to think it’s ridiculous to accept defeat this quickly?!

[Ifitsmeanttobe]

ds yr7 hates his new school (never wanted to go) bus travel is too long.
He had started to dig his foot in and be difficult each morning refusing to go. misbehave at school. He still works well and does his homework but is made it clear he does not want to be there.
They have started interventions to try and get him involved but he said there is nothing they can do to change his mind.

Is it wrong to accept defeat and start applying. for local school) ? where he is desperate to go)

Thank you for all the useful suggestions. @steppemum we have just written a pro and con list. his only pro to his school was the academics. cons travelling, other students (apparently very immature and geeky and find things funny that he doesn’t) these were his words, no sport opportunities and teachers are not kind which he agrees would probably be very similar to local comp. We have had a good chat and for the first time ever i agreed to open another conversation about loving at christmas if he is still very unhappy but i asked him to try and have an open mind and he seems happier to carry on for now so i guess to be continued….

*not loving but applying to change of school at xmas

If sport is a big deal for him and he can't join sports teams due to travel and school buses, that really is a big deal. I can understand his frustration.

But you sound as if you have made progress. Sometimes just knowing that you are listening will help

Thank you. They simply don’t participate in many sports events or have teams. They don’t even play football. I told Ds i’m happy to drive over and pick him up if he wanted to do any after school sports but not a lot going on.
Yes i feel a little bit better about how things went today. I feel i can finally see his side of things as well rather just rigidly sticking to what we thought was best for him.
Im still hopeful that school’s interventions will turn him around but if not i want to be prepared for plan B

How long is the journey? I think it’s unfair to send a child too far from home to attend school. It turns a normal length school day in to full time job hours. He still has homework to do, and it limits his opportunities to meet up with friends outside of school.

I don’t think he is suddenly going to start loving the school. He would probably be happier and much more settled at the local school where he has friends.

Thanks @DarkDarkNight as grammar is a distance away he would not be able to socialise much after school anyway. He is home just after 4 30 and his homework takes 30 min max which still leaves him device time of longer than i would have liked. Plus he is on his phone in the morning and and all the travelling time so overall he spends a lot of time on devices when he is not at football which has always been a bit of an issue at home as i feel social media has a lot to answer for.
So i don’t feel that his days are fully packed but i recognise it is more than primary school and it must be tiring.