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 !!!

I would also recommend easy2name.com, just ordered name and 'things' tags from them and they arrived the next day! They also pay commission to schools, have a look through their list and see if the new school or old school is on there.

Yet to face this as DS will change schools for Y9 instead. However, one of his friends left to join another school for Y7 and I would definitely say don't spend too much on the first bag or pencil case. There will be a brand which they have to have, and it won't be the one you got.

Mum's get too 'involved' these days. I had a friend going on about what a stressful morning she'd had getting her girls off to their school trip, packed lunches, raincoats, driving them to school....but why, my daughter on the same trip got her own lunch together, packed her own bag and walked to school as always....no probs. Mum's just can't stay out of their kids business these days, leave them to get on with it, if they forget their homework, what does that teach them...to remember it next time. You're not doing them any favours by remembering everything for them they have to learn to be independent and think for themselves. Did your mum have your school timetable on her fridge??

The best thing we did for DD was buy a Really Useful filing box and set up a hanging file for each subject with the timetable was stuck to the lid.

I would say that's the single one thing that made DD organised and able to sort out her own books every day.

DD also packed her bag each night before bed as it made the mornings so much easier.

And don't forget to get some sticky back plastic for covering the books!

If you have a girl, bear in mind that if the regulations say skirts should be knee-length, and you buy one that long, they will all before long be rolling it up at the waist band so it sticks out at a really odd and unflattering angle. My DD1 has just finished year 7 and I've gone and bought her a shorter one so at least she'll leave it to hang properly. Some schools may police this more than ours though .

Homework done the night they get it, bag packed the night before, emergency fiver in wallet, loads of good pens, pencils etc plus whatever's on the list. I bought Letts guides for lots of subjects too. Cue loads of eye rolling, but it's been a while since I was 12 and she did find them useful. Packed lunch made getting to clubs easier.

Meant to say, get THEM to do that stuff!

Agree with what's already been said.

Be prepared for the possibility of a "crash" in emotions after the first week or two after all the excitement of things being new wears off IYSWIM. DS1 had a great first couple of weeks and then we had tears and panic every morning and begging not to go to school. Spoke with the pastoral staff and they were brilliant. He'd already been to see them about his worries. He'd got a bit overwhelmed coming from quite a small primary to such a large secondary and was a bit worried about all the new rules to follow. They reassured him (and me) and said they were keeping an eye out for him. He's gone from strength to strength in confidence over the year.

Good luck to all the new starters in September.

I would advice her to be friendly to EVERYONE and don't get drawn into anything! My daughter has just finished year 7 where there set at the start of year 8. I just advised her to make lots of friends, try not to get too het up about any one friend in particular as year 7 (in her school year 7 is known to be a transition year) and year 8 may bring a new group of children.

I've told DD (not that I think she'll take a blind bit of notice!) to listen to all the conversations but not to fix on a particular group straight away and never to talk about people as she may change her mind about them - just listen and "mmm" without actually spreading gossip! Some adults I know could learn that too...

If you have a child who starts to lose lots of things (uniform/kit/stationery) the following works quite well.

Set aside a certain amount of money (exact amount will vary depending on circumstances) and tell your dc that you are going to use this money to replace any items they lose. Then tell them that at the end of the term/year (again depends on dc) they can have any remaining money from the amount you have set aside. You will be amazed at how suddenly their lost items will magically appear in lost propery once you instigate this type of system.

Yes, yes to advice about organisation of stationary and stuff.

• two sets of stationary. One for pencil case which never leaves school bag at home. Another set kept at home. It's cheap to buy another pen,ruler,pencil, rubber, glue stick and set of colouring pencils. Probably cheaper to buy 2 sets like this at start, because less is likely to get lost over time,with moving one set in and out of school bag.
• plastic zip file for each subject, so all text books, ex books and worksheets stay together. Means only 1 thing to put in bag per subject.
• good to have a shelf/plastic crate where these live at home when not needed (if not in locker)
• several copies of timetable around house,including equip needed for each subject.
• timetable even more useful if you add to it extra curricular activities with equip needed and homework timetable/homework due in days.
• bag etc packed night before and out by door.

