Parents of dc in year 5

[premiumknot]

Hello,

Is anyone up for a casual chat about our dc in year 5?
How they are settling in at school, homework, preteen hormones, playground drama, extracurriculars, secondary school visits, etc…

I have a nine year old boy in a state primary in SE England.

My son’s mentioned a classmate has been bringing in a smartphone to school, which prompted me to start this thread. There’s no mention of phones in the school policies on the website (they don’t keep it up to date to be fair) and we certainly didn’t get any correspondence about rules as parents. I know there’s a general guidance that schools should ban phone use.
It’s a situation that’s come about quicker than I anticipated, and wondering what’s it like at your dc’s school.

Not a Y5 parent but a recently ex Y5 teacher. Phones were allowed only in Y6 because at that point some of them were allowed to walk home independently. The phones were handed in to the teacher and kept till end of day. A Y5 with a phone would have had it taken off them immediately and parents or carers spoken to at the end of day.

Good luck. Y5 is a fun year.

@CarryingitjoyfullyThanks! A few children are already walking home by themselves apparently (they live really close to school) so that makes sense.

Year 5 and 6 allows phones at school. They are handed in. In the morning given back at home time. They allow Year 5 and 6 to make their own way home.

Thanks @pedalpusher26
We didn’t have any emails or anything about that so all I know is my child’s classmate had a phone in and another classmate told the teacher about it at some point. Dc is not sure what happened after - so it sounds like the kids are confused of the actual rules as well… Hopefully, it will be properly clarified and they will all learn what to do soon.

Sounds normal to me my son has brought in a smart phone since year 2.

Why?

My son's in Y5. There's an active Smartphone Free Childhood campaign among the parents at his school; there was a meeting at school which DH attended, and I've seen a stall outside school at pick-up a few times. DS hasn't mentioned any kids having phones. They are allowed to walk home alone in Y5, but if and when we let him do that, I will look into a tracker or very simple smart watch or something that allows him to call us in an emergency. Definitely not a smartphone.

I'm not sure about 14 but I don't know enough about it tbh, I will have to research it and discuss it with DH as DS gets older. It's definitely a discussion we'll have when he moves from primary to secondary.

https://www.smartphonefreechildhood.org

No smartphones allowed at our primary. Nokias etc can be brought in but handed in. The secondaries are doing the same from this year onwards.

Mine won’t be having a smartphone for most of secondary either. Nothing good comes from a young brain having unfettered access to social media.

our y5’s school is strictly no phones. There are a couple of exceptions for brick phones where children have a specific need and it has been discussed with school on how to manage - no smartphones at all though.

No phones in our primary. When in school e.g. because parents are separated and used to contact child on other persons time, they are kept in the office. The culture follows the secondary which has been a national leader in smart phone usage in school (which has made a massive difference to culture, results etc).

I'd say otherwise ,
Secondary school visits have started - it's not a competitive area for schools - so no one is prepping for 11+. That said, some parents are tutoring for additional support in Maths with a view to extra good SAT results to get their kids in the top sets at the mixed comp.

Socially, all good. However having been through Year 5 with girls, different kettle of fish. Drama Rama and it only gets worse in Year 6

Yr5 mum here 👋 friendships are already a rollercoaster

Just caught up with replies. Hello!

I had a bit of a sleepless night because of DC’s friendships. Or mostly lack of, I should say. He feels a bit isolated at school atm and is not going in happily at all.
Somehow more boys in year five are walking by themselves than boys in year six in our school. The boys in his class are something else. Dc thinks I should tell the teacher he’ll walk by himself to the gate so he doesn’t have to be one of the boys left in the classroom waiting for a parent. Not sure how that will go!

I’m a Y5 mum too, of an August born DD who also has SEN so can sometimes behave young for her chronological age too. Friendships have been an issue for at least a couple of years now. I have a lot of sleepless nights over it.

We have just started going to secondary open days and I cannot believe that in 2 years time she will be mature enough to manage that transition, but I’m just trying to trust the process. We live in London and even walking to school alone in Y6 (we’re about a 20 min walk away) seems a lot. I will still be walking with younger DD though, so I will be able to keep an eye from a distance.

In our school, phones are allowed from year 6, but they need to be handed in at arrival/collected at the end of the day.
Friendships are stable and supportive, but we had a rough time in year 1/2, so it could only get better.
Work is a lot more demanding than it was before (vocabulary practice and tests, maths is now in sets with proper stretch for all kids). So quite tired in the moment