Anyone with a year 7 starting today?

[seeker]

I feel like a cat on hot bricks- can't wait for 3.30!

Oh minesawine. Your poor DS. Hopefully the break over the weekend will help. Have the school any suggestions? Are they trying to help him?

Bizzey - oh my god! Hopefully a lesson learned by your DS!

Mine had a good first day on Thursday. Came home high as a kite and talking non stop. Is buddy to a new boy but reckons the buddy system is rubbish as although the boy is in his house, he is not in his form group so he had to abandon him. He ended up looking after 3 new boys including one Italian boy who is in his house AND form so it would have made mo sense to have him buddy him.

His form teacher from last year is now a housemaster for year 7 although not the house DS is in. I bumped into him at pick up and he told me he is keeping an eye on him and he seems ok. Doesn't want a repeat of having to come to the house last year to take DS to school after 2 days school refusal!

The whole year group went camping last night so don't know how day two went. They were given a list of what they needed to take and warned not to bring any fancy wheeled bags or cases. I saw one poor boy arriving with a pull along suitcase. Not sure how he was going to manage that!

Another first for us this year will be Saturday school. Not applicable today because of the camping but from next week. We are both dreading it all although I am told we will get used to it! But I don't want to!

minesawine, if your son still has concerns on Monday, it might be worth dropping a note to the teacher and asking for any extra support they are able to give. My daughter's new school made it clear at new Y7 parents evening, that we are to contact the tutor in the first instance, but Head of Y7 and the Pastoral support staff were also on hand to help deal with any new school stresses. They said it's better to deal with problems early and get them settled in, so don't be afraid to get in touch, that's part of their job.

The sticky backed plastic homeworks are the very devil!

DS had his first rugby lesson yesterday and is now happily ambushing his father at odd places round the house, making for a lively morning here.

EdithWeston ...I agree the plastic stuff needs to come with a H&S warning....HAIR must be covered with a catering hair net !!!!!.....one of mine is stuck inside his History book !!!!

My DS come home with 'homework' to cover English and History book with sticky back plastic , well I sent him off to tidy his bedroom whilst I tackled the covering - can you imagine the carnage letting lose a 11year old with sticky back plastic ! - there was enough as there was

We haven't had the sticky backed plastic thing- which is good, because dp is away and he is O/C book coving in this family!

Ds has to revise all his tables for a quiz, do some science that he can't do because it's online and the password he's been given doesn't work, and write a paragraph about the Fibonacci Series. Oh, and find out where three things in his bedroom were made and write a sentence about each place.

Minesawine, hope things improve next week. If it helps to know at all DD got sent home 'ill' after registration of the third trial day they did in the summer. She's had 3 days so far this term and after a dodgy day 2, things are a lot better and she came out (late as couldn't find the exit !) pretty happy yesterday and making new friends. I'd definitely have a word with the school.

. No sticky back plastic here requests so far but 4 lots of homework to be done this weekend. It all seems very serious as she's year 9 and there's GCSE options to be faced later this year. Still not totally sure I like the three tier system, very different to what I'm used to and am finding getting to grips with three schools over their school years a fair bit.

My daughter's french teacher suggested they get a plastic folder to put their book in for protection. My daughter's maths book is already covered in grease stains - she didn't have time to eat all her crisps at breaktime so folded the top over and put them in her bag, hence a bag of loose crips and everything covered in grease.

As for homework, she's only had to do a colour collage and decorate her french book with things like the flag, map of country, Effel Tower, french words or whatever they can think of. Last year I know a lot of homework came out on the first Monday after starting, so we will see!

We Ds has had to cover his jotters. We He used old lining paper that had been lying about in the garage.

It must be over 30 years since I had to cover a jotter but it comes back to you. I made him watch so he can do it himself next year.

He's decorated them with appropriate pictures that reflect both the subject and his interests (eg the Tour de France logo on his French jotter) with the exception of RE where he felt he knew the teacher well enough to play a joke on her and got us to colour-copy the front and back of his RE jotter before it was covered then stuck the copies onto the lining paper so that it didn't look like it had been covered! She was indeed caught out!

minesawine :( I hope your ds is much happier on Monday and things come together for him.

DD started on Tuesday and has loved it. I was worried about her as she is dyspraxic so wondered how much she would lose and about friendships and teachers not giving her time to complete tasks etc. Well, the first day she managed to miss the bus home (bizzey, not as bad as what you faced but it is terrifying isn't it all this!), she didn't manage to get her bus pass most of the week as she couldn't find the office and has been late for 3 lessons due to not being able to find them. Bit concerned as although this week they are let off for that next week they will not be (they have been very sternly told they will get detention if late) but she takes longer than most dc to process and keep such information so may well keep getting lost a while.

The SN department have been great though and offered lots of support so I think she will be fine, apparently all her teachers have been given a concise list of ways they need to help her. I'm relieved.

