Have we got a starting Secondary School Support thread?

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

I’ve just just asked DD what the sandwich box and bottle are for in the fridge. It turns out she’s made her first packed lunch ready for school. She doesn’t start till next Tuesday

Well DS managed to lose his PE kit today as he was having lunch with some new friends in the canteen. They didn’t have it in lost property apparently so I’ve told him to go back again tomorrow and ask again.
Whether homework goes on the portal is a bit hot and miss. He said he got 3 lots today but only one is on the portal.
Our school is also only 5 mins walk away but I send him out at 8 as he can dawdle for Britain!

DS is still getting on ok. He is going to school without moaning and seems to be relatively happy which is great after many bad years at primary. He is now able to use his laptop in lessons which is great as his writing is awful. I'm going to talk to the SENCO soon about a handwriting program they mention on the SEN page of the school website. For lessons like maths and French where he needs to write I am struggling to read his writing in his exercise books. Today he tried the lunchtime room I mentioned on my last post. He said it was good and I'm hoping this is where he will start to make friends. He's starting to get homework now but so far no moaning about it. I'm making them both sit down for 30-45 mins after dinner to get bits done so it doesn't build up. He had spellings for science and writing a conversation for spanish and he has some english and maths to do which he has 2 weeks for as they are both a bit more involved. I'm feeling pretty happy at the moment as we were so worried it would be a nightmare transition and so far it's been far better than expected :)

Hope DS gets his PE kit back o.k. cheminotte. DS2 managed to get his back as it was still where he'd left it.

titsywoo That's great DS is getting on well and has started using the lunchtime room. I hope the school can help with the handwriting.

I spoke too soon about the homework. The Geography homework needs DS2 to write a short story (centred around extinction and what he would do) and he really struggles with this kind of thing. DS1 (ASD) could probably write a novel on something like this, DS2 finds even getting started nearly impossible then agonises over every word.

ooops N/C fail! (nothing exciting under that one)

Wondering what exciting things Frayed has posted under other NCs. 😂 We do some homework swapping here!

Hope the PE kit returns.

Titsy glad its all going well. Hope the homework is getting sorted Giles

DD had a big grump as I said on Friday she could do gymnastics for 2 hours or the gym not both as we would like a family meal. This was the height of unreasonable behaviour according to her as she wants a social life, so far this week she's had 8 meetups with friends. [roll]

We have 2 lots of homework now . Although ones as predicted by wise MNetters it's a sticky back plastic one

Dd was rather tired today having gone to a netball club after school I've had to wash ( multiple loads cos of colour differences) her pe kit to take back tomorrow .

Still waiting on a planner though...

So far so good. Dd is enjoying it has friends and for the first-time in 7 years is walking to school by herself and no longer restricted by my work patterns as to what she does after school. I'm sure the novelty will wear off when the monotonousness (is that a word? ) and the real work kicks in however

Oh I hope the PE kit comes back cheminotte. I think we all need a homework bunker to hide in.

DD2 came home very upbeat today. I'm just hoping it lasts.

That’s good about the laptop Titsywoo . DS is meant to be getting one as well but his typing is currently even slower than his writing just a lot neater.
He can access an area away from everyone at lunch and break but he says it’s too loud and so far has been to the library, wandered around and homework club.
DP was at home when he got in and made him type up his homework as the handwritten version was illegible.

penguin that is good news, although maybe he can find a bargain on the lunch menu that won't make him ill! DD's school has the menus online so you may be able to have a look and guide him a bit. Your nerves must be shredded when you don't know whether it's going to be a good day or not!

DD seemed to have a good day so she was OK. Did go to bed a bit earlier tonight so probably the effects of the longer school day and the out-of-school activities kicking in now. Still not much homework here, will be a shock to the system when it does start properly!

Pleased your son had a better day yesterday penguin, hope he manages today OK.
Hope the PE kit shows up cheminotte. My friend's son left his on the bus the other year. It turned up at the bus depot, fortunately, with everything still in there. It's the sort of thing that is so annoying because of course you don't want to have to replace things but they also need to have the clothes for PE otherwise they will probably get into trouble for not having them!

DD is starting to get homework that doesn't involve decorating a book but we've got to go and get some sticky backed plastic as she's been told to use that for her English book. She has a spiral bound notebook planner which has various useful bits of info in it such as their timetable, plan of the school. They're supposed to write their homework in there and we are supposed to sign it each week. Nothing has been done online yet. Interesting how different schools do things.

Well DD is looking extremely tired this morning. I hope she's OK. Quite pale but still keen to go. I am half expecting a phone call from the school at some point!

Thanks Sassitude Found lunch menu online.

