Advice for starting in year 7

[littlenicky61]

Hi my daughter will be starting secondary school in September and just wondering for the parents who have ' been there done that ' what advise they would give to us newbies !

Many thanks for any tips , must haves , definite no no's etc !!!

Happy36 thank you for that link, it is an excellent common sense guide.

Can I throw a question in?
They weren't allowed pencil cases at primary, and I have just realised that if course he will need one.
What does he need? Do they write everything in pen?
Do they need coloured pencils/felt pens??

and where do you get pencil cases from anyway!

littlenicky61 & all who've posted:

What great advice. DD1 is starting Y7 - and I've found this incredibly helpful. Love the springy key chain idea!

Steppemum - Pencil cases - try any newsagent or amazon. I'm opting for just the basics: a few pens/ pencils, a rubber & a ruler. DD1 canbuild from there. Check info from school if they need specific things for maths - some schools sell those themselves. I know our school requires a specific type of calculator - but they sell that.

At our school on Year 7 everything is written in pen but pencils are needed for drawing diagrams in Maths, Geography, Sciences, etc. At least 5 different coloured pencils are also needed for this, plus a 30cm. ruler. For Art and Maths either the school or subject teacher will advise what kind of calculator and drawing equipment are needed. Finally, at our school all of the students need to bring a glue stick.

Pencil cases can be found in places like the post office, bookshops and stationers, ( also some larger supermarkets).

Oops sorry forgot protractor and pair of compasses.

Marking place. Just ordered uniform online this morning for DD1 who starts in Sept...

scissors, gluestick, selotape. Both in pencil case and at home.

Ah yes, the protractors and glue-sticks. Where do they all go? I suspect I'm actually supplying protractors and glue-sticks for two entire classes.

Get a little make up bag and put a couple of sanitary towels in and a clean pair of pants

There is enough to worry about in yr 7 without having to worry about periods

TheFirst you are so right- same here!

If buying a pencil case, get clear ones for exam time (both our DS and DD , different schools, needed clear ones).

And my other tip is to empty your bank account in the general direction of the school...

As a teacher I tend to collect up at LEAST one forgotten piece of stationery at the end of every class. If any students from that class are still in the room / corridor outside I show it to them and ask who it belongs to (stationery never seems to be named, even calculators and USB sticks!) Sometimes they recognise it and take it to give to the owner but the rest of the time I put it in a cardboard box marked "lost property" at the front of the room and encourage students to check it on the way in and out of the classroom, but it´s very rare that they do. It gets full really quickly so every couple of weeks I have to go through it and chuck out anything I don´t think´s going to be claimed (e.g. odd pencils, chunks of rubber) and just leave the more valuable items that students might recognise. At the end of term I had a huge box of all sorts of goodies (highlighter pens, glue sticks, scissors, etc.)

Basically many students are pretty careless with their possessions especially when they want to rush off to break or lunchtime. If you make your child spend their pocket money on replacement stationery you will probably find that fewer items get "lost".

Any uniform that is left behind I check for a name then either try to find the student or put it in their tutor´s pigeonhole or if it´s not named give it to the secretary who keeps the uniform lost property.

Phones or really valuable things are left behind sometimes and I hate that (makes me feel responsible for them and I don´t want to be!) I find the Head or the Year Group co-ordinator as soon as I possibly can to give it in.

p.s. If you read the Manchester G.S. advice to Yr. 7 students (I posted a link earlier in this thread) it makes some excellent points about "lost property" - as a teacher in a different, mixed school, I found them spot on!

re the lost property thing. A friend of mine drives school buses. Every single day he gathers up lots of left items. They get kept by the bus company for a month but are then disposed of. So if things do get lost then check bus company as well if your children travel by school bus.

"And my other tip is to empty your bank account in the general direction of the school..."

I have bought ds uniform (M&S 20% off finishes today) and I am delighted that the back pockets on the school trousers have a zip.
genius.

the key thing is a great idea. Bike padlock key needs to stay not lost.

I think the tip about the copy of the timetable up in the kitchen (or wherever) is the best one here - yes, they're meant to be all independent now but when the planner with timetable in is lost one morning it does help if Mum has another copy of it so can find out what we have that day!

at our parents induction evening one (experienced) parent said they stick ds copy of the timetable into the front of their homework journal, so it can't get lost.

Another advice tip I've read on here is to get a pile of those zipped clear folders and give your Y7 child one for each subject in which they keep their book, textbook if applicable and any extraneous bits of paper.

We have a keysafe on the front of the house, so DD at least won't have to take a key with her.

Yes, folders are helpful and more needed than at primary.
Enough pens
And ongoing from primary - enough hair bobbles
Again plenty of socks
Generally enough uniform
Plenty of cash for dinners, outings, cake sales etc.

Buy a roll of sticky back plastic for covering books. We got caught out as a book hasd to be covered overnight for the next day, and most places were sold out.

Buy loads of identical socks, and enough shirts for a week, plus deodorant of not already using. Sweaty pre-teens and polyester blazers are not a good combination.

Know which days PE kit has to go to school.
If you have to sign the planner every week, get in a routine, as they will forget or get them to practice forging your signature to avoid a detention.

None of mine have ever had to cover their books - think that might be specific to a few schools.

Some places such as bookshops or stationers (I´m thinking more independent ones) will cover books for you. Usually the service is only available in the first week or so of September.

It´s a good idea to cover books even if it´s not compulsory as they suffer a great deal of wear and tear over the year. For exercise books it´s useful if they´re in good condition with no pages falling out as they´ll more than likely be needed for revision for the end of year exams. the following summer. For textbooks the school can charge, or just generally get annoyed, if they are returned in an unreasonably worn state at the end of the academic year.

As the previous poster said, shops tend to run out of sticky backed plastic once term has begun so stock up now.

Another thing I did before my dd started, was we went for several walks / bike rides around the area in the Summer holidays beforehand - what it meant was, when she made new friends, she could walk their route as far as their house, then still know her way home from there. We found the paths and the shortcuts and looked at an A-Z to show her which roads connected up with which roads, and how she could get home several different ways. I also pointed out where various 'safe points' were along the route (friends house or a Community cafe they pass) in case she were ever feeling uncomfortable.

I also did lots of "What would you do if......" type scenarios

• so some people might say the bus didn't turn up for 1/2 hour after it was supposed to

or

• you lost your dinner money / bus fair

or -you felt uncomfortable / that someone was following you or -you got home and the house should have been empty and you saw some movement inside or -you got home and you couldn't get your key to work / had lost your key or -one of your friends invites you to theirs after school, etc.

Not all scary things, but scenarios that might occur, and talk about what they would do if they did. You don't cover everything that might ever happen in their lives, but at least you've got some bases covered.