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Secondary education

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Original poster

Summer holiday homework for yr 6 into yr 7

26 replies

babasheep · 05/08/2014 18:06

On July induction day my dd's school asked the new dcs to read one of the recommended books and then do a couple of small projects based on their chosen book. They re expected to hand in the homework in the first English lesson in September. Just wonder do many schools do that?

OP posts:
roguedad · 05/08/2014 20:10

My son's new secondary school asked him to read at least two of the books on a (very good) list and to write down some thoughts on them. He's currently working through My Family and Other Animals, though he's laughing almost too much to think about what he might write.

JustAShopGirl · 05/08/2014 20:13

Ours did... DD13 read a book, made a collage and wrote a character profile. DD12 read a book, did a character profile and wrote an alternate starting paragraph.

Neither of them took more than 2 hours over the actual work - and they read every night in bed anyhow.

mychildrenarebarmy · 05/08/2014 20:49

DD was asked to finish a picture and learn The Lord's Prayer (it's a Catholic school). They were both presented as not actually expecting many pupils to do them, taken as a challenge by DD. Grin

She would have loved to be asked to read though.

17leftfeet · 05/08/2014 20:53

Dd was given 10 tasks and told to do 4 of them

She did a book review, a fake diary entry, a presentation about her favourite tv show and a scrap book about what she did in the holidays

Leeds2 · 05/08/2014 22:14

My DD didn't have to do anything. The school recommended "reading" but didn't specify any books.

Kenlee · 06/08/2014 01:23

My daughter went to the beach...

bigTillyMint · 06/08/2014 01:30

Mine didn't have to do anything, thank God!

JustAShopGirl · 06/08/2014 11:11

my girls loved it - it gave them something that "had" to be done, and all the results were displayed in the school hall on the first day back - they got a lot of older kids coming up and saying well done, love the ideas etc... a really sweet intro to the school.

MilkRunningOutAgain · 06/08/2014 11:25

Nothing for DS , but he has done a week's summer school at his new school and did a lot of quasi educational stuff during it, the summer school was excellent. But think he needs to spend a week or two unwinding now before starting in September.

wilddogbert · 06/08/2014 11:26

My DD has to find a poem she likes and have a paragraph saying why she likes it. She has to write one page about something she has done during the holidays, and she has to learn the Welsh national anthem.
She has already done them and she enjoyed it as it seems to have made her feel more prepared for 'big' school.

Original poster
babasheep · 06/08/2014 16:20

So it s not uncommon. Never would expect dcs start year 7 before September. Are they normal above average sort of schools?

OP posts:
afterthought · 06/08/2014 17:34

I teach secondary. It has been normal in every school I've worked in. There is often an attainment dip in year 7 so it is good to keep the brain ticking over. As a year 7 form tutor I found it quite useful to see which children enjoyed doing work at home, and those who may need some gentle encouragement. However, I'm not a massive fan of homework, I would much rather children had time to be children.

shinysparklythings · 06/08/2014 17:39

I`m a teacher not parent, but I wrote the maths homework for transition. At our school they have English, Maths and Science homework do do over the summer.

Original poster
babasheep · 06/08/2014 17:45

Dd usually good with homework but being summer holiday it s hard for her to put her mind into it. She may get down to it in the lastweek or so.

OP posts:
reup · 06/08/2014 17:50

I posted about this before but my child had a 22 page booklet covering 12 subjects. Some were easy some more projects. It was awful- there was so much he wasn't motivated to do anything really well. We have just about finished it bar 3 more books to read.

None of his friends going to other schools had any. A mum of if a child in the year above got it last year and said her sdron spent the first week trying to give it in and no one was interested. I will explode if that happens.

GoodArvo · 06/08/2014 22:49

At DS's induction, the were told that they could send in a postcard from their holiday to the school if they want to. The postcard should contain a picture of something of historical or geographical interest. They'll get a house point if they send one.

He's going to a grammar school and it sounds like they'll be getting plenty of homework when school starts. I'm glad he's getting a rest.

Happy36 · 07/08/2014 00:04

Our school gave out a little booklet with info. from each subject they´ll study in Year 7 with ideas of things to do over the summer. The most recommended (not mandatory but more or less expected) are a suggested fitness programme from the P.E. department, a reading list from English and an interactive website from Maths.

ThisIsLID · 07/08/2014 10:21

Our secondary does that too. Last year it included baking a cake, writing the recipe down and taking a picture of the cake, recording how much exercise they do each day, so eg history stuff, reading etc. they were told that if the homework wasn't done during the hols, they would have to do that in the first week anyway as it will used as a starting point for the teaching in different subjects.

Personally I thought it was too much tbh.

Hakluyt · 08/08/2014 09:27

I have an 18 year old and a 13 year old. I think doing a little school type work over the summer holidays is incredibly helpful. Not so much probably for going I to year 7 because they are all super keen and ready to go anyway. But from then on- particularly if you have computer or outside oriented children- keeping the brain ticking over makes a big difference.

pointythings · 10/08/2014 19:07

Nothing here, thank goodness. There are better ways to keep their brains ticking over if you are a creative and engaged parent, it isn't rocket science.

Coolas · 10/08/2014 20:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LeBearPolar · 10/08/2014 20:28

DS hasn't been asked to do anything, which I am quite happy with. He reads loads anyway.

queenofthemountain · 11/08/2014 19:08

Wow! Never heard of that round this neck of the woods!
way to go if you want to put them off & create anxiety before they even start!

pourmeanotherglass · 13/08/2014 23:27

Nothing here, and DD hasn't done any maths or English since SATS week, so it's quite a long gap.

She's reading her way through the 'Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy series', but only really reads in bed, so will only have read 4-5 books over the holiday.

AChickenCalledKorma · 14/08/2014 08:39

Nothing here either.

She's just finished Year 7 and they have had some homework in each half term and at Easter and Christmas, including some very annoying projects that hijacked a lot of rest time.

But nothing in the summer - either before or after yr7.