I've told him to up the lunch budget 😂, they seem to do gluten free but not lactose free. Most expensive meal is £2.50 anyway for roast dinner which he loves and its today. Saw he didn't eat on Tuesday, queried him and said I don't mind not eating, I had lost my card but he never said on Tuesday. He did rush out for emergency biscuits though, must have been why. We got him tested for gluten neg, he says he's lactose intolerant but not sure if its just general bad diet but doctors advised us to feed him whatever we could get down him as he starves himself and went down to 4th percentile BMI. He's lovely at home, DD is being very moody and biting my head off which I am struggling with especially as work have made me sign off sick so got no job and in lovely house but no friends here yet. I hope she will improve, she was like this whole of last year so moved schools. Seems much happier with school and friends but still mood swings but its week 1.

Both gone off happily so looking hopeful. DS mentioned he has friends though when asked him said I told you before there's 12 of us, they seem all to be hitting the gym together on Mondays and Fridays. I asked DS if he would come back with big muscles and he said compared to my size, he only weighs 5 stone 4 and is tiny. 😎

Hope your DD is OK Sasitude

Glad aren't doing too much homework yet, DDs old grammar did 2 hours per night from day 1 last year. Getting nothing much here.

We haven't had much homework yet, either. She had a bit to do as part of the transition which her primary school classmates at other schools didn't have. They appear to have loads now by comparison. And tests. Which dd had on her transition days.

Following to read later

As I suspected the homework app is a bit hit and miss. DS seems to have a lot of homework not being uploaded to the app so they are basically relying on him remembering what to do and for when. Recipe for disaster.

Oh, it's started. All blooming morning - 'I'm cold, it's so cold, I'm freeeeezing, put the heating on, I can't get out of my pyjamas, it's too coooold!'

As he's leaving the house - 'Put a jacket on - it's cold. ' 'What?! No!' Stomps off eyerolling and shivering

Upping the lunch budget has made me , I hope he finds things to eat that he likes. It's usually a rotational menu anyway, so he'll know what to eat after a few weeks.

I'd heard that about the grammar schools, a couple of hours of homework every night (we live in a super-selective area) and I was wondering how that would pan out as quite a few of DD's friends/school have gone to the grammars and at least one of them is not a fan of homework! Fun times for that family ...

I did offer DD a lift to school but she was happy to get the bus, I will text her at break to offer her a lift home as the school bus takes ages!

Oh I have a very dull wild side under my other NCs Penguins . DS is sounding like he's really finding his feet.

Hope DS returns in a better mood than he left spiderlight

DS2 did the Geography homework. Not sure he's written enough but he says he has so we will find out soon enough. He got properly lost yesterday. He went to the student reception as per advice but said everyone kept pushing in front of him, so he ended up being 5-10 mins late to lesson. Teacher wasn't impressed but no formal punishment. He was surprisingly o.k. about it.

He's desperate for maths to get going properly, as that is the subject he loves. They're doing a lot of v basic stuff. I assume the teacher is checking the base knowledge and his wish will be granted soon enough.

DD was at one of the London grammars and it appeared stuck in the 1950s as a Swiss finishing school 😂 DD started talking with a very posh accent and had ballroom dancing lessons where she was allowed to dress as an c18th lady and after school clubs were things like knitting. The letters from the Head contained half words not used for the last 100 years, had to look lots up. It was all about results, think the quiet hard working students were fine but quite hard on even them as many had commutes of an hour each way, can't be late so arrive 30 minutes early, school day is 30 mins longer then 2 hours homework in y7. Think they vary, pastoral care was dire at hers, she was sad and they did almost nothing, got a message saying another girl had died day before school started back "unexplained" but so much pressure with no support I know what I would suspect. Its interesting to see differences, she's in top set everything at comp and says lessons are much easier but some at grammar were made like GCSE classes in y7. She got above average results there but the unhappiness wasn't worth it.

We have same issue with coats and DD, think they aren't cool. 😎

My DD has arrived home, still tired but absolutely fine! She is currently having a shower and we are going to unpack/pack her bag straight away so she can 'chill' for the rest of the night and go to bed when she wants.

I forsee an evening of running around after her! Hope everyone else had a good day too, and that the roast lunch was worthy of the price penguin

DS says it was worth £2.50, possibly even £3 though he has gone on an emergency chocolate mission so maybe not too big. 2 happy monkeys, phew.

@Gileswithachainsaw I think some schools have the homework app instead of the planner. Dc's school has a paper planner but no hwk app

Just found this thread. Dd started on the 5th. She seems to have settled in well, and reports 1-3 new friends a day which is a huge relief as she only knew 2 boys from primary who went there and they don’t speak much English. She’s very shy normally so I’d been worried. Apparently her and her “best friend” who she met in her form on her first day just ask any kids who are alone if they want to sit by them, so there’s around 12-15 of them in a group at lunch, plus groups of 3-5 in each subject to sit with/ work with. Fingers crossed it continues to go well!
She hasn’t had homework yet, but there’s no online portal unlike at her brother’s school so I can’t be certain that this isn’t just her being disorganised 😕. I’m not sure how to check, other than waiting for a call from school/ detention...

Welcome Howmany I'm not sure how you check either and DS just gives me a confused look when I ask him and says he's not sure. DS would miss an elephant going through the room.