Final term of year 6-how are you feeling?

[gymboywalton]

it is really starting to hit me that this is it. we have been part of the primary school for ten years now and i can't believ that in 3 months i will never have cause to go there again.

luckily ds is very excited about the prospect of secondary school-i hope he continues to feel this way.

i am worried about him as he is an end of august birthday and while he is perfectly able academically, he is quite sensitive emotionally.

we have sats coming up of course too...[wibble]

DS1 is already in year 8, so for us it will be nice that in Sept DS2 joins him in the same school (going together on schoolbus etc).

I admit that when DS1 started I was a nervous wreck from worrying about him travelling on his own, but after a few days I calmed down.
and him having a mobile phone makes me feel more secure too.

(we actually have 3 of them starting new schools in Sept as DS4 is moving up to y3 at a juniors school and DS5 is going to reception.
it will be interesting! )

good luck to all of you, try not to worry too much, but enjoy the bigger independence you and your children are about to embark on!

I think my DD is ready to move on. Her primary school is lovely, but small, and I think she'll thrive with all the new opportunities at secondary school. She's definitely suffering (or perhaps it's the rest of us who are doing the suffering) from Y6 smart arse syndrome too...

I've got another four years of DD2 at primary, though, so easy for me not to feel nostalgic yet. Suspect I'll feel differently when our primary years are finished for good!

junkfoodaddict yes 23 different schools.

There are no secondary schools within my son's primary school catchment. Nor are we a feeder primary. We do not live close enough to any school to get in on distance.

We are in the far south of the borough and our closest secondary and our first choice is 1.5 miles away. It may as well be 20 as the furthest admitted is about 0.9 miles. It just so happens that our closest school is the most oversubscribed in the borough. Our next closest school is the 2nd most oversubscribed.

We live in one borough close to the border of 3 others. We don't sit within the ridiculously tight catchments for any school.

We would love our DS to go to his local secondary with loads of his mates. Sadly that is not how it works here.

Lovely thread to read. I'm sad it's the end of Primary School. Dd is the youngest girl in her year and still seems very young, she would happily do another year at the school (was the same moving from nursery and from Infants to Junior school) I am worried how she will cope as she doesn't thrive on change, but fortunately most of her friends are going to the same Secondary so she will know lots of people already.

Once she has settled in, I think she will enjoy having subject specialists teaching her. She has had some teachers who were good all round, but her Year 6 teacher has been spectacularly poor in many subject areas and hasn't inspired the children at all this year. It will be lovely to see her beginning to find which subjects really interest her and where her talents lie

My ds is at the end of P7 and though I still have dd2 at primary, it's feeling like the end of an era!

He's ready for high school, though, he's 12.3 and will be 12.6 when he goes in August (Scotland so different admission rules). And because he's in a specialist language facility (Scottish Gaelic) his school building doesn't change, he just moves upstairs!

He's on his P7 residential trip this week, and the house is so quiet without him! The dds don't make as much noise between them!!

I agree that there is a slight sense of sadness because ds is growing up. He will be even less "my little boy" than he is now.

That said, I can see that he has out grown primary school. There is a distinct air of being too big for his boots about him at the moment and I think secondary school will be good for that. He is also really looking forward to all of the new subjects and stuff. It will just feel quite odd for me no longer to be so involved in his life (whilst recognising that that is a positive thing).

Weegiemum My dd is still 10! What a difference there is between a 12yr 6mth child and a just 11 year old... I wish we lived in Scotland...

wow! 12.6!

ds won't be 11 until 2 weeks before school starts!

Although my 2 have still got some way to go before they leave primary school, I just wanted to let you know about the 2 day Video Course run by Plum Video.

One of the options is a 'Video Yearbook' which is a great way of remembering friends, teachers, special moments at primary school etc. before they move on. The website is www.plumvideo.tv

I've posted on hear since about Year 2 for DD1 out of desperation to help her learn (maths & reading particularly week - scored NC L1 at KS1 Sats) and catch up with her peers (not just at school - but friends from nursery clearly streets ahead of her).

We've achieved that but it has been at a price - total loss of respect for the school and English education system in general. I won't go over again all the problems - but I did go to the school first and express our concern about inability to add/ subtract or read well and asked for advice on what we could do at home. My husband and I were treated appalling by the school and pretty well left to it.

