my "baby" is starting secondary school tomorrow..

[jampot]

my dd is starting at her secondary school tomorrow!!!! Can any secondary teachers tell me what secondary school is like these days?

I'm not a teacher but my ds started at secondary last year. They really look after the new starts - the pupils who have just finished their first year provide Question and Answer sheets, for the new starts, etc. He settled in really well and I'm sure your dd will too. The only thing he found hard was all the homework. Our school gives them more in the first term so that they develop good work habits - but I guess all schools are different. Good luck to your dd.

She'll be fine. Everyone is really aware of how they are feeling and do their best.

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Good luck to the new starters. I am sure they'll be settled in really quickly and enjoying it :) First day back at our school involves a morning of tutor time, tour of schoool, going over rules and routines, sorting timetables, etc. Oh, and getting into lunch early!

At Y7 the schools I work and know about give about 20 minutes homework per subject, and about 2 - 3 subjects a night. So should get no more than 1 hour's homework to do each night, although it may vary a little bit.

Good luck to all the other children moving/starting school today!!!

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Not a teacher but a mum who's had three 'in the system!' I think your dd will love it. She'll have changed so much by Xmas, you'll be amazed. Sec school is much more caring nowadays. My 17yo dd's school has a buddy system in place and she had two S1 children to care for. She's totally besotted with the boy she's been given, she says he's like a little angel, with a cloud of blonde curls. The little ones tend to adore their big buddies and dd1 loves it when her lad rushes up to see her.

I hope all the new 'Senior Children' have a great time today.

Galaxy - if the homework is taking much longer then you must go in a speak to the head of year about it. At the school I went to we actually we given a time limit and had to stop and rule off at that point.