sometimes a little more. I think most high school students are following a regular timetable. Seems teachers can’t do right for doing wrong. Set the work and it’s too much, don’t set it and it’s because they’re lazy and sat at home doing nothing on full pay.

Patchworksack · 30/04/2020 23:07

My Y8 is doing about 4-5 hours a day and keeping up. He will still have some work to do at the weekend but it's practical project based stuff and he wants his Dad to help with it. There is a big transition to managing your own workload when going up to secondary so probably some Y7s still need help with this.

RoseMartha · 30/04/2020 23:11

Dc are in Y8

They are set something for most subjects weekly. Some less so, ie IT.

As one has SN, they only manage 30-60 mins a day. Partly because I have to supervise completely and trying to wfh, and I can not do both at the same time.

School have been in touch and are supportive and assured me that if they do a little each day it is better than nothing and I am doing the best I can and not to worry about it.

Sh05 · 30/04/2020 23:13

My son in yr 7 is doing around 4 hours. He started off finishing in 2 hours but was missing some deadlines where he hadn't checked each lesson thoroughly. He has now got the hang of assignments on Teams so takes around 4 hours.
They have Friday off but he is sat working for 2 hours on Friday and Sunday to stay on track.
His form tutor calls every Monday for a catch up with myself and a member from the health and well being team call every Tuesday just to see how everyone in the family is coping with lockdown. This is something new and I was surprised at the first call but was told that it is a school wide thing and they are staying in touch with all families.
They have 135 students per year so not a huge school

Sh05 · 30/04/2020 23:15

I should add that I have him logged in on Teams on my phone so I can check if he's missing anything or if there are deadlines that he might struggle with and then I remind him of those, especially the few lessons that he dislikes!