When you're battling to have division taught or to get more than one book every three weeks - and I mean battling - you feel nothing but despair.

My DD1 has a pushy so and so for a Mum who wouldn't take 'you're too ambitious/ demanding' for an answer - and went out and got resources to help my child get to where she should be notionally as a good primary student. She's not a high flyer (failing to gain a place in local free grammar schools by ~8 pts) but she is on target for L5 at KS2 SATs and will be put forward for L6 papers.

We've achieved this educational outcome at home, through on-line maths tutorials (thank you Mathsfactor!) and regular reading together. DD1 has also benefited from DH & I asking/ researching/ reading around what children should be doing in particular years (Thank you TES/ Guardian professional/ MN/ etc...). DH and I both work and frankly it is ridiculous that we're doing our job and then coming home and doing the teacher's job.

DD1 has a great group of friends from her primary and has been incredibly happy there. But she wasn't particularly well educated there. Our giving up on the school and doing our own thing has meant she's far surpassed many of her peers, who were streets ahead of her in Y2 and although I'm proud of her for her perseverance and work ethic, I also feel very conflicted that other children (with less supportive (?pushy) parents) have stalled educationally. Many in DD1's class do not know all times tables to x10, can't divide at all, and struggle with concepts like fractions, angles or mean/ median/ mode. Most struggle to read books like Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Jaqueline Wilson. Children's classics (Charlotte's Web, The Hobbit, etc..) are not read in this school. Harry Potter is considered too ambitious for most Y6 pupils.

So in short, although I'm certain DD1 will miss many friends (this area has free grammar schools and dire senior schools - so pupils usually scatter to the four winds) - I personally am deeply relieved DD2 has changed schools and our time at St. Mediocre is coming to an end at last.

My hope is senior school will be about learning. No subject will be out of bounds (be it the solar system or dinosaurs - both not taught at this CofE school). And academic achievement - attempting to excel at a subject won't be 'frowned upon' by teaching staff but encouraged and supported. I hope DD1 will find that teacher that see's she's interested and suggests a great book, a good blog or website, etc... to learn more.

In short, I hope senior school will be an improvement on the dreadful mediocrity of primary school.

I love the fact that we were able to defer school starting (both dd1 and ds were 5.6 when they started school, in Scotland you can't be older than 4.5 - my dd2 was 4.9 and it felt so young!!

Dd1 is just moving into S3 (Y9) and choosing her subjects. I'm really glad she's 14 - just much more sensible about it all. As teacher, I've seen especially younger boys really struggle and I'm delighted my dc aren't made to grow up too soon! And my ds is really ready for the challenges of secondary - he wasn't a year ago! He's going to have to get himself across Glasgow and while dd1 was great about that I'm a wee bit worried about him, he's such an airhead!

I can't wait, the last of my 3 children and it will be a relief in some ways of we get to the end of term without me having to withdraw her. I have a lot of trust in her next school, although I am nervous too.

pastsellbydate-why did you continue to send your child to that school? your experience sounds awful and very different to my expriences as both a parent and a staff member in a cof e primary! i work with year 3 and they all reading diary of a wimpy kid, exploring fractions etc etc

gymboywalton:

In response to your query about why not move schools: St. Mediocre is basically a happy school with nice kids but just spends more time on prayer than maths. Not all Birmingham schools have an islamic conspiracy - ours definitely suffers from a Charismatic christian overthrow which means the curriculum scrupulously avoids anything which implies the earth is >4000 years old.

Without going into too much detail for work instability reasons we weren't in a position to move until late last year. So unfortunately DD1's education was blighted - options in the area we were in are all equally dire or worse.

I suspect come senior school DD1 will realise she's not as bright as she thinks - but I'm hopeful that having caught up with pupils at St. Mediocre and surpassed her peers the once, she might have the wherewithal to attempt that again against a larger cohort (150 pupils in Y7 vs. just 30 in her year at primary).

