First year at Secondary- how do you feel about the 'first term' just gone?

[Whippet]

On the whole we are reasonably happy, an DS seems happy.

• s

• nice friends
• good report
• no bullying/ trouble
• seems happy and easily settled

-ve s

• spending a fortune on lunches
• seems to have grown up rapidly
• bit of an attitude at times
• too much xbox discussion with mates
• has let his musical instruments 'slip'
• bit disorganised/lacking in self-motivation
• I no longer have 'control'/know what's going on at school!

Have you adopted my son??? Apart from the musical instrumment bit you could be talking about DS1.

He has unbelievably joined the rugby team. This was the child who used to pray for rain on Fridays so he didn't have to do games. Unfortunately this now means lie ins on a Saturday are a thing of the past because that's when they play matches but I'm so pleased he is now prised away from X Box and the computer and doing something physical I can't complain.

Very similar positives. I am very pleasantly surprised with dd1's progress and with the friends she has made.

Not really any negatives. She is still quite disorganised but this is not a new thing. We still help pack her bag, because otherwise she would always be in detention. She has had a lot to put up with this term, because I have had major heart surgery, and was in hospital for 12 days. She still managed to get every homework in on time, even if the quality sometimes slipped. I'm very proud of her. Was a bit annoyed with school for making her repeat homework which fell below her normal standard, but I suspect that if dd1 had communicated with her teachers they would have waived this.

Year 7 going well so far:

Voted "House Captain" and won the House Cup for the first term.
Got picked for the Rugby team.
Did very well in the termly assessments.
Made several new friends.

He has had to pick his socks up in a couple of subjects, but has responded well to the constructive criticism and hasn't lost anything for 3 months.

So yes - happy.

For the first few weeks DS was doing homework often to 10:30pm. Next morning would be a mad dash to catch the school bus. The first set of tracking grades back in late Sept had him in the middle of his class.
He has now settled into a routine and his homework is under control and he is moving up the class in his subsequent tracking grades. Getting out of the house on time is still a chore though

I am really really happy with the first term.

Ds has AS and has gone to a very high achieveing GS, so I was worried both about the social side of things and the academic.

But for the first time ever he is talking about actual real friends, and has positive things to say about what he is doing and who he is doing things with at lunch and breaktimes!

His reports and test results have been very good, although the tonne of homework they are given has been hard for him because of the sheer volume of it. But they have obviously said something to inspire him because he has done it all without complaining. Now I just have to hope it continues!

Lovely to hear about all the other year 7's that seem to be getting on so well

I am very pleased too.
dd has been very organised and packs her bag each night with the books she needs. Is making good progress with her work (particularly Maths!) and has managed the homework load well.
Lots of new friends - including both girls and boys so looks as if decision to send her to co-ed school was correct.
Is still practising musical instrument (but finding it hard to fit in with homework) and having lessons at school.
Is preferring to take packed lunches as the queues for cooked food are very long so am saving a fortune.

Great to hear so many positives! I think we always worry so much about the transfer, and actually, most of the time they are fine!

My DD3 has done well largely.

Positives:
-Good reports, is doing well in her academics.
-Enjoying maths (for a change!).
-Managing to juggle her homework with her extra curricular activities.
-Made a group of nice friends.
-Teachers have said she's a polite and helpful member of the form.

Negatives:
-Suddenly sleeping in much more on the weekend - at Primary she was an 8, sometimes 9am riser. Now she can sleep until 11 if I let her.
-Has mislaid multiple pairs of gloves, and one school jumper.
-School skirt seems to be magically shrinking on a daily basis.

Ds (mild AS/dyspraxia) is in the 'grammar' stream of our local comp with several kids from his class at primary. So far, it's gone about as well as it could ... Pluses: is more engaged with the subjects, likes being with other 'clever' kids, has kept his old friends from primary and has even made a couple of new ones , not too much h/w, is producing much more work and is getting good grades, school has mostly been proactive and accommodating about his additional needs (providing laptop etc)

Minuses: still "hates school" (don't think that will ever change), has refused to join anything extracurricular, doesn't want to do anything after school or at weekends, doesn't want to see any of his friends out of school, requires much prodding to pack bag and has already lost one (highly expensive only available from school suppliers) PE kit, feels like he's going into a black hole every morning for the amount of info I get about his day ...

But it could have been much much worse - he seems to be popular in his class (full of rather 'neeky' children like him ) and there's been no bullying (so far, touch wood)

DD2 has coped well with the massive amounts of homework and a much longer school day. She went to a different school to all her friends and has met some nice girls.

OTOH it is a very wealthy independent school and there have been lots of tantrums that her clothes aren't good enough; our car is too old and she won't wear DD1s hand me downs . I try to remember that peer pressure is immense and she is coping with massive changes to her body as well as her school life and grit my teeth for now.

