Current YR 6 children going into YR 7

[yourmumsnet]

Is there anything we should be doing from now until September that I may not have thought of?

Uniform order and practice journey there and back.
Encourage enjoyment and cherishing last month of secondary school.
Slowly allowing more independence.

Anything else? I feel like this is quite a big transition and I'm anticipating lot of growth from seeming like a child to admire teenage like over the summer.

I want to allow that growth but whilst keeping good boundaries and not allowing to do too much and selfishly, maintaining family things rather than the focus shift all on friendship groups.

What’s your AIBU?

DD is enjoying watching the CBBC programme about life at Secondary school (Our School?).

Talk about how social conventions might differ at secondary compared with primary. e.g. Situations to ignore, situations to tell an adult, situations to deal with themselves.
Talk about what ifs (bus being late, being approached on way to school, get lost at school, being bullied, forget PE kit) and how to handle them.
Rules re coming straight home v going to friends v texting to ask etc.

Thanks for this thread OP, I've got a son starting year 7 in Sep so this is helpful for what I may have forgotten!

Be prepared for an unsettled first term; they might be with a friend or two within a tutor group, but this might not mean they're with friends for all lessons, or they might get seated using seating plans. Depending on your child, this might cause some stress or anxiety until they get to know a broader range of pupils.

AIBU to ask what we should be doing during this transition stage?

AIBU to think that there might be something we could or should be doing during this transition?

This is a great question! And I'm so happy you're asking this - i personally really struggled going from a (reasonably small) primary to a (reasonably large) high school, and honestly it was hell for the first term. Every in my family seemed oblivious so your child is very fortunate to have you looking out for them.

Are there any kids who live nearby going to the same school? Perhaps they could have an "independent" shopping trip or cinema trip together to bond before they go to school?

Having a new haircut (this seems trivial, but getting a 'grown up' haircut massively boosted me before heading to big school)

Doing fun days out - they will most likely be asked "what did you do over the summer" and it's important they have something to talk about. It doesn't need to be a big thing - perhaps they went on a family walk

The most important is that you enjoy this summer with them as much as possible <3

I'm glad it's not just me. This is new territory for us and primary and secondary are so different.

If you don't already I suggest getting them to go to a local shop eg Tesco express with a short list, taking the bus a few times if they will be taking it to school and don't currently use it much or walking the route until they are confident. Get them to sort out a list for their school bag and practice tie tying if they are wearing one for the first time, also laces and buttons (many youngsters don't wear these to primary)

Ways to start conversations with other pupils.

Don't gossip about others behind their backs, it will get back to them. If necessary be non committal.

There is a holiday club run at the school over the summer which I think is a great opportunity to meet people and then have some familiar faces at the start of term, but they're really not interested in going and I don't want to force it. Even though I do think it would be beneficial.

You're not BU at all for asking.

Have you been invited to a new intake parents' meeting yet?Some ideas may come up from that.

Is your DC due to attend a transition day at their new school yet?Again,issues that you can help with or hadn't thought about might arise from that.

Other than those,I'd suggest encouraging them to think about how they're going to organise their belongings.Lots of things will be brought home and need to be remembered for school on certain days;hopefully,as they've moved up through KS2 they will have developed some sense of responsibility for remembering the right day for kit,homework,musical instruments,etc.,but it's always a bit of a shock!

All the very best to your DC-and to you of course!😁

Get them used to packing their own bag for the day including some pens etc. Parentd forgetting won’t be an acceptable excuse in secondary.

Have a look on the school website for their rules and start working on any that may not be obvious.

Reminders about how the class day works and it won’t be the same class. Although maybe the same teachers throughout the years that some schools are doing now.

independent research and work. If don’t know how to use word, use the time to get up to speed (lack of equipment in schools means not all are competent when starting secondary). It’s free with an outlook account just not as in-depth as the paid for version. Software4students have huge discounts on this for those who want to purchase office. If the school are using Google get to know how to use it. If using freeware or Apple office make sure they know how to convert so it’s readable on Google/ms office. Also how to safely eject usb sticks as not always time to back up online or the network is down.