We will see what comes of this week - I wonder how many of the first friends they make remain good friends? DD seems besotted with a group of 3 girls she has been 'hanging out with' all week. She went up with some of her primary class but no close friends so it's been new for her.

Hope all dcs get on well next week.

At our year 7 evening we were told the first friends are often "lifeboat friends" - ones they cling onto for dear life but don't actually end up with

Thank yo all for your kind wishes. I will let yo know how it goes on Monday

Well, week 2, everyone!

Week 2 starting with 'I feel sick'. Deep breaths (for both of us).

We had absolute hysterics from DS last night. He is finding it difficult to cope with (he has AS), the change and lack of proper routine (he feels) is causing him so much stress. I tried to explain that the timetable will become a routine given a few weeks, but I dont think he was really listening. He says it feels liek the responsibility is pushing him down.

I am having a telephone meeting with the SENCo this morning to see what we can do to reduce the stress, but I felt s awful sending him this morning.

Oh Vag, hope they can help!

Dd has been going 'oh no school' and sighing but I think it's just an enactment of what you're supposed to say rather than anything real.... however at 8.10 she suddenly said she needed a newspaper article TODAY and had to go and find one NOW. I said that this needed to be the first and last time this happened - cue lots of huffing and puffing and 'it's not MY fault'ing. Also faffing around with bag and keys at the last minute. She's going to need to get her head around planning a bit better, I think.

Am also thinking that I need to show her how to shave under her arms before the first swimming lesson tomorrow - rights and wrongs of it aside, I think she's likely to be in a minority of 11 year olds with hairy armpits, and might not want this noticed or commented on - not to be known for the next few years as the girl with hairy armpits. Tricky one really, I wish she didn't have to deal with this just yet.

Mightn't she be proud of it? Puberty is a funny time but I remember more developed as being cooler than less!

I tentatively raised it yesterday and she went a bit cringey - you're right that on the whole the late developers seem to have more angst, I think, but she's so far ahead of the curve that I don't think she's enjoying it so much. Dd1 on the other hand was very late with everything and got teased for being flat chested up to 13/14 - I seem to have both ends of the spectrum here!

Absolutely shaved armpits, I'm afraid. Speaking as a girl owner of some 16 years standing.......

vag- might it possibly be better when it's a full week? Clutching at straws a bit, but maybe?

Yep, having an older one, and having been a girl in swimming lessons myself, I'm clear that however wrong it is, and whatever one thinks about shaving (I don't have a problem with it, but wouldn't have wanted it to start quite so early), a girl who appears on the first swimming lesson with fluffy armpits is going to get noticed, and have trouble shaking off that image. .

Bit off-topic, but having had one daughter who was full of angst for years at being so behind with these things, it's such a different kettle of fish with this one! Poor love started her periods over summer with a two-week humdinger, which lasted right through our holiday, and had to deal with beaches and waterparks while coping with it for the first time.... I wish she didn't have to deal with it all just yet.

Good luck everyone.Feel a bit sick with worry again.It is so hard when they don't know anyone and girls can be so mean.DD seems to be trying to make a wide circle of girls she can be friendly with than focussing on making 2 or 3 best friends.

Oh, sorry, TOSN, I somehow thought this year 7 was your oldest.

As a small aside, have you noticed that AF is the only writer for girls of her era who even makes a passing reference to periods?

And I have just noticed that her initials are a pleasing nod to mumsnet slang!

Agree absolutely shaved armpits, those razors with soap attached worked well for my DD. She has dyspraxia and I was a bit nervous letting her at a blade !

Vaga, sorry DS is struggling, I really hope the school can help. Does his school do this week 1 and 2 timetable business ? I'm thinking it will all be a lot easier once it starts to feel familiar.

'Ginty made a quick calculation - no, she wouldn't be cursed, and nor, on enquiry, would Monica'? .

Yep, have a year 11 too - Rowan to dd2's Nick and Lawrie, if you will!

Hi, My DS2 had a wobble Friday, a 14yr old who had been a bully in primary, and 2 of his chronies, grabbed DS2's water bottle at lunchtime, tipped the water out then spat in it! He then tipped DS'ds bag over the floor. Lunch time supervision teacher was dealing with another issue at the time. DS was also mad his twin did not help him out, I said "what was DS1 supposed to do, he couldn't fight them!" My sons are small for their age, at 4'6", and these boys were over 5'. We left a msg for the school Friday afternoon(it was 5pm as we did not get in from work until then) and told DS2 to say something to form tutor this morning. I rang the school, and they are taking it very seriously, form tutor, head of both yr groups, pastoral care tutor and head teacher all involved! As for homework- "cover english book in text and pictures from a magazine you read", "do a cartoon of two people meeting with the speech bubble written in french", "Write a paragraph on your favorite poem and why you like it" "revise times tables", Phew! A lot for the first weekend!