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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Year 7 out of school activities

40 replies

lisson · 23/04/2013 12:40

Ds is in year 6 at primary right now so he is due to move up to secondary school in September. He does a few after school things (Sunday league football team, scouts etc) which mean that he really only gets 1 night off a week. Fitting in the homework at primary school hasn't been a problem.

I don't know if its a coincidence or not but recently the football coach etc have each asked me to commit to next year. I've asked him if he'd like to give something up but he doesn't want to. However, a couple of other mums who already have a child at secondary say that the most year 7 children can fit in is one extra curricular activity.

I need to make some decisions because its not fair to say he will continue and then drop out. So, MN jury what do you think?!

OP posts:

MTSgroupie · 23/04/2013 13:17

It depends on the secondary.

My DCs have on average 90 min of homework each weekday evening and about 2 hours.at the weekend at their selective. Their mates, who went to the local comp, have hardly any.

mnistooaddictive · 23/04/2013 13:58

It depends how many school clubs he wants to join. He will be able to do football at school most likely for free and he may want to do this instead. If he does no school clubs it is probably fine if he comes straight home and does homework but if he wants to take part in lots of school clubs that are usually free he may find it all a struggle.

Tingalingle · 23/04/2013 14:01

Depends how much time each thing takes up once you've factored in getting there, changed and back home. If it's a case of 'stroll down to the Scout hut at 7, spend an hour and come home', fine; if it takes the whole evening from 5 till 9 that's not going to work.

Original poster

lisson · 23/04/2013 14:11

I like the idea of free after school clubs and better still if they arrange the transport! There will be 150 boys in year 7 though and I doubt DS will be in the top 11 for playing football. I wonder if they are likely to have multiple teams per year?

I just added up how much time it all takes each week with travelling and getting ready etc: about 6.5 per week unless Scouts has a camping trip or something.

OP posts:

seeker · 23/04/2013 14:21

I have a very busy year 7- so far he has kept on top of everything while playing in school teams and also playing for his out of school football team and out of school music lessons and drama club and Scouts! After school team practices and matchs usually finish by 5 which means he's home by 5.15, so loads of homework and practice and down time. Out of school football training is on Tuesday and doesn't finish til 7.30, so homework for Wednesday needs to be done on Monday (or occasionally Wednesday morning ) Drama and Scouts are both on Friday- so that's OK. I've moved his music lesson to Saturday.

You need to constantly check with them that they are still happy with the schedule, and they aren't just doing it because they think you want to. But it's fine. My dd was the same- never wanted to give anything up. The plus side is that she is now 17, still busy, and the most organised person I know!

prettydaisies · 23/04/2013 20:30

My Y7 DD still does loads of things out of school - piano, band, choir, dancing and swimming as well as being quite involved at church. She just has Thursday night with no activities. However, unless she is at netball/football/badminton club, she is home by 3.30pm and always has time then to do any HW. She also deliberately saves up any HW she can until Sunday afternoon when she gets on and does it.
This works for her, but she is quite organised and also has a very good memory and seems to pick things up quickly.

Tingalingle · 24/04/2013 09:34

How we used to work it with Scouts was that if homework was finished, he could go, and if not, not.

This is harder to maintain for things that mean letting the team down or missing an expensive swimming lesson!

wordfactory · 24/04/2013 09:38

Should be fine - butkeep reassessing.

I have a year 9 who does loads of stuff and keeps up well with her homework. But we do have to be ferociously efficient.

Arcticwaffle · 24/04/2013 09:42

I'd say it depends a lot on the school, and their commute. My yr 7 (and my yr8 who was a yr7 last year) finish secondary at 3pm and are home by 3.15 and they don't have loads of homework, so they do have lots of time for after school clubs and activities. So they've each been doing several clubs straight after school at school, and 2-3 evening activities too. But that wouldn't be possible if they had a long commute or lots of homework.

seeker · 24/04/2013 09:48

What word factory said. Sometimes they have to choose- and sometimes you have to make decisions for them. I didn't let ds take up another instrument because he would've give up either rugby or football to make space. I felt that the sport was better for him socially anyway.

pointythings · 24/04/2013 21:32

My DD does drama club, netball and basketball - training sessions for the latter two are at lunchtime, but fixtures are after school.

No problems with homework, she has about 30-45 minutes a day (including weekends).

I'm shocked at the amount of homework some people's DCs have on here - I never had more than 90 minutes a night even in 6th form and I did seriously well at school...

needanewnickname · 24/04/2013 23:03

I agree with Articwaffle that what is manageable will depend very much on school and length of commute. My son is in Year 7 and does a couple of regular extra-curricular activities per week. I think that if he wanted to he could easily fit in a couple more.

Wolfiefan · 24/04/2013 23:10

Ask secondary school for HW policy. They should tell you expected time per day that should be spent on HW.

Original poster

lisson · 25/04/2013 09:32

The school is only 1.5 miles away and its a comprehensive... but it does pride itself in drilling the children thoroughly, which I guess implies bags of homework.

