Surprised by the leap from primary to secondary

[Darren2134]

Hi all,

My DS has just started Year 7 and I’ve been a bit taken aback at the step up. He was really bright all through primary and rarely got anything wrong, but now the detail and pace feel a lot sharper. For example, he had to name the parts of an onion cell under a microscope and got 12/16 right — which I thought was great — but it’s clear how much more specific and precise the work is already.

I guess I hadn’t quite realised how different the jump to subject-specialist teaching would be. It feels less about “getting everything right” and more about learning to use proper scientific vocabulary, diagrams, and explanations.

Have other parents found the same? Did your DCs need a bit of time to adjust, even if they were flying at primary?

I don't think it's a surprise that the content is more detailed? I think the big step up comes with having to be more organised and go between classrooms rather than the content.

Yes it is a big step up.

Thats part of the reason why I don’t like the “SATs don’t matter, they’ll retest in year 7” narrative that’s so trendy these days. When in reality the expectation of year 7 is that all the primary curriculum is secure, and they build from there. A child who has not dealt with the primary curriculum well will struggle to thrive in year 7. A kid who does badly in SATs in May is unlikely to perform any better in year 7 September assessments. Schools and families would be better to realistically assess how well children are learning in year 5/6 and ensure sufficient support is brought in early.

Accuracy and using the correct technical language in science is key, so it is great you/he realise this already.

I think one of the other factors is the curriculum narrows significantly in some schools to cram for sats. Last year I could see the year 6s in my daughter’s school doing an awful lot of maths and sats prep and not so much else. I have no doubt they’ll be very well prepared for their y7 maths classes but will be useless at the humanities or MFL. I’m sure science is often squeezed a bit too

That’s really interesting, and it rings true. The focus on SATs prep in Year 6 probably does mean children arrive at secondary with strong maths and English but less grounding in the other areas. It might explain why the leap in subjects like science feels so stark — it’s not just the new specialist vocabulary, but also that they haven’t had much practice at primary to build that foundation.

I suppose it shows how the narrowing of the curriculum at the end of primary has a knock-on effect later. It’s not that they can’t do it, just that they’re suddenly being asked to run in areas they’ve barely had a chance to walk.