To think middle schools should be introduced in the UK?

[Serrina]

The transition from primary school to high school is very difficult for a lot of children at 11 and there's very little preparation for it. Somehow they're expected to jump from a nurturing primary school environment - which is often like a second home to many children, and spending the day in their own classroom with their own teacher and all their friends, then all of a sudden to a regimental high school system of registration, then having to go to different classes at various points in the day, with little more than a couple of minutes to get from one class to another and being penalised if they're "late" despite the fact the next class may be at the opposite end of a huge building than their previous one.

They have to get used to not just one new teacher, but several. Uniform rules are generally stricter, blazers aren't allowed to be removed no matter how hot it is, and in early September when school starts it usually is still quite hot.
Teachers in high school generally aren't as kind as primary school ones, if a child is upset or distressed they're expected to just "get on with it" they aren't comforted and reassured as they would be in primary.

P.E. lessons are more regimental, and you're expected to shower afterwards which is distressing particularly for many girls at this stage, as they are going through many changes and might not feel comfortable with this.

You're penalised for not having the right equipment on the right days, which isn't such a big deal in primary schools.

They're only 11. They've come straight from the school they've attended since they were 4 years old, and all of a sudden they're sharing a building for more than 6 hours a day with 15 and 16 year olds. And high school children can be brutal.

I know Year 6 is meant to be the "preparation year" but I don't think it's enough. They're still very much in a primary school environment. And outside of maybe one or two induction days, they don't have much help with the transition at all. I think this is one thing our cousins across the pond get right in terms of the education system, by having middle schools (previously called junior high schools) as a kind of in-between stage to help ease them in. I really think this kind of system would be beneficial here.

It is a myth that summer born are at a disadvantage at this age - that ends with infant school really.

@notknowledgeable it would be interesting to find out why so many are more immature?
I'm not an expert so I don't know.
Something obviously has changed....but what?

@notknowledgeable even in 11+ exams they consider age standardisation.

While academic differences may not be huge eventually I definitely think maturity wise 10 months make a huge difference. My own summer born DC are great in academics (top sets, scholarships etc) but definitely one of those who struggle with organising their own stuff in secondary.

hmm disagree with you there.
My dd was year 7 for first lockdown.
For her, the experience of covid was 2 years of school chopping and changing betwen online and in real life, struggling to adjust to the changes, not coping at all with online school, so missing huge chunks of learning because she basically didn't do anything. Not coping with havign piles of undone work hanging over her head.
Going back into school and being behind, not coping with school, ending up with on average one day per week under the duvet.
Massively struggling with friendships and social isolation. Going back to school was torture due to the lack of friends, not able to maintain any friendships through lockdown etc etc

I am a teacher (but was SAHP during covid), she was youngest of 3, the other 2 were fine, she went into free fall, and ended up with major mental health issues, It only really started to resolve after continuous school in year 9.

If I hadn't seen it, I would be sceptical that it could have had such a negative effect. Probably not helped by worry and concern for grandparents and global crisis etc,

So I do think that kids (or maybe some kids) were severely effected not just by the lockdowns, but by the whole pandemic.

yes, I know its strange - I don't know the answer either, but I definitely think they need to be in secondary school. They catch up a bit with their growing up here. That is not going to happen in the sort of school the OP wants. Just more babying

This isn't what the pedagogical research shows actually. If anything, the evidence indicates that summer-born DCs are at a disadvantage for a lot longer than previously considered - possibly even up to 16.

There's not much we can do about this, it is what it is, and there are always going to be some DCs who are old in their year and some who are young. But it isn't true to call it a myth.

What you call a "US import" is actually a UK export. You do realise that a lot of things America does now actually came from Britain originally? Primary school in the UK was actually called Elementary school at one time, but most people (like yourself) think of it as American.

that research is rubbish! Most "pedagogical research" is done by people who don't even know the meaning of the word "research"

I stand corrected!
Thank you everyone. I will take myself to the stupid step!

That's not true either. Sources for such research over the past 12-15 years include the IFS, a Cambridge University review, UCL and the DfE. An OSA ruling in 2018 came to the same conclusion.

As far as I am aware, no study has ever found the opposite, though I stand to be corrected on that.

Maybe Key Stage 3 (years 7-9) just needs a bit of an overhaul.
Year 7 is all about getting used to secondary but then Year 8 is often called the "nothing exciting filler" year.
Year 9 - some schools starting teaching the GCSE syllabus which means they must not be covering the Year 9 syllabus which must make (some) students think "well if they aren't going to teach it - it must be pointless".

I agree with the idea of middle school or maybe just smaller secondary schools. I don’t think it does 11 year olds much good to be dumped in these huge secondary schools with very little prep. For me it seemed to break DCs innocence completely and quickly. I didn’t enjoy secondary school either (I went at 12 - slightly difference middle school system - 4 years infant, 4 middle, 4 secondary and optional 2 sixth form). It becomes about survival rather than enjoyment. The focus on blazers and uniform also seems ott given most of the world is less formal these days. I would much rather the focus being on becoming decent humans than tucking shirts in and wearing the correct colour socks.

Op you do realise many areas in the UK have removed the middle school system.

The main reasons being, underachieving in students, difficulties in obtaining teachers who can teach the specialist subjects yet are happy to just teach just upto year 8. Most senior teachers in high schools have top heavy timetables ie they teach more years 10&11 classes but it means these good teachers can also teach years 7&8, giving them the advantage of good specialist teachers. It made it difficult for students selecting GCSE choices and they had to do it the first year they started when teachers didn't know them so well. Lack of facilities in middle schools for all specialist teaching. Oh and did I mention poorer outcomes academicly.

Actually schools have to start teaching the GCSE syllabus in year 9 as the change to the circulum in 2016 means that the core subjects start GCSE teaching normally in January of year 9. But I think it's not been conveyed properly to students and parents that this has changed. If schools did do this they would have time to get through everything before the end of GCSE'S.

“P.E. lessons are more regimental, and you're expected to shower afterwards”

Not in any secondary I know of.

@MigGirl how does that work though because most schools (that I know of) options aren't chosen until Year 9.

I'm in Bedfordshire and they only moved from 3 tier to 2 tier a few years ago. 3 tier is alien to me as I'm not from here originally. I don't see the point personally.

No all of Bedfordshire is two tier yet.

@Serrina think you will find they are more than caters for, certainly my two ND nephews would have been better served under two tier than the three tier they suffered with, one very badly

They seem to be able to still fit in the option subjects into years 10&11, but core subjects, science, maths and English now have so much extra content they start in year 9. Some schools around here even tried getting students to pick options in year 8. But Ofsted told them off for doing so and they had to change. In some respect the schools had the right idea as it would make students take year 9 more seriously. They normally do tell students that they are studying GCSE work in year 9 but I'm not sure a lot of parents realise this change happened.

@MigGirl so are they actually doing Year 9 curriculum and some of that is relevant to the GCSE exams or are they actually missing out a chunk of curriculum by starting Year 10 early?
Surely if something is on the Year 9 curriculum they can't just skip it?

Not all ND children are the same, I have an ND child and am ND myself, I would have benefited from a system like this, or at least a high school split into lower and upper as I struggled a lot with the transition to high school. It's also very much a postcode lottery as to whether SEN/ND children are "catered to" or not, not everyone has that privilege.

Well it was in mine.

I agree, I think 11 is far too young for high school and they are exposed to many things 11 year olds shouldn't be.

Middle school for year 6/7/8 or just 7/8 seems very wise to me. Let the secondary schools be for year 9/10 and 6th form.