Has your child asked to go to high school?

[levighi]

I’m not entirely surprised DS has asked. He’s a confident child, has loved home Ed through primary. He goes to local sports teams etc, has friends there as well as home Ed.

He’s decided he’s up for high school. I’m not against it if it what he wants. He’s the oldest and wants the independence and a full day. He’s researched local prospectuses and made sensible choices before coming to me.

Does anyone have experience of how high school went as a first foray into school? He’s adamant he doesn’t want to try the end of primary, I’m not worried about where he is academically or socially so I’m not too concerned about that. His writing etc is at the upper end of age appropriate so I don’t anticipate an obvious problem, but it is the unknown.

Sounds great. Can you arrange for him to visit /have a tour in the school day to see what they're like. We found that helpful choosing secondary school. Some also have open evenings. I expect you could also arrange some extra transition days where you visit in the last term before you start. (Our primary has extra transition days for anxious students/sen etc so do ask about them.)

(We didnt HE but had planned to so still have friends in that world. )

Has he had some experience of listening to the teacher/being part of a larger group/doing as hes told and working in small groups on task etc. Also look up the routines of the school day if they're on the website and see if theres some students there you could talk to about the small things that will be new. Its good timing to enter secondary as he presumablh wint be the only "new" person and they usually encourage classes to mix and bond in the first term.

He’s had lots of experience of group learning, often with new people. All day science study groups at museums, museum workshops, half term local stuff as well as non academic group stuff like sports teams. Some are regular groups. As teachers we deliver quite structured stuff to. He responds well, I’ve occasionally sat at the back. He puts his hand up, asks questions, talks to peers but keeps quiet for extended periods too. In stuff like cubs he’s in the middle of everything.

He’s not been to school, but he had explored the school day a lot though newsletters online and the prospectus as well as asking friends. He knew for example one school had break times with no restrictions on areas to year groups (keen as friends are older) whereas another kept yr 7/8 separate. He knew the number of lessons, homework expectations and doesn’t seem phased.

I mean you can never really know until you try it, but he’s got a sensible head on and has done research.

I thought about extra transition, I’m in two minds. Everyone is new to the site and I don’t think he really wants to be different. He’s generally the kind of kid you can drop anywhere and he’s emotionally ok, he’s have to learn the age but wouldn’t they all? He pops out locally alone and is reasonably street wise. I’m also not sure if the extra fuss could breed anxiety where there is none at the moment? If the first kids he meets are those maybe more worried/ anxious etc. If just going in with the whole bussle of it would be more distracting/ exciting.

He sounds pretty sensible.

No experience of HE but the secondary schools around here have already started transition days so it would be good to get him involved in those if possible.

The school is also a faith school with no two feeder school, pupils often are the only one from their school to go. So he’s hardly unique making friends

It sounds like youve done a fab job and if youre teachers that obviously means you can fill in the background as to what school is like.

Visits and tours are really worth it. My child is in yr 6 and in our group of friends we've all had tours in the school day, so thats a normal thing to do. At one school a prefect showed us round, at another the headteacher. You can make an appointment to visit or some schools do tours on different days.

Transition days are really normal and people do extra ones for all sorts of reasons - it wouldnt be marking him out as different as its in the term before secondary starts and is great to meet other faces so theyre familiar. All primary schools will do transition visits to secondary so its a normal thing to do.

Much - they cant be doing transition days yet? School allocations havent come out yet ... they could be doing visits, but transition says are usually in the lead up tot he new school. Applications for secondary here have to be in by oct 31st and allocations in March.

You've probably missed open evenings (if he's yr 6 age) but you could also visit those at the end of yr 6 for the school he wants to go to.

For a normal yr 6 school child here they will have

• been to visit the school on an open evening (possibly more than one) where they do activities and get a feel for the school

-been on a visit with parents in the school day to tour the school

• possibly been on school visits to see plays/do sports activities/choir etc.

Nearer the time - had the head of yr 7 visit them at school with wherever else is going onto that school
Had transition day - a whole school day at the new school in their new class.
Possibly other transition activities depending on school- sports or science etc

Extra transition for a billion reasons.

Some families - go to school fayre/show/etc.

They're going to spend 5-7 years there so its worth them knowing what they're going itno and making that transition smooth. Even more so if they've come a non-standard route.

Sorry longer spiel than I meant 😳. Life's v preparing for secondary focused at the moment!!

numberblock. The school that my dc are at have already had an open evening and 2 transition days for current year 6 pupils.

Timings are pretty much as you’ve said for applications and allocations but as there is the potential for year 6 pupils to not simply move from a feeder school to a certain comprehensive, the school tries their best to ensure that families apply for their school as first choice so they host early transition days in a bid to appeal more.

It seems to be working - the school’s currently being expanded.

My ds is going to secondary school from year 7 next September, it’s entirely his choice but I think he’ll be fine. Worth bearing in mind that you need to apply before Oct 31st, and if he’s not known to the LA you’ll need to ring them to ask for a pack in order to apply.

DS is also HE and has asked to go to High School in Sept, we've been to a couple of open evenings but followed up with visits to the schools chatted to the staff, and he's had a short transition visit to the one we prefer, they have said they're more than happy to do a longer (whole school day) when we're happy.
It's less about being different and more about him feeling confident about the school, there'll be enough other stuff going on and one less worry is going to help, that's our take on it.

We’re been looking into it more and unfortunately I’ve found some resources cross over. For example in maths last year he completed the year 7text book and he’s done 3/4 of the yr 8 one they use. Also a science and history text book are semi-completed that are used. It’s not so much just the level of learning, but the exact same books. I can’t imagine him working through it twice and it’s worried him a bit. I’m less worried about English, as it’s easier to re-read books at a different level and extend learning, but maths texts are pretty closed. It’s his favourite subject too. We never planned school, so I haven’t really worried about this before.

Speak to the school about the concerns. they should differentiate and it may be that finding some subjects easier will be a good way to ease in and catch up in other areas and settle into school life pre GCSE.

Schools have to differentiate so they will not make him just work through exactly what he's done before. They will have a mix of abilities in the year and there's always children that are ahead and need extension tasks.

I will ask, but their maths sets follow the format

Groups a,b: book 1a
Groups c,d, e: book 1b
Groups f,g: book 1c

Homework, matching pupil book/ online login.

Really structured around this programme. I taught maths many years ago, but we didn’t have such a rigid system. A core text, but not such a scheme.

Sorry to butt in and ask a very stupid question, but your son sounds like a delightful and bright child. Why did you mot want to send him to school in the first place? I am honestly just curious and don't mean to offend at all