What do they need to know before starting secondary school?

[WeAllHaveWings]

ds(11) starts secondary school in August. He is currently in P7 and appears to be doing ok and is happy at school, top group (along with 3/4 of the class so no real differentiation) for maths, reading etc.

He is in a large primary school (~85 pupils in P7), which has a catchment area covering a large deprived area. School as far as we have experienced and heard has a "very good reputation" so we were happy to send him there and he has always had very good reports. On hindsight I think it has an excellent reputation for pastoral care and a mediocre one for learning.

It is one of 4 schools feeding into a large Secondary. As we get closer to ds going to secondary school and meeting parents who have dc in secondary school we are hearing pupils from our school find the move from primary to secondary hard as they are not as prepared as other schools and its knocked their confidence. For example some maths hasn't even been covered.

Now I am really worried. Is there anywhere I can find details of what they should know before starting secondary so I can check ds has done it and if not take step to rectify before he makes the move?

[WeAllHaveWings]

Thanks for all your input, its really helped

The maths revision website looks good and I'll go over it at a high level with ds to see if he's covered the topics. Generally he's good at maths knows his numbers/decimals/times table inside out, but I wouldn't like to see him put in the wrong set because specific work hadn't even been covered.

We are working hard at making him more independent over the last several weeks in preparation for his residential trip. Last weekend he took the public bus to town to the cinema and KFC with friends (picked him up afterwards because it was dark!). Plan is in the next few weeks is he takes the bus to swimming with friends on a regular basis. Also he takes care of himself now packing his own bags for school/swimming/sleepovers etc and is doing well (had to go commando after swimming once, but he learned from it!). Being aware of time and being late/doing things last minute needs sorting out, so encouraging and letting him deal with the consequences of this himself.

[Littlemissjt]

For maths I'd say so long as he knows times tables he'll be fine. We only teach multiplying fractions to top set classes in either s2 or s3.

One issue we find with some of our primaries is that the teachers encourage mental maths. This is good but I find pupils can be bad for not showing working, or writing it out then rubbing it out. I don't know why some primaries encourage a "work it out" page at the back of their jotters and they only write the answers at the front. No reason for it other than it being quicker and easier to mark. If a pupil gets things wrong I want to see why! Sorry, but a real pet hate of mine!!

[Groovee]

Our high school do a lot of transition during P6 & P7. It gives the children a good knowledge of the school layout and the routines.

Our lot do 3 days at high school in P7 in the June where they go into their classes etc. Have found with both children that they tend to stick in primary groups until about October then they start to mix with others.

Maths etc start out in register classes then around the September weekend they start moving them about. But they tend to take their lead from the children. The only complaint from our primary was the handwriting. Since they brought cursive back in, it's made a huge different.

[JeanBodel]

A good difference or a bad difference?

[RoseDog]

When my dd started high school in August they were all thrown in the deep end with maths and English assessments so they were all put in class suited to their ability, within 2 weeks they had all been moved into classes which most have stayed in!

The transition was easy for my dd, she had totally outgrown primary school and the change in her is fantastic, her confidence has just grown and grown. She only did the 3 day visit as it wasn't our feeder school she went to, the feeder schools do much more to ease the transition.

[Groovee]

jean a good difference. I can actually read my son's handwriting now.