My sons first impression after his first few days of Secondary (Feel free to add yours!)

[QuintessentialOldDear]

He is generally very happy, but has noticed the following things worthy of a mention at home:

"Mum, they all have World Records of SPEED DRESSING!" He is in awe at how fast his classmates tie their shoelaces, button up their shirts and do their ties. He says, "There is this kid, he literally gets out of his blazer and trousers in ONE move, and JUMPS into his pe trousers and manage to pull them up along with his socks!" (I guess this must be the gang that has moved up from prep and knows the drill.... )

Nobody says a word in class. Everybody works. All the time.
"We line up by the classroom. We hang our blazers on the back of our seat, we stand behind our seat not saying a word until teacher tells us we can sit down. Otherwise there is Saturday detention"

Oh dear.

Starball - that's why one of our main priorities when choosing a school was its anti bullying measures and general pastoral care.

We are very lucky as it's a school with an all round excellent reputation in all areas but as we found in primary this can mean little when they are required to put it into practice.

We are pleased but cautious.

Is it normal for DC to be totally wiped out after the first (half) week in year 7?

Feel daft asking the question but she took primary in her stride and seems floored by the transition after only 3 days.

I'm dreading tomorrow.

It's a longer day, everything is new and hard work: finding her way around, new 'colleagues', new teachers, extremely bustling environment.

I think it is normal. It's a huge change.

Ds cant wait for tomorrow. His alarmbell is all set. He has to go in 45 minutes early to do his homework in school - he forgot the history books in his locker. So off he will trot, with £1 in his pocket to buy a snack at the tuckshop and an orange as it will be a while between breakfast and lunch.

He mentions the same 4-5 names, boys he spends time with at break time, and sits with during lunch. 2 boys to walk home with, that lives nearby.

After all his negative experience in school so far, this seems to be really working for him so far. Nobody ganging up on him. He is not "the new kid in class", he is one of MANY new kids finding their ways and making friends.

Quint that's goof=d news.

I'm not sure how DS is, yet. Still seems rather anxious. Settled in well with the other boys but a bit nervosu about getting thinsg right and remembering everything.

there's so much STUFF. I can't believe how much they cart around all day long. Tomorrow he has to take in: swimming kit, rugby kit, all his homework (about five heavy text books and A4 exercise books) and his musical instrument. He's summer born - how will he physically carry all that? I'd struggle.

It's all a bit much at the moment. Hoping it settles down.

I meant Good news, not goof=d news.

Knackered from helping collage and sticky-back-plastic about ten books after work today. Secondary is wiping me out - there's so much to do. I'm so tired. Goodness knows how all our DC are coping.

On Thursday ds2 went upstairs to get changed after school. I though he was being very quiet - he had fallen asleep in his boxers

He has almost mastered tying a tie, is really pleased he has a house point this week, and has had more homework this week than in a month a primary!

He already seems more mature, though he still curls up on my knee (with great difficulty) to have a cuddle

I think I like goof news better! It has a more accurate ring to it!

Bless him falling asleep in his boxers!

Mine just said "It's the same as primary school but you walk around more" He is with his mates, he is happy.

Oh mine also walks around more. He complained there is only 3 minutes between lessons, and in that time he will get from classroom to his locker at the end of the building to exchange books (not allowed to carry more than you need for next lesson) and run to a site on the other side of the road across a footbridge, etc. Most of the students are literally just jogging around between lessons with a desperate look on their faces!

Dd has gone from a primary that sets to a high school that doesn't and it's opened her eyes to the range of abilities, I just hope it doesn't make her complacent

She is walking miles and has joined 2 sports clubs -long may it continue

My ds has AS and fine motor problems and we were really worried about changing for PE, as he struggles with buttons and can't do laces, let alone a tie.

Dh did him a double Windsor on the first day last week and he just loosens it, slips it over his head and then slips it back on and tightens it - this saves masses of time. Same with shirts, he particularly struggles with the top button and cuffs and these really slow him down, so now he just undoes the top few buttons and I've bought him shirts from Next that actually have an elasticated loop, instead of stitching on the cuff buttons, so he can just pull his shirt off over his head and only has 3/4 buttons to do.

He has slip on school shoes and velcro trainers, but we discovered you can't get football boots that don't have laces, so have bought Lock Sports Laces (well actually a less chunky ebay version) for those, which again speed up PE changing times.

He is going to a very inclusive, mainstream school and so far has been really happy - apart from some teasing about mobile phones on the first day.

I was slightly unimpressed that the catering staff let him have something from the tuck-shop 'on-tick' last Friday, as we had agreed he would only buy from the tuck-shop once a week and he'd already done that the day before.

For me the hardest part has been handing him over to LEA transport every day and the fact that he leaves at 7.15 am and gets home at 5.15 pm. It's quite a shock to both his and my systems after living literally across the road from his primary school for the past 8 years and not having to leave home until 8.45 am. Hasn't helped that the LA have gone with the cheapest possible transport company and things have been a very long way from perfect with them so far. Mind you, I feel worse for the poor boy they 'forgot' to pick up on Friday morning.

Ahem, cough, cough, has anyone had notification of their child's CAT scores? DD did CATs back in June during induction days. I am so curious to know what results were. How would I go about asking without sounding like pushy loon, do you think?

My DS is taking ages to fasten/unfasten the top button too, their ties are clip-on and seem OK. We have shirt-practice here!

