Year 7 home learning

[Leafarbuthnot]

Hello! My sense is that kids in Year 7 are having a really varied education experience at the mo... My friend's kid is at private school and is doing nonstop lessons, while other children seem to be getting way less support. Anyone else with kids in year 7 finding this?

I can't say what provision private schools in our area are providing but my experience is that generally all schools are doing things differently so it is impossible to compare what they are getting versus what they should be, also known as what parents expect them to get.

Just remember that at a private school, there is a greater financial incentive to be seen to be doing something whereas state schools will be much more limited in what they can do in this are. Certainly at my secondary, not every pupil has home internet much less access to a laptop or device to work on.

DD is in Year 7 at a grammar school.

The workload is huge IMO and unrealistic. Unfortunately, her motivation is not good at the moment and I'm finding it really hard to get to complete her work.

DS is in a private school and their workload is scary. Constant online lessons and projects. But he is fine with that.

His friend is in a state school and they have enough homework for about two hours a day. No online teaching, just worksheets and essays. This friend is a super diligent kid with involved parents, so I assume he is doing more than most in his class.

As you say, it varies widely from school to school.

Y7 DD state school. Gets set work on Monday to be completed by 9am the following Monday. All of it gets marked and fed back. Online tutor group and assembly every couple of weeks.
It's only about 4hrs of work though so I supplement a lot with things she's behind on. Works for us as she's finally got a chance to catch up.

Yr7 ds in state. He is quite motivated, works about 4 hours a day during the week, sometimes on weekends too, if he hasn't finished assigned work due on Monday. Work load seems ok.
Marking/grading/feed back vary with individual teachers. And he can communicate with teacher through SMH if he needs to. So, I'm not worried so much.

DD is in a super-selective grammar school and the workload is immense and overwhelming. DD is disabled dog everything is harder for her anyway and takes much longer but she is pretty much working an adult full-time job to try to get everything done - and she still seems to be getting behind.

She had a huge meltdown this week about the pressure so she had a couple of weekdays off to recharge her batteries and reset her equilibrium.

She/we do feel like she’s operating in a vacuum as there is a major lack of consistency in marking and feedback from her subject teachers.

Her feelings (and mine) are also conflicted by the fact that she knows that one of her best form mates is doing no school work (confirmed by the child’s mother) and instead is focusing on reading and doing projects that interest her.