We have moved now (over last summer) and I can sincerely say that DD2 has absolutely blossomed at her new primary (which she joined at the end of the first term this year). They are openly academically ambitious, have workshops for higher achieving students and suddenly DD2 (who was languishing on middle tables at 'St. Mediocre' bored out of her skull and doodling all day) has become something of a high achiever, because she feels encouraged and supported. Something as simple as providing every table in maths with a sheet of work all pupils should be able to access, a sheet of work that is a bit of a challenge and a sheet of work that will make your brain hurt and inviting every child to try them out has made all the difference. Low and behold she's actually realised she enjoys learning and likes a challenge. She's flying up the tables, the teachers are thrilled with her performance and have informed me they're going to push her.

Interestingly the former school has refused to provide transcripts and only agreed to send KS1 SATs results for DD1. I think that sums up everything about St. Mediocre really - workshy and unprofessional.

it does sound awful
have you considered sending a complaint to ofsted?

is the school in special measures? their slt must be crapping themselves quite frankly if their year sixes are doing so badly.

if your daughter is working at level five and will be put forward for the level 6 papers then really-she is doing exceptionally well.

I have complained to ofsted gymboywalton.

Ofsted aren't that interested that sex education isn't taught. That the twitter feed for the school states it's an OUTSTANDING school (because of the CofE inspection not an OFSTED result - but true to the Christian ethos of the school they don't clarify that).

DD1 and her friends in Y6 have done nothing but prepare for KS2 SATs since the start of this school year. School is English/ Maths/ SPAG and Science (the school fears they'll be sampled for KS2 SATs in science this year - they had to bring in a parent to teach the solar system as their 'charismatic' Christian teacher refused to on religious grounds).

I have a standing bet with the OFSTED inspector that my DD will exceed 75% of the class in performance. I have put it to him that there is no way a school can truly be good if I can achieve this by simply purchasing an on-line maths tutorial and buying in a few books (since I can document the work we have done on Mathsfactor & reading, which I've supplied as the school does not allow books home after Y3).

Head Teacher has just announced she's retiring at the end of this year and I know that they're throwing everything at Y6 - so my guess is I'm going to win the bet. Trust me nothing could make me angrier.

WHAT AN UTTER WASTE OF POTENTIAL.

In YR those kids were so bright eyed and eager to learn. Their parents were so excited. Prior to this HT this school averaged 90% or better achieving NC L4 at KS2 SATs - now it struggles to make 70%. Last year was 65% and the year before was 62%. The all white board of governors handles this by blaming high proportion of ESL students, despite the fact that foreign pupils (Korean, Chinese, Indian nationals abundant) standardly outperform local first language English Birmingham students or high mobility (despite the fact the council has rated the school as 0 mobility (no inward students since Y4) for the last 3 years).

I had issues with the CofE anyway over equality issues for women, but this has left me feeling nothing but contempt for the institution.

Oh and by the way gymboywalton I had to write to the school 3 times in order to get 50% of my child's workbooks returned.

The one item I wanted - a homework book with a poem my youngest daughter wrote for an Aunt who is now incredibly ill, was 'unfortunately misplaced'.

I've resorted to keeping things when I get my hands on them - I've told them if they need anything for OFSTED I'm happy to bring it in to an inspector personally on the day and wait their for its return.

I've raised the facts that schools are now putting parents in the position of only seeing their child's school work for very brief windows of time (ca. 5-10 minutes) at parent/ teacher meetings here on MN (long discussion started by another poster also angry about this situation), directly to BBC you and yours (not interested apparently) and to the Education Officer at the City Council (she wasn't that interested either).

I completely don't understand how parents are meant to keep in touch with how their child is doing as a student without seeing examples of the work they are actually doing in school.

Admittedly as an American I'm used to an entirely different system but it does amaze me that as a society you can tolerate schools less than 1 mile apart teaching to such entirely different standards and totally different content quality. Why is there no general oversight of this?

It shouldn't matter where your child goes to school - they should get broadly similar curriculum content at roughly the same point. DD2 in Y4 is now at a school < 1 mile from her previous school and doing roughly the same work in maths as DD1 in Y6. In terms of English written work, some of the assignments would quite simply reduce DD1 to tears - she's no idea how to plan an essay on a topic - whereas DD2's class has been working up to this with a series of homework projects building toward a complete essay on a geography topic. DD2's new school had to teach her how to write in paragraphs and were astounded a child in Y4 didn't know how to do that.