OP posts:

Madmog · 25/04/2013 10:26

At the same age, my daughter actually dropped all of her outside interests and just wanted to see friends. My daughter doesn't regret giving up anything. It depends on the size of the school he's moving to, but many have lunchtime clubs and after school clubs as well. My daughter has come across five clubs she wants to do at her new school, and is doing two of them. School clubs are also a great way of getting to know other pupils in the first year as well.

Every school and child is different. My daughter just wants to see friends or chill out when she gets home, have a shower, have tea and then at 6.30pm will happily get her homework out and work until 9pm. She will spend about four hours at the weekend. My friend's son who goes to the same school puts in about 7 hours a week, so it depends on what the child wants to achieve with his/her homework. Your son will have time for other activities, but it might be a good thing during the first few weeks to have the pressure off as they have to start thinking so much more for themselves and planning. It does settle down though.

seeker · 25/04/2013 10:31

2.5 hours a night is a lot for a year 7- does the school expect her to do this? I only ask because it doesn't give her anywhere much to go when the pace speeds up in later years.

TheOriginalSteamingNit · 25/04/2013 10:35

I would think the football would be fine - my year 7 at the moment really just does dancing one night a week, and activities at lunchtime. She does at least some homework the vast majority of nights, but as yet she doesn't tend to get a big back-log of lots of subjects which must all be done at once.

She's learnt from experience to get it done sooner rather than later - and she will spend all Sunday on something if she's enjoying it. But it is only now that it's started to click for her (as opposed to me saying it and being scorned) that if she has homework to be in on Thursday, she needs to accept and plan round the fact that she's unlikely to have time on Wednesday when she goes to dancing, so had better do it on Tuesday, for example.

At year 7 stage, I think the planning and organizing is key - the actual workload shouldn't deter from actitvities, but it can get tricky if the planning isn't in place.

Original poster

lisson · 25/04/2013 11:17

Even now, in year 6, Ds (ok me!) has to think ahead so that all the homework can be fitted in.

For example he got about 2 hours of homework to do for Monday but I've realised that he either needs to do it tonight (before he goes out to one of his activities) or on Sunday night. However, if he leaves it until Sunday, then he won't have any available time if he gets any more home work for Monday.

how does it work at secondary school if you are quite bright - does it mean extra homework so more time on homework or less time because you can get through it faster??

OP posts:

teacherwith2kids · 25/04/2013 18:31

So far - DS is bright - usually homework is done quickly [luckily, as he has a very hectic life of sport after school, sport at clubs out of school, music in school, music outside school...]. His after school activities have naturally built up over the year, and while he is now v. busy - 2 activities per night and at 2 lunchtimes, with 1 night off and Saturdays (but not Sundays) free - he still manages the same 'get it done oin the night it is given for all short homework, spend Saturday as well on it if it's a long one' routine.

pointythings · 25/04/2013 18:50

DD gets a bit more homework than most of her peers, but she gets through the standard stuff very fast, it's quite easy. She's not a prodigy, but she is very bright, has passed a GCSE science paper she tried (but not brilliantly, just a C). I still don't think she needs more, she's got good study habits already and as seeker said, she has to have somewhere to go from here.

So I'm going to encourage her in her out of school activities, I think they're good for her and will help her be a more rounded person.

Bonsoir · 25/04/2013 19:11

I don't think that Y7 is the right year to embark on new extra-curricular activities - there are some years where DC are very settled and in a good routine with school/activities and stuff can be added on, but not the year they move up to secondary.

Some DC manage to do a lot on top of school, and some don't. You need to make a judgement call as a parent as to your own DC's capacity.

pointythings · 25/04/2013 21:20

But Bonsoir the activities DD1 is doing were not on offer in her primary. I agree it does depend on the DC - mine saw Yr7 as an opening up of new horizons with lots of new opportunities, and she chose to make the absolute most of it. I certainly wouldn't have pushed it on her. DD2 is a very different character, not interested in sport (but she is in a reading club) and she will find her own way when she hits Yr7.

I wouldn't push anything in a big transition year, but I wouldn't discourage it either.

teacherwith2kids · 25/04/2013 21:26

Experience very similar to pointy's - DS's range of activities has increased hugely in Year 7 due to a wide range of new opportunities in e.g. minority sports, music that were not available to him in primary (2 have also led to participation in out of school clubs in different places to take those interest further)

To prevent him from taking those on 'because it is a transition year' sees bizarre - surely the whole point of Year 7 is to take advantage of those much wider horizons?

cece · 25/04/2013 21:32

My DD is in Yr7. She tends to only have MFL and Maths homework to do during the week - takes about an hour max. She tends to do the rest of her homework at the weekend. Sometimes she can be doing it for a few hours doing it this way but this is how she prefers to do it.

cece · 25/04/2013 21:33

Oh and forgot to say she has pretty much stopped the activities she did before Y7 (that I had to pay for) as the school runs after school clubs for free. She does these 3 days per week. Plus Guides and she is a Guide helper at Rainbows.

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