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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Half way through y7 - how's it going so far?

23 replies

TeenAndTween · 17/02/2017 10:25

How are everyone's y7s getting on?

DD2 is going in happily, though the number of lessons she says she enjoys is dropping. School have uncovered a reason behind her atrocious spelling and she's now trialling using a laptop. A few friends made, but not meeting up with them out of school yet. Homework at school is light so generally gets done at weekends as she is still shattered after a day at school.

Generally speaking better than I had dared hope for.

OP posts:

ChallyCreaks · 17/02/2017 11:30

My DD has also settled in really well. She has got used to the commute. She seems to have a really nice class and has made some lovely friends. She has her first party next weekend. Less homework than year 6 and her reports say she is doing well. Long may it continue although I'm probably in for a hellish year 8 and 9 now!

DriftingDreamer · 17/02/2017 16:09

Touch wood well here.
I have wobbled much more than my son who seems to take most things in his stride.
Good email contact with form tutor.
Teachers he thinks are great.
Clubs he says are 'epic'....
For a parent- I am on a learning curve though!

pizzatray · 17/02/2017 16:58

My DS loves it and apears to be doing well although we haven't had a parent's evening yet or much call for contact with school but the electronic feedback we get has been generally positive. Homework had been extremely heavy but seems to be lightening up now although that might just be improved efficiency.

He has a couple of friends but not much social stuff out of school organised yet. I presume that's normal and he doesn't want to do anything much so that's probably why nothing gets organised! He's in loads of clubs so wouldn't have much time anyway.

I couldn't be happier for him actually, I hope it continues! He struggled a bit at primary so I'm really pleased he's found his groove.

Hope everyone else has settled in well

simpson · 18/02/2017 08:57

DS has settled well after an initial wobble.

He has made loads of friends similar to him: sporty, quiet, hard working etc.

He loves all of his lessons except Spanish. He seems to be doing well academically from what I can make out of their complicated targets for end of year.

No parents eve yet, but we have a school report coming next week

leccybill · 18/02/2017 09:05

Why doesn't he like Spanish simpson?

exLtEveDallas · 18/02/2017 09:19

DD is ok, but finding it hard.

Homework every night, often 2 or 3 subjects is killing her. She is in the top sets for most things and is finding it hard to keep up. They've had assessments twice now, she has improved, but is still convinced she is "really bad at XXX mum"

I'm still hacked off that her teachers talk now about "You have to stay in this group or you won't get 8/9s" "You need to know this for your final exams" "We only take 6 formers from the top sets". They are Year 7 FFS . It's far too early.

Friendship wise she's doing well, has kept a number of Primary friends and made new ones, has met up at weekends and chats on SM. She has some niggles with kids in her tutor, both new and old and I've had to email the science teacher about the boy who punched her in the arm because she asked him to keep quiet (teacher said "just ignore him" when she complained, I photographed the bruise and told him that if he didn't take it further then I would. Long story short, I realised I knew Dad so took it up with him. No more trouble...as yet)

I'm not sure how much I like the school, but DD seems ok for now. Swings and roundabouts.

Original poster

TeenAndTween · 18/02/2017 09:59

Wow Eve that sounds a bit OTT - is it a selective school? There is no way my DD would be even half coping with that amount of homework!

Glad it's going well for most.

My DD's tutor has just gone on leave of absence for family reasons, not sure how long for. I hope she doesn't have a series of temps because she (we) could do with some 'continuity of care' for her.

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DriftingDreamer · 18/02/2017 10:04

Homework very manageable so far. No homework for half term.
Eve, that seems rubbish response re punch. Keep eye and involve form tutor/ Head of House [whatever protocol at your school] if escalates....

Hoppinggreen · 18/02/2017 10:07

DD love and it but the workload is huge and she is very much responsible for everything- no spoon feeding at all and no leeway for forgetting or losing things
She didn't know anyone really when she started and a lot of the kids were at Prep together but she seems to have made friends, although no bff yet.
She really enjoys it but does find it tiring and a bit intense. Academically she's doing great.

exLtEveDallas · 18/02/2017 10:20

No not selective at all Teen. That's part of the reason I'm pissed off - if I had wanted DD to do the whole selective/grammar thing we could have applied a couple of miles over the county border. But I wanted her to go to a local comp. Didn't think it would be like this at all. It's an 'Outstanding' school - but at what cost?

Yes, I'm going to bring the punch up at Parents Eve (2 weeks time) and see what he says. To be fair the Dad was pretty annoyed and I reckon boy will have had a serious roasting, but it should have been the school dealing with it, not me.