And yes they are now at secondary but most have much more to organise than in primary so need MORE not less parental help with this. It is a mistake to decide they are at secondary so should now get on with it. I would advise;

• checking homework diary daily during first couple of weeks and INSISTING it is written clearly with enough detail.
• looking at the homework itself to begin with, to see if you think it is adequate. Will also allow you to see marking of work and the comments made,so you can see if they are doing enough/too little etc.
• establish a clear homework routine, probably with them doing it in a communal area. Might be good to say no TV/computer time until it is done.
• ensure you know if letters come home electronically and if a login is needed to receive them. If so, get one and read the weekly newsletters carefully and update your own diary.

Used to be Head of Year 7. This is the kind of advice we gave to new parents at a high achieving school. And for those that struggled at any point, we would work our way thought this list with parents and pupils to make sure they were doing these things, as they really help.

Nothing to add - my boys are starting in September - but wanted to thank you, OP, for starting this thread, & everyone else for such useful advice.

There are loads of things here that I'd never have thought of (& I was once a Year 7 tutor - though it was in my first year of teaching. Definitely a case of the blind leading the blind, I fear!).

We're going to introduce some sort of filing system for our two to aid with organisation & help them keep track of equipment, as suggested, & I'm noting down all the other tips.

Agree get absolute basic cheapy pencil cases etc for September until the prevailing fashion becomes apparent. Also, from my own childhood memories, they will eventually graffiti over everything in the end.

Ultraviolet pen too for anything valuable like phone or bike.

Flufflewuffle with the system you mentioned re labelling, where do you put the 'label'? i would imagine that if you affix it on the clothes directly then you can see the backing outside if that makes sense?

Imustbemadme you are of course right but the reality is that some children need more support than others. If you know your DC is a shocker at organisation then you do need to be more on it. FWIW I have never had a timetable on the fridge but my DCs memorised their timetables very quickly and also had them in their diaries so we didn't need to. If their memories were not as good and they lost diaries frequently I would definitely try that.

Another tip I would offer is to check their pencil cases from time to time. DS1 went off to school with lots of "naice" pens, ruler, protractor, compass, pencils, rubber, pencil sharpener, gluestick. When I quite by chance looked in his pencil case a couple of months in I found all the nice pens and pencils were gone, as were the rubber and sharpener, he had a broken biro I didn't recognise, a broken pencil, half a set-square for a ruler, the protractor was broken, no sign of the rest of it but about four pairs of school scissors plus two school gluesticks. He obviously just picks up everything within reach when they say to pack away rather than working out what is his. I was horrified and now I check it regularly.

We have their timetables pinned to the calendar - for them, not for me. My keep-mum-(and wife)happy-rule is EVERYONE looks at the calendar EVERY morning. They cannot arrange for something to happen UNLESS it fits with what is on the calendar already.

They also put important stuff on the calendar so that I will see it - like: cooking on Monday this week, need ingredients - so I can take them shopping, or they can make a list of what is needed; or PE need white kit on Tue; Fri, take in signed letter. The sort of stuff that if we all know, it will make life easier all round - rather than scrabbling around for stuff in the morning.

No - again, I have 2 dds (1 finishing Yr7 and 1 finishing Yr10)

They both wear pony tails. All their friends that's I've seen in school uniform also have their hair tied back in one way or another - it would be a H&S nightmare otherwise!

She will need her hair tied back for science experiments and PE has a bare minimum. Have plenty of hairbands for ponytails unless she wants the teacher to give her an elastic one(!)

Many schools have hair tied back as part of the uniform policy.

Ours has hair tied back as part of uniform policy - but no one pays any attention - they all have a band in their pockets so if they are told to put it up they can, so they don't get detention.

At our school, Science, Design&technology (woodwork/metalwork/cooking/textiles) and PE are compulsory hair up and off the face - so no long side cut fringes either.... unless they have clips with them to pin it back.

Is everyone ready? We have two things left to get and DD is getting very excited.

Thanks for all the great tips everyone, have spent well over £400 so far and that's just the basics nothing fancy!!
Just need to get school bag now dd is going to an all girls school and most of them seem like clones with long over groomed hair and those big black tote style bags on their arms, dd is not one to follow the crowds but has her own style, luckily not too out there so won't stand out either but she is still very aware of what people think of her. Dd wants a rucksack as the head of year recommended this to save their backs, I'm inclined to agree just need to make sure it's the right one! Anyone know what the fashionable ones are?

I daren't add up how much it has cost us so far.
My DD has also opted for a rucksack ELR. She is also not one to follow the crowd and just wants to have something that will carry all her books etc and be better for her back. She hasn't gone for anything special or fashionable because she is not that way inclined. I am hoping that will continue!