Year 7 Starters

[pippistrelle]

The new uniform is all ready, pens and pencils bought, as many of the practicalities that I can deal with now have been dealt with. So, just a few days to go. Daughter is getting nervous and, to be completely frank, I am a bit too. Not because I don't think she'll be fine but because, well, change can be daunting.

Anyone else at that stage too? Or, if you're already past this phase, how long did it take until you all settled in to a new routine?

(Couldn't spot any other general Year 7 threads, but apologies if there are any others already.)

DD is still going strong, heavy duty academic day yesterday but with drama at the end of it ... um, the subject, that is! She came home today with her art and science books and a science textbook which have gone into labelled subject files which I hope will keep her organised and not turn her into a social pariah. She has PE for the first time tomorrow, which is just going to be a bit of an intro and getting their shirts, no kit required, but proper PE on Thursday, which apparently involves a bleep test. So email to school saying "erm, she has asthma, and it seems to be mild, but if anything is going to set it off it's going to be a bleep test, so, yes, inhaler ..." Yikes. Also auditions for th school production tomorrow, so that'll be a test in getting home after leaving at 5.30 instead of 3.30.

The novelty definitely wore off for ds2. We had tears Monday night as he felt overwhelmed and like he didn't fit in. More positive today, he seems to be enjoying the work which is good.

Each day I am slightly holding my breath at home time worrying about how he will be.

I'm so relieved I haven't got to go through this again!

As soon as they have a few buddies to look forward to seeing, things seem a lot better. For most of them, they have been at one small primary all their lives and become very attached to routines and teachers. It's bound to be an upheaval for all concerned. Remember that you will also get "the worst" of them. They will have had a good day all round, but they return really knackered and that's when the tears start as they learn coping skills. On the outside they're 11, but inside they're still 10,9,8,7,6,5... and no matter how confident and brave they feel, they need you right now more than ever.

DD is planning to do the following today:

Get the early bus into school so she can go to junior orchestra before school.
Go to art club at lunchtime, which will only give her 5 minutes to eat her lunch.
She then has a late finish (happens three days a week).
On the way home, she will get off the bus early and go for a flute lesson (first time finding the flute teacher's house).
She will get home at 5.15.

I'm anticipating a very tired daughter...

Tears again this morning.

He failed to make a note of when his food tech ingredients were due in (well he did make a note, just noted they were needed on a day he doesn't have food tech ). Got him to text a friend who is in that class and he didn't know either. Raised it this morning, as he now has to find out and insists there are no other pupils in any of his other lessons that also attend his food tech group. Friends again now and it has been pointed out, better a cross Mum that loves him than a stroppy teacher with detention as an option. We had a hug and a chat and I've given him his favourite crisps for break time, even though he's only usually allowed crisps on a Friday. He ended up going off with a smile, so I think we're back on track.

Wrong due dates on homework we can deal with, just do it the night you're given it so it's ready whenever it's needed. Food tech ingredients at short notice will be an issue for me though, as I don't drive and we live in a village, so I need to plan when to buy them. We have all the recipes for the year, which will help, but the first dish is all fresh stuff, so I can't buy it in advance, as with a two week timetable, if he gets it wrong it won't keep.

Dh and I were just discussing last night how the primary school doesn't do enough to teach them good organisational habits and other skills they need for secondary. Y6 is basically just fun-stuff after the SATs have finished, but they need to be learning good diary/planner habits etc, so instead end up going into Secondary in September having hardly done any work since May and total unprepared. Life skills like hygiene, time-keeping, shoe-laces, etc we can do at home, but as my dcs don't have lots of clubs to attend etc there's only so much we can do to teach things like diary skills.

Planning to move his bedroom around this weekend to incorporate a new, bigger desk with slots he can use to organise his school stuff. Also have a wall planner we can put up for him to use, so hopefully he'll soon get into the swing of it.

So different than with ds1, as we still have to do all his organisation and his homework is recorded by an LSA, so this is all new to us, despite having an older dc already at secondary.

Very true Moosemamma, dd just didn't get much homework at all in Y6 apart from SATS booster work. As you say, they really do need to prepare them a lot more in Y6.
DD walked back from the bus stop to home on her own for the first time yesterday (which involved crossing a very busy main rd) she was fine but of course I was panicking. She walked to the bus stop on her own this morning and I got the phone call when she got off the bus to let me know that she was there, although it was very very short and sweet.
Let's see what today brings.
Hope everything things is ok for you dd today Persephone70

Hope no one minds me joining this a bit late, but DS only started Y7 yesterday so hasn't been there too long yet.

He seems to be finding it fine so far - but I do realise we're only 1 day in . Getting up earlier isn't too much fun and for him the worst thing is having to wear trousers - he is very much a shorts person. No homework yet but plenty of time for that...

Hope he has another good day today Miranda. Two of ds2's friends only ever wore shorts in Primary too and hate having to wear long trousers, so he's not alone.

Welcome Miranda.

I just listened to a sweet little item on Radio 4 The Listening Project with two 11 year olds talking about starting secondary school. They were best friends at primary, but had gone to different secondary schools and both didn't go with people from primary school. One had settled in quite well after four weeks, but one was finding it harder and described walking round at breaktime looking for someone to talk to. They said that introducing yourself to new people feels like throwing yourself off a building attached to a wire. You know nothing will happen to you as you have the wire, but it's still takes a lot of courage to do it!

Carla May have to listen to that! I do remember all that time ago just wandering around as I couldn??t find my friends when I first started secondary, I used to pretend to look at my watch when passing a big scary group. God knows what it is like for DD who hardly knows anyone.