He came home with school photos today (they were taken on his 2nd day) and I assume its to capture the pupils whilst their uniform is crisp and clean

I have been looking at mobiles for DS too, he doesn't have one yet - but it is inevitable isn't it? ::sigh::

Mobile is pretty essential for my ds with an hour's journey each way. Having AS, it's not right, but it's sadly true that having the right phone does help facilitate social inclusion to some extent. There's no way he's having an IPhone or one of the newer Samsungs, but we've seen a couple that he's happy with and other kids have got, that we can manage.

The hardest bit we've found re mobiles is that only Tesco offer bill/contract capping and T-Mobile has the YouFix tariff. Except Tesco don't have any of the phones ds wants and T-Mobile have been bought by EE who have an atrocious reputation, especially for customer service.

TalkTalk have no cap, but some good deals that it would be hard for dcs to overspend on, so we think we'll end up going with them in the end.

Ds came home without his blazer this afternoon. Apparently it was missing after PE (last lesson). The teacher said someone else had probably worn it by mistake, but that makes no sense, as there wasn't one left in the changing rooms and they all have to wear one at all times, so unless someone went home wearing two ....

Then I started to unpack his PE kit and discovered his track-suit bottoms are also missing. Track suit is a school specific one, that all pupils have to have and costs £££s.

We are having huge homework battles as well, as it's common for dcs with AS to see home as home, school as school and not want the two to mix.

We managed to get him to do one lot at the weekend, but the other lot from last week is drawing and he really struggles with that due to fine motor issues, so keeps having meltdowns and making zero progress with it. Tonight he's brought home three more subjects and refused to do them and I can't seem to get through to him that he is going to create a serious backlog, as he will have more tomorrow and the next day - and the next etc.

He leaves home at 7.15 am - doesn't get home until at least 5.15 pm and as he seriously needs to offload the stress of having to try and be sociable and understand teachers and other pupils all day on top of his strict routines this doesn't leave a lot of time for completing homework on school nights. They did mention that some pupils in his position can get special dispensation to only have to do homework for core subjects and I think we might be headed that way already.

Can't believe it's only Monday night - I'm exhausted already!

My DS is positive about it all, he likes the movement between the lessons and being more active in the lessons like science, he's a fidget and dyslexic and was so demented towards the end if primary school with the one (lovely) teacher and the same old classroom.

He's been picked for the school football team and he's so thrilled. He's had no issues with working out where to be and go as he has a very visual brain. He has find the organisation hard and we've colour coded all his lessons. He looks knackered after each day, like brain drain/overload and he's found the cat tests tough going, in terms of being tested all the time.

I found it very endearing and heart warming to hear him playing FIFA on x box with two new friends he's made, having fun and laughing, I felt good on you and a sense of pride and relief that he had made new friends he felt comfortable with.

Top tip for sports.

Loosen tie, and take off over head. Put on peg or shove in blazer pocket.

Undo first button of shirt and pull over head, together with jumper. Should come off like a skin. And go back on again in the same way.

Ensure sports kit is divided in PE bag. So stick rugby shorts and shirt in a carrier. Put rugby/footie socks in boots. Swimming kit in a seperate carrier etc. Mouth guard easily to hand eg blazer pocket, or side pocket of PE bag.

My DD is loving high school and seems to have found enthusiasm for sport which she never had before. It helps that she has a choice of what she does rather than 'boring old netball' every week.

She's made lots of new friends which is a big relief (as she was having a hard time at the end of primary school) and is joining lots of clubs/activities.

Biggest challenge is going to be remembering to go for her music lessons!

DS scored his first ever goal today in football!

He missed his singing lesson though, as he could not find the room!

Oh well.

Quint I know they have to grow up, but could there not be a little leeway. Couldn't find the room - poor thing. Can't they show them and tell them the first couple of times?

DD says her school is boring. She has spent the first lessons going through rules and discussing 'what is geography?'. She spent over 1 hour drawing a shoe, spelt 70 words in a spelling test in double English and had a maths test. She's so disappointed as I think she was ready for the extra stimulation from secondary school and maybe we had built it up for her.

But DH said that's what Y7's like. School's are measured on KS4 not KS3 so most of Y7 is spent treading water. To me it's a crying shame that any enthusiasm is ignored and then they're expected to turn it back on again in Y9. And this is a successful school with a waiting list as long as War & Peace.

Well, he asked his house tutor, he said "I will show you after assembly". But, assembly finished after lesson.... (I spoke to house tutor as it was Y7 Parents Welcome evening tonight) and we cleared up the misunderstanding. He will show him where the music section is so he will find it next week.

chicaguapa what a shame! Maybe it is just uninspired this first week?
Ds says ethics is the most boring subject. Ds' geography teacher has been to Norway, and is really "hot" (ha ha) on glaciers and how the ice age has formed the land, etc. But, they are doing Europe this term.

That's really sad, chicaguapa. Fortunately, fingers crossed, all going well here.

Dd seems very excited by everything, which is great because she was not looking forward to it AT ALL over the summer and was worrying about leaving friends, new teachers etc.

The only black spot to date is that her group is doing textiles not woodwork in Technology and they have spent two lessons sowing along straight lines on bits of paper with the machine unthreaded. So fairly minor!

Great excitement when she was waiting for others to be shown how to log in at IT and found GamesMaker and Scratch in the applications folder on her computer, though I did warn her this would probably not feature in lessons

She also got a merit for remembering the Welsh for manuscript paper in music lesson, which she was dead chuffed about :)