PastSellByDate you're saying so many of my complaints about dds school. I feel like I have been a mug and not hassled the school enough and dd isn't anywhere as far on as I would have expected her to be. I have my fingers crossed for a decent level of education at Secondary school. Meanwhile, she's been doing some online maths and literacy type stuff (very reluctantly) and I plan on keeping this up for however long it takes for her to catch up with the children from other more academic schools...

gleegeek I'm sorry to hear that you may be suffering similar woes to me and my DDs.

It's really difficult to make that decision that you're not content to just leave it to the school. The school can get offended, can take it out on your child and you're kind of out there on your own. But to be honest, doing more with DD1 has been a very positive thing.

I can't say it's been an easy few years (I've been working at this seriously since late Y2) - but 4 years on I definitely feel it's been time well spent, I appreciate how DD1's brain works - she's clearly got her own way of thinking and doing things. And I've come to realise that she's a very visual learner - learns best by doing or seeing it done, rather than reading about it or being told.

However, my real achievement is that she enjoys learning. Part of it is about being as good or better than her friends at things (she's a competitive thing) - but for me, it was important that she liked learning going into senior school. I think that makes a huge difference.

Best of luck to you and your DD gleegeek for a great time educationally (and of course personally) at secondary school.

Dd born last day of August but she is ready to go.

And I must say, after 11 years of wearing a groove in the road to school, I'll be glad to wave goodbye to scooters, wandering toddlers, braying mummies, inconsiderate parkers, snotty school-gate ignorers etc etc etc.

And no more assemblies. Hurrah!

DD2 is excited and so are we. She is joining DD1 at the grammar, so no more school fees!! She will miss her friends but is confident that she will stay in touch, so two lots of friends. I think she is ready to move on.

well i had a maajor wobbly worry last night. ds has had a bit of an emotional weekend-something happened in school on friday that upset him and he sobbed and sobbed when he came home. then last night he got upset again over something trivial and i just sat stressing with dh saying 'how on earth is he going to cope in a school with 1500 children '?

i really wish he could do one more year at primary..

Gymboywalton:

Sorry to hear your DS is getting upset about things at school. I sincerely think the way to look at it is that it is more likely he'll find a group of boys similar in personality (or at least supportive of his personality/ quirks) in a larger school than a small one.

It's one of those funny things - I think parents fantasize that a small school where everybody knows everybody will be lovely. And for DD1 (Y6) that definitely is the case - she's in a class with some great kids and there's a pack of about 15 boys and girls that all get on together really well and look out for each other.

DD2 (Y4) on the other hand was in a class where if she asked to join in to play she was usually told there wasn't room. If she asked to learn a hand clapping or a skipping rope song she would be told she was too little or they don't have time to teach her. She felt very left out. A very domineering little girl controlled who could play with whom and if she decided nobody should play with someone that week, most kids would do as she said for a quiet life. End result was DD2 was absolutely miserable at the school, frequently left out or teased and often played by herself or just read a book at breaks.

DD2 has started at a new school, much larger, 3 forms and suddenly she's found a group of about 10 - 12 girls and boys who enjoy similar games in the playground or sports hall and just have a laugh. She's even walked up to kids she doesn't know and asked what are they playing and if she can join in and they've been more than happy to include her. Maybe it's social, maybe it's just luck - I don't know - but the change has meant DD2 is a totally different child. She's always smiling and happy. Skips off to school gladly.

This morning on the walk into the school she was absolutely ecstatic to be back at school with her lovely teacher and see all her friends.

So please believe gymboywalton - a larger senior school where your DS can find a group of friends also into the same video games/ sports/ Duke of Edinburgh scheme/ science/ etc... that he is will most likely mean that life becomes much happier for your DS.

HTH

Gymboy I've had DD2 sobbing the past 2 nights because of a falling out with her best friend. She's also stressed out about SATs because her school are relying on her cohort doing substantially better than last year's - which was their first Yr6 cohort after going 2-tier.

DD2's best friend is going private after Yr6 because her father teaches at a local private school so they get discounted fees, DD2 is distraught about this. However, the vast majority of her friends will be going to our local secondary with her, which will help, and she is looking forward to meeting new people and making new friends - she finds it easy to make friends and will be fine.

PastSellByDate your DD1's primary sounds awful!