DD loves Zoella the Vlogger and in trying to attempt new things/gain more confidence her motto has been for the start of the school year ??just say yes?? ( ie just take the leap and do it even if you don??t think you have the confidence for it) she has just rang me to say her application for Form Captain was successful! I am in awe she is so brave she knew NO-ONE in her class. She is quiet in class teachers usually think she is shy at first but in reality she is a listener and likes to concentrate on that and is happy to talk to anyone /go one stage etc etc but usually gets bypassed for the louder kids ?? I??m so happy that the form teacher entrusted her. She is steadily making friends ?? more boys than girls and has signed up for a National Theatre Connections project and archery.

So today has been a good day. We did have tears last night as we??d booked something over Halloween weekend and she wants to go out with her old school friends. She went totally over emotional ?? she is tired . Not sure camping is a good idea this weekend

DS started last week. He was lucky and has gone up with a lot of friends from primary inc 3 really good friends. He's settled in very well so far (socially at least, welll he is mainly with his old schoolmates!), but has been pretty emotional in the evenings as he's just overwhelmed with the organisation. Am helping him pack his bag, etc. the night before so we don' thave early morning mares - he needs to leave the house by 7.20 the latest (with older DD) - so morning is literally get dressed, eat breakfast, clean teeth, out the door. We used to leave at 8.35 so it's a big change for him.

Those early starts are a shock (if new), aren't they? We used to wake girls up at 8, leave the house at 8.40 for primary....now its 6.30 for dd1, who is clinically incapable of being quiet and wakes dd2, and out at 7.20.

I'm ashamed to say dd1 is coping relatively well so far, whilst I am exhausted by change of routine, nervous energy, and confusion of having kids at different schools

JustDance ds2 saves his emotional moments for just before he leaves the house, which them compounds how he's feeling, because he's worried he'll be late, despite still arriving 20 minutes early every day.

Elibean we live across the road from the primary school, so ds2 often didn't come downstairs until 8.20 am. Now he's at school for that time - although he doesn't need to be there until 8.40.

I'm similar to you. We now have 3 dcs at 3 different schools, two being at secondary. I feel so drained today and I've been in a grump all day too. Can't wait for the weekend.

Bought a massive roll of clear sticky-backed plastic for covering books, but he's been told to make each sure each cover has subject specific images. Daft question, but is the best way of doing that to just print a load of images off the internet? We were never allowed to 'decorate' our books, they had to be totally plain, so this is new to me.

google images is your friend moosemama

Thanks clangermum I thought that might be the best option - just wish our printer wasn't so temperamental.

Fortunately none of them need to be done until next week (advantage of the two week timetable I suppose) so I can leave fighting the printer until the weekend. I'm cranky enough today without obstinate technology goading me.

Last year we had a whole term of ds1 having morning panics before school! he used to get himself so anxious, and had to check absolutely everything. He did relax in to it a bit but it took him until after Christmas to really ease back. He's still much more prone to stress and anxiety than ds2.

Oddly I worry because ds2 is so much more laid back, he never checks anything! It's me asking if he's got enough pens, is he sure he has no other homework, has he got everything. I need to unclench I think

First week of homework is done and dusted. Ds2 was surprisingly positive and motivated

Moose first of all for the books- yes just get him to choose some pictures from the Internet - bubbling test tubes and a couple of famous scientists for science etc etc. glue them on. Then cover with sticky backed plastic.

Secondly, I totally totally agree with your comment about teaching them diary skills at the end of primary. I'm not sure what they do after sats but it would be good if they could include that.

Generally, it takes y7 quite a while to write in homework. "Everyone find today's date in their planner. Sam can you help Emily? Thanks. No Jack, you're in November there - look at the top. That's it. Now copy down the homework. Now put in when it's due. Yes you can do it earlier if you want. No don't bring it to me tomorrow if you do it tonight. Because I teach 210 students so I take in the work as a class on the day I see you. Ok. Has everyone finished writing it? No Joe you can't just write "eng due Fri". Why not? Well because you will forget what you have to do when you get home. Right, any questions about what you have to do? Yes you do it in your book. Yes in pen. No don't type it up please. Why? Because it's good to practise writing as you will have to write in exams. Blue or black pen. No Jodie, not with a blue glitter pen, just a normal pen. Yes biro is fine. Yes fountain pen is fine. Just blue or black. No, no need to decorate it. At the front of your book. Yes put the date at the top. It says on the sheet you got. Yes you need to stick to 300 words. No not exactly 300.. No don't go too far over 300. About 320? Everything else clear? Lovely. "

iguanaTail that reads like a Joyce Grenfell skit! Sounds like you have experience of yr 7's.
My dd started on Monday, so far, so good. She has enjoyed most lessons and made a few friends. She did spend pretty much all the money I put on her dinner money account in 3 days though I've told her she's going to be hungry for the next two days!!

thesecondofhernane
Wow how did dd cope with all that ?

Ds is very tired despite sleeping from 8.15pm - 6.45

iguana
I love it !
Thank you so much and to all other year 7 teachers on here
I've been very impressed so far !

Late joiner here
DD started last week and seems happy so far but very tired and emotional at times. She has made some new friends which is nice but she is already talking about sleepovers which I am a bit cautious about. She only met these people 4 days ago

She coped really well, but did take herself off to bed at 7.30.

IguanaTail thank you for the little glimpse into a Y7 lesson on the first week of term. That made me smile. You all have such patience.

I feel a bit like Joyce Grenfell sometimes. They will be in the groove in a couple of weeks... they are very cute but there are endless questions at this stage because they're so keen to do it right and to please.

Iguana
That is so spot on! My first year 7 class on Tuesday were exactly the same.
I have been getting my exercise in today helping lost year 7s find their classrooms (Wednesday is a good day for PPA's). It's a big jump for them, so much to remember.
Ds is enjoying, but is very tired and not drinking enough water, he has had headaches last 2 nights.