Trb17 · 18/02/2017 10:25

DD is in Y6 so just waiting for Secondary school place. Hoping for 1st choice local Academy and know from friends that Homework is around 12 pieces per week in Y7! My friends children all manage it though so I'm hoping the pieces aren't massive. The school states in policy that Y7 homework should take 45-60 minutes per day. Still a big jump from Primary though.

exLtEveDallas · 18/02/2017 10:31

DDs school homework policy says the same - but it's 45/60 minutes per subject So she is often doing 3 hours a night

simpson · 18/02/2017 10:32

Leccybill - not sure really, he just finds it harder than the rest of his subjects.

He does get quite a bit of homework but luckily hasn't had too much over half term!

Trb17 · 18/02/2017 10:34

Wow Eve that is a lot! Every credit to your daughter for getting through it. I hope it settles down too as I've heard that that sometimes happens - a sort of trial by fire introduction - not fair at all.

simpson · 18/02/2017 10:34

3 hours per night!!

DS gets about an hour. With between 10-12 pieces per week. Sometimes he stays behind and does it in the library, especially if it is a group effort type of homework.

exLtEveDallas · 18/02/2017 10:51

She has Maths 'revision' every day - a worksheet of 20 questions on a variety of sums that are peer marked the next day, plus has to make 3 'flash cards' on that day's subject. At first it was taking her well over an hour, now she takes 30-45 mins.
As well as the Maths:
Monday is English and DT
Tuesday is Computing and RS
Wednesday is English and French and Food Tech every other week
Thursday is Geography and History
Friday is Science and English

We have quite a lot of tears.

DriftingDreamer · 18/02/2017 11:26

Some schools do sound like exam factories.
Where is the time to develop as a rounded individual?
I want my ds to do well but not to the point of a break down over homework....

DriftingDreamer · 18/02/2017 11:47

Also, one wonders what work is done at school if so much homework is necessary....

Littledrummergirl · 18/02/2017 17:50

Dd seems to have settled in nicely. She broke away from the primary school girls who were being cows and made new friends. She is top set for all subjects and has thrown herself into extra curriculum activities, particularly sports.
We have received a number of letters from different teachers praising her and thanking her for her commitment.

I would be questioning that amount of homework. None of my dc have had anything like that throughout their education and ds1 is doing a levels having come out with 5a and 4a* at GCse so not the normal expectation in my experience.

BayeauxT · 18/02/2017 23:49

Teenandtween, could I ask what the reason for 'atrocious spelling' was found to be? My DD in y7 will spell a word three different ways in the same paragraph and all of them wrong (!)... She is a prolific reader and none of her teachers in primary ever seemed to think it was a big deal... 'she just needs to slow down and think before putting pen to paper'. Her y6 sat for spag was about as low as you could get but her y7 cat score for verbal reasoning was at the other end of the scale. She is loving y7 though - transferred out of local catchment school after 3 weeks when a place became available at her first choice school, has kept up friendships with old friends from primary and made new ones too.

Original poster

TeenAndTween · 19/02/2017 10:07

bayeauxt According to the letter DD has slow verbal processing speed and weak short term sequential auditory memory .
It makes absolute sense to us, if we spell out a word to her we have to go letter by letter otherwise she complains we are going too fast.

She has good word reading and good verbal reasoning.

OP posts:

WhatHaveIFound · 19/02/2017 16:55

Well DS got off to a great start in Y7 but it all went a bit pear shaped when my mum went into hospital and i had to look after my dad for 5 weeks.

Then DS caught a virus and was off school for a week. The after effects meant nearly 6 weeks off his beloved sport

In spite of all this he's working hard, getting good reports, is coping with homework and has been selected to represent the school at county level. So fingers crossed we're over the worst!

PettsWoodParadise · 19/02/2017 19:40

Whathave - hugs to you and your DS. DD has settled in well. DD didn't know anyone in her class when she joined. She now has a few close friends (2!) which is typical for her, she isn't a big crowd type of girl and I worry if there are problems or the girls were to leave as it would a massive hole. We have the first formal parents evening next week. We have appointment slots with six of the teachers - all of the girls had to arrange the appointments via a grid themselves. The report at the end of the first term was encouraging. She got an amazing report for maths which is excellent. Grown up hormones have finally kicked in which has been one of the harder learning curves making school seem far easier an issue than 'growing up'. Homework has actually been lighter than she had at primary. Just before half term we submitted the preference for the second language for Y8 which makes it all seem very like they are no longer the 'newbies'. Empathy has developed further as she sees many of her school friends travel long distances when we are nearby and she is beautifully caring and considerate of them and we support her in concern where practical by having friends stay over after late events etc.

Some of the hardest lessons have been for us as parents. Seeing DD meet up with friends after school and then make her own way home. Going shopping with friends and making her way there and back. Eeek.

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