Ok. First term year 7 finished. Have you heard anything from the school?

[seeker]

I've had a letter congratulating me on his "good" attendance and asking if there's anything they can do to help me get it to "excellent" next term.

That's it.

Anyone?

I've met the form tutor and talked to the music teacher on the phone. DD has had assessments; levels ranging from 6A to 2A, but I only know these because she has told me. They set in some subjects from after half term, so I know that the teachers she's had so far may not be the ones she has for the rest of the year. Parents evening in the spring term, I think.
My older DCs who are at a different school have grade cards every half term with an effort grade and an attainment grade for each subject (but no levels, as it's an independent school).

Thanks all. I am really not sure where to set my expectations - my dd has just finished in another secondary school that was positively anal in it's desire to keep me informed- "we are so proud of mini-seeker, she has just successfully distinguished her arse from her elbow, and negotiated the school hall walking and breathing at the same time". I think I might do a little gentle enquiring next term.

We had a meet-the-tutor thing right at the start, since then one subject-specific and two general curriculum evenings (presentations, chance to ask questions), and an evening when we went along and did maths (to demonstrate how it's taught these days).

Marks, targets and effort are all recorded in each subject's exercise book. I am quick taken aback by how thorough the marking has been.

Parents evening with just the tutor is in December, with subject teachers in the spring I think.

There is a lot of contact - I assume this drops off substantially later on!

Meet the teacher/other parents evening. Weekly email from head of Y7, weekly headmaster's message. Loads of info on website (the bit where parents login to see their childrens results and what they are doing in each subject).

State school.

We have had lots of contact - an informal meet the teachers evening, a formal target setting interview focusing on levels of progress made in this half term versus targets, a phone call early on to check all is OK and to make sure we know how to contact the tutor; informal chats as we dropped kids off and collected when they went off to pgl for 3 days. Loads of detailed marking in books. Couldn't ask for more - all at our local state run academy. Oh and a very happy dd too.

London Community comp:
A phonecall from the inclusion dept during the first week to check that DS was feeling OK abut everything (has some physical disabilities)
A meet the tutor evening - not a full parents evening, just to meet the class tutor
A 'Progress report' simply listing a grade for 'commitment to learning' for each subject and attendance record.
A letter last week from the SENCO with an IEP listing support staff responsible, support allocated, goals for school, goals for child.

We had a parents' evening a couple of weeks ago. In the school where I teach, we have phoned parents of year 7s in our tutor group, and we have filled in a short report (levels, targets, comments where targets not met, which is most of them as they are end of year targets and we are 8 weeks in ) which will go out next week.

What is it you want to know?

DSs had a grade report. They get them every half term but they are at poncey private school.

Honestly, I hate sending levels home so early. I teach Science. We have done one topic. We have assessed, but we don't have a rounded picture yet. If I could explain exactly what we've done, and what it means, and what else we need to cover and assess, then it might be worthwhile. But sending home a level and sublevel now is not giving a valid assessment for.my subject.

We've had the first meeting of this year's Yr 7 Parents Forum chaired by HOT & attended by the new HT where they asked us to give feedback on how settling in /Yr 7 camp had been.

We've had a letter advising of the set she's been put in for maths(rest of setting not done till xmas)

We've had an interim report advising of level she is currently working at/target for end of Yr7/Effort/Concerns (these are expressed as codes rather than prose).

Meetings with tutors are on the calendar for 14th Nov tho' we haven't had a letter advising us of specific arrangements.

Oh, & state school and the only conclusions I felt I could draw from the interim report was that she was making an excellent effort & there were no concerns. I felt the whole grade thing somewhat notional!

We seem to be invited to the school practically every week to some sort of presentation/large group event.

Some I've been to, some I've not.

Had a letter home about dtd1 saying that she had been selected by her mentors as showing excellent behaviour/effort/attitude to school.

Had an email from dtd2s mentor saying she has settled well.

Had a phonecall from dtd1s mentor saying she has settled well and that they have no pastoral concerns.

Think parents evenings start next week or two

Attendaence letters would be generated by the office staff, not academic/teaching staff. Registers are done electronically and the person in the office responsible for attendence would just print out standard letters to anyone with a % under a certain amount as determined by the computer.

I've not had any direct contact, but have seen loads of work marked, the grade she's got and what level she's working on or towards. Parents portal now provides email contact, details of attendance, illness. My daughter is giving me loads of feedback which I have no reason to question, is happy, so I don't really feel I even need to go to parents evening in a couple of weeks time but obviously I will!

Try not to worry about attendance, my daughter has already had one day off because we felt she wasn't well enough to be there. Would probably have been a second day if it hadn't been an INSET day. I worried about her being off, but she caught a nasty cold with constant sneezing and coughing, wouldn't eat and was very pale if she felt like me (I had the same thing) wasn't up to it.

DS is in y8 & I won't get any comms about hardly anything until parents' evening in May. They phoned last week to say he badly bashed his head, at least.

I'm a year 7 tutor in a state secondary school. In the first couple of weeks, we sat down and analysed all the data - SATS/Midyas and the accelerated reader age scores. We then gave each child a grade to beat - based on improving by at least 2 NC sub levels over a year (though some of my classes are smashing those already so we review them each half term). On the 17th sept parents came in for a 'how to support your child at secondary school' evening and the Maths and English teams led parent workshops on helping their child to do well. This allowed us to also catch up with any parents who had concerns. On the 5th October, we had a settling in session where each parent could meet with their child's form teacher and have a chat about progress so far and how they felt their child was settling. This was great for me - I learned new things about the children in my groups and was able to answer parent's worries and concerns. We've introduced a new curriculum this year for year 7 - English and Philosophy which is aiming to stretch and challenge thinking skills in children, so on the 25th October, we had a showcase evening for parents where their children presented and shared their learning from the half term. On the 26th, we had an Aim High day, where for all subjects, parents could come in with their children to set targets for learning and development for the next half term. It's all a bit intense, but by creating as many opportunities as possible for parental engagement in the first half term, we find we have better, more open relationships and the kids know that there will be communication with home - a good deterrent if they're starting to slip a little. I'm sure other schools are doing similar things. Don't be frightened to ring and chat to your child's teachers if you do want information - it's always good to build relationships with parents.

Squeezedatbothends , If I give you the e-mail address of DD's school could you perhaps send that post so that they can compare with - I think - their feeble efforts so far??

It might get their backs up - schools can get a bit tetchy about other schools, but why don't you make an appointment with whichever member of the senior team is in charge of home/school relations and run some of these ideas by them? I'm sure they'd welcome some creative ideas from a parent.

I'd be tempted to write a letter back taking them up on the offer of improving his attendance.

You could suggest that children are checked first thing in the morning by the school nurse (and if they haven't got one-get one!). All things like temperature, throat. If they fail they go into isolation. There should be that gel stuff you get at hospitals on every door, and if a child sneezes

We've had no feedback from our school, but some children have received revised timetables and letters explaining that they are moving sets around a bit. DS was a bit concerned to have heard nothing.

I am just assuming that he is in the right sets already so nothing to worry about.

There is a parents evening arranged for end November, but only with the Tutor group teacher, (who teaches my DS in no subject at all).