DS1 doing well I think. School progress just a list of numbers -bit mystifying! Pluses - walking both ways with various 'mates', new friends mentioned (unusual for him!) Coping well with work.
Only slight issue (for neurotic me, not him!) is that they seem a bit uncertain at lunchtimes, and seem to go to the IT suite or the library instead of playing outside.

pluses here:

good friends
settled in well
no bullying
doesn't seem to feel lost in larger school
seems a much happier person than he was at primary
I actually like the fact that he is more independent and I am relinquishing control

minuses:

not much evidence that he is planning to work harder
marks only moderate (though that is no news)
he seems very reluctant to disclose his physical shortcomings and ask for help
the letter home about parents meetings went mysteriously missing and we were only told when it was too late to book time off work

dd has had a really lovely first term. I was a bit worried for her cos she's quite young for her age, utterly oblivious to peer pressure, a bit quirky. Also totally forgetful. But she has kept her friends from primary and made new ones and seems to be enjoying it all very much.

I'm quite surprised it's been OK, I imagined lots of detentions for forgotten homework etc, and I have been helicoptering her rather closely on the homework and checking the contact book and so on, which I would never have imagined necessary for an 11yo before I had this particular one.

I check a lot too Fennel! Don't quite trust him although he packs his own bag now

Right

Positives
-no longer being bullied made quite a few mates and is genarly much more happy in himself
-behaviour excellent won £15 vochers for good behaviour
-has been made Eco manger by the form tutor
-liked very much by head of year

Negatives
-maths teacher keeps on calling him by a diffrent name when he try's to make it clear he's not the boy in question he gets told off for given cheek now is resigned to being called by a diffrent name

-Blazer a bag keeps on getting ripped

• not writing down his home work propley writing in the margin DO HOMEWORK ENGLISH then we spend hours on line trying to work out what was set gurrrr

• lunch seems to be a bit of a free for all and he's had cheese rol

For three weeks on the trot says the hot lunch line is to long then coming home and eating everything in site

And no matter how cold or wet it is he won't wear his bloody coat says he warm in his blazer

Positives:

• Ds is enjoying school and has discovered that he's better at some subjects than he thought he was.
• Seems much more grown up these days.
• Gradually getting to know some of the other children.
• Has managed to keep up with the mountain of homework.

Negatives:

• One boy has tried to bully him, but now seems to have backed off after finding out the hard way that ds isn't as easy a target as he might appear to be.

• School not as helpful as they could be with regards to SN, although individually the teachers have been supportive.

Positives:

• no bullying
• tolerant kids, multi-ethnic but mix very well
• dd has nice local friends to go to and from school with
• head seemed a bit of a dragon but is actually v nice and already knows who dd is
• academic standards v high and fantastic teaching all round, v impressed
• dd G&t for 2 subjects already and top groups for everything so surprised but pleased
• she's coping fine with homework and getting there with organisation side (with lots of help from me!)

Negatives:

• school lunch queue impossible so back to packed lunches
• missed half of (paid for) instrument lessons as got time wrong! Grrr.
• v overtired (all of us).

Possitives
Hasnt been late once
Only forgot PE kit once
Only missed bus home once
Has remembered all her homework
Gets good comments about work ethics

Negatives
is up at 6 leaves by 7 not home until 5. So tired
Music lessons messed up so wasnt sure when they were (not regular times)
Music lessons not paid for in this term I had not realised they had not received cheque. (paper free can be a pain)
bullying
Not managed to make friends
Very unhappy wants to stop going.

Lonnie, that's a serious list of negatives.

DS2 has ASD and a statement of SEN
+ves
Is doing homework with minimal fuss.
Says school is 7 million times better than primary
Is in top set for maths!
School is supporting him 1:1 full time, 26 hours, statement says 20.
Lunch club in learning skills going well.
Has made a friend.

-ves
Getting bullied on bus home.
Has once caught wrong bus.
Doesn't want to see friend outside school.
Won't join any clubs.
TA scribing for him too much, not using laptop.

All in all, it's going well, they manage him well, but his differences have been highlighted and his difficulties won't be going away.

+s
seems to have reinvented himself so left behind certain assumptions (crap at Maths, teachers don't like him
Handling the London transport system like its second nature ... "just get out of my way mum ...)
Many more admirable masculine role models (teachers/sixth formers) whom he emulates (world of difference from primary school)
Seems to have taken growth pills because he's grown about 4 inches and likes it!
Positive feedback re: class work & participation

-s
Botty mouth!
Gives me a long suffering look when im having a go at him ... that used to be my line!
Endless homework
Early 6.30am mornings 6 out of 7 days a week ... sport on a Saturday a necessary evil
Endless laundry
Organisation fairy yet to visit our house and wave her wand over his bedroom ...
Sleeps like the dead (what's it going to be like when he's fifteen?)