come back and report all you parents of those sept brand new Yr7 kids, how did they get on?

[yehudiwho]

as a yr 6 parent I read those threads greedily in sept, tell us how they are now? seasoned old timers? what would you do differently, tips and tricks needed....

Town

My ds has enjoyed year 7; he is on an IEP for coordination difficulties which has explained his problems throughout primary. He:s doing well academically.

Fallen out with primary school friends :( has friendly acquaintances in his tutor group but will take him a long time to make friends. Doesn't cope with change very well but he's getting there. He helped at the school Christmas fair and I'm hoping as time goes on he will get more involved.

Thanks so much ThreeBee

That sounds so positive - thank you

My son has a full time statement / support but knowing that sort of support is in schools and works is helpful

Dayshift, ours oldest moved some years ago now but has a full-time statement in mainstream and has done very well.

In terms of ongoing support, he has small groups two mornings a week during registration, and a lunchtime meeting once a week with his LSA to see how things are going and adjust targets. There's also a friendship group every lunchtime and a homework support group after school, but he hasn't used either of these.

My DD has Aspergers and her end of term report indicates that her effort and achievement ( in a mainstream classroom) are either 'comfortably meeting expectations' and even, in some subjects, 'very good'.
Not only has she managed to submit almost every piece of homework on time and find where she should be for most of her classes most of the time, but she is achieving just below the median grade in every subject (except maths...she is your atypical ASD in that maths seems to confuse her!)
She has joined sport, music, drama and debating clubs and even made a few new friends.
She is exhausted at the end of every day, but is enjoying school.
I was really worried about how she would go with the change and step up to senior school, but am so pleased at the HUGE achievements she has made.
It helps that we set up her desk at home with different magazine folders and a huge notice board with the timetable displayed. Also made a homework timetable so she knows what she should be doing when. Thankfully her inclination to OCD means her work area is always very neat and she keeps a set of stationery at school as well as at home and leaves her books in her locker and only brings them home if she has homework. That way she usually has them at school for lessons.

For my DS, the most important change that starting secondary school brought was that he was finally able to join the 'boy tribe'. At primary, he was excluded by the others, not allowed to join in football games and so on. It was a pretty miserable, isolating time for him.

But it really is possible to reinvent yourself at secondary school. The social stigma attached to associating with a child in one environment, does not necessarily follow that child to a new environment.

My DS found his new classmates welcoming. They have treated him in a very normal sort of way from the outset.

Don't buy everything on the list until you actually need it

This is only bit I can much agree with.
Everything else is down to luck I think. Good that so many people on here have had positive experiences. DS is in y5 and I am already enormously dreading his secondary transfer.

My ds went from home ed to secondary and seems to have settled in, though I am not sure he totally gets it. He doesn't understand why there are sometimes whole class punishments, for example, which to be honest I can't explain either.
He has adapted very well on the whole though and now gets the bus across town on his own and just seems a lot more grown up.