If there’s any SEN and a change of routine is stressful get in touch with secondary’s Sen and ask if it would be possible for them to email/send a copy of the timetable before September so you can go through it with dc. You can also ask primary school senco to do this is your not confident yet.

Oh and when you go shop let them pay with your card to get them used to the schools cashless system. That alone is a whole new experience. I also took mine to the IKEA cafe a couple of times to experience the whole queuing, selecting and paying thing. Two of mine do have sen and would have gotten food and fucked off without paying otherwise 😂

You need to present it to them as compulsory. My kids all went it was never discussed as an optional extra thing at all as this will help massively and will definitely affect those that don't go.
I work in a secondary school and the year 7 team are there too so they start getting to know the students during this time too.

Dts are going from a single form entry to an eight form secondary, and they're going to be separated for the first time.

We are working on independence, and the fact the won't be together all the time (realise this is niche to twins).

We're doing practice bus journeys and gradually letting them cycle further on their own. They're perfectly capable of going to the local shop but there's a horrid road to cross. I need to work on my issues over that.

They are so young though, won't turn 11 until 29th august. 😩

Dh is a teacher and he says boys are the worst for. It remembering where they're meant to be, what they're meant to have on a given day so we are working on that with dds.

Get them used to being home alone a bit.
Write down all of their passwords, locker codes etc.
Put some useful phone numbers in their phone. DD only had her friends, me & DH. Now she's reliant on lift shares a lot, having the number of the parent giving her the lift in her phone saves her having to ring me, me ring the parent & then ring DD back.
If an option/relevant, sort out a GoHenry or some other bank card? DD and a friend have a hour's gap between school and an activity once a week and go to an independent coffee shop which, since Covid, only takes cards. This presented them with a problem in the first week when they only had cash. Actually, before that I'd taken her to places like Starbucks & Costa as we don't tend to go to coffee shops and shown her how to order, where to stand & wait and even talked about what she might like to order.
We had a key safe fitted which has been invaluable. DD doesn't have to worry about whether she has a key or loses her key.
We did a really boring walk around the town with me saying things like "if I say I will meet you outside X this is where I mean" and if you need to get yourself from school to the dentist, this is how to get there (one of those routes which is a long way by road but a couple of pedestrian cut throughs and it's about a third of the distance).

The y7 summer school is only available to 150 in our school, we've applied and paid not sure what the criteria for allocation is, hasn't been communicated.

Useful to have to pencil cases (& maybe calculators) so one set stays in school bag the whole time, and the other stays at home for homework. (NB don't buy a calculator until you know school recommended one.)

Oh and carry on reading even through the summer and have chats about the book. Never too early to start on some Shakespeare . That can be hard to get your head around

If I were 'starting on Shakespeare' (which I don't think is essential) I'd get a DVD, much easier to watch than read!

There’s an amazing GCSE accepted scientific calculator on Amazon. Attached to it is a fab math set.
Youngest has just finished his GCSEs and has used it without problem for the past couple of years. Cos it’s all together he doesn’t forget equipment.

I also used a chalkboard that has that sticky back stuff and stuck it to a wall they see regularly. It had their time table and things needed for that day. As they got more sociable things could be quickly added. Even though they had phones they wouldn’t always check their calendars.

I don’t think Shakespeare is essential either. Shame the school and exam board think it still is!! All mine cheered when those weeks ended 😂

The reason I said wait to find out from school the recommended calculator is that when having relevant lessons if they all have the same one the teacher can help the find the right buttons more easily.
Also our school used to sell them cheaper than you could get in shops.

Having a child in year 8 now I was flabbergasted by how many children asked about sexuality over, say, what is your name?! It seems really odd. But it seems to be the thing to have to label your sexuality, so perhaps some conversations around that.

Also the swearing 😵‍💫 my daughter has heard some horrible things and I wasn't prepared for having to explain some of it to her.

Aside from those I think planning the journey, uniform, doing all the usual preparation etc you have covered.

Secondaries round here really don’t care as long as it works and is scientific. If the school recommends a specific one will be on the website under equipment in the parents part. Or at least should be!!
None of them sell anything either which was a massive pita for school ties that would randomly go missing and could only buy from a specific website.

Talking of which if there is nowhere local you can buy the schools uniform get an extra tie and pe socks if you can afford the extras.