Anyone’s child blossomed at secondary compared to Year 6

[Marypoppins19]

DS is hating Y6. So much pressure on SATs. He is bright but totally lacking confidence as peers incredibly able. I’m worried he will be boarderline to meet ‘expectations’. He is so capable though and I feel really sure that he needs to be doing Science, PE, IT, DT to get a chance to shine.

All of mine much preferred Secondary. Just moving on to a new teacher and a new subject after 1 hour helped.

Yes. DD was pretty average at primary school. She acheived AAA at A level last year.

Yes yes! I was beginning to think my eldest needed some sort of intervention in Y6 but he's flying in Y7. I don't know if it's the independence or the very much separated subjects but something has clicked in a very good way.

Yes ds has much preferred year 7 to year 6. He hated primary school with a passion but is enjoying secondary - more people, different teachers, different subjects etc. He's joining clubs and meeting new people. He's autistic so I thought it would be a nightmare but it's been great.

My DD loved her time at Primary and dreaded moving to Secondary this year. She was worried about making friends as she found this tricky in Primary.

She met a lovely friend on her induction day for Secondary and they have stuck together, and she's met others too. Similar to you OP, I talked about the different lessons and said that she might really enjoy them because I thought that she might have outgrown her Primary school.

Secondary has been so much better than she thought it would, although she does find moving after every lesson and remembering all the stuff to take with her a little stressful. Too soon to say if it is a better move academically just now, but I am not a fan of SATs and wasn't very happy with her Year 6 although she enjoyed it.

DS1. I very nearly pulled him of primary in Yr6. On reflection, I probably should have! He's Yr8 and doing brilliantly (he has ASD and goes to a school with an enhanced ASD provision)

Yes! One of the problems with Primary is they are stuck with the same teacher who often isn't good at teaching every subject.

DD struggled with maths at Primary but was moved top set during Yr 8 after having some good teaching.

And it's not all about top set anyway but a variety of subjects taught by a variety of teachers.

DD hated Y6 so much we home educated for one term. She made lovely friends at secondary and so much more enjoys it and is thriving academically too.

So many children really blossom when they get to secondary. Usually secondary is bigger so they are more likely to meet children like them and do a greater variety of subjects so find something they are good at and be exposed to a greater variety of teachers.

This is all good to hear. My dd is in year 5 and hates school. She’s academically average but is finding it a real slog so hoping secondary might be a better option.

DS is thriving at secondary. He likes doing proper science, IT and so on. He has really found his tribe, while at primary he didn't always manage to connect with the much smaller pool of age peers.

Gosh yes! He was so bored at primary school, he's in yr 8 now and absolutely thriving!

Both of mine preferred Y7 to Y6 by a long shot. Hang on in there x

Slightly difference because Scotland, so P7 is the top of primary school, high school is S1. Both of mine flourished at high school, really came into their own. DD1 had been OK at primary so it was more of the same for her but DD2 had struggled - she's dyslexic and and had become very quiet and unconfident in her last two years at primary school. She was a clumsy child so no good at PE and sports which were very popular at her primary, and she had some very particular interests centring around film-making (she went on courses run by our local indy cinema which she loved) but she didn't have a peer/friendship group to hang out with at primary school and that contributed to her becoming a bit withdrawn and on the outside. By the end of her first term at high school she was thriving. She loved the technology subjects and there was a wider choice of peer groups so she found her 'tribe' and never looked back academically or socially. Hope it works well for your DS.

Every year at y7 parents evenings we get parents saying how much their child blossomed at secondary. Usually there's no criticism of the primary school, but the child was ready to move, ready for a broader curriculum and works better not in a SATs training factory (fyi no criticism of ks2 staff there, we all have our own pressures and tests. It is what it is).

Absolutely yes

Yes! All 3 of ours did. ☺

This is SO lovely to read. It’s such a shame that the last year of primary School is all about passing or ‘failing’ sats and a constantly narrow curriculum. He’s so ready to explore so much more. I just hope he’s self esteem and confidence is in tact by the end of this crazy process.

Another one here. I worried about Ds in years 5 and 6. Now year 10 and absolutely flying. DD year 7, not so much-

Yes! This is exactly what happened for DSD
She really struggled in year 6. Socially and with the pressure (albeit some of that came from her mum ).

She is thriving in a bigger school where there is more time on subjects like science which she loves. She has a solid group of friends and can ignore the more idiotic girls who dominated her life at primary.

Just get him through this year and keep reminding him that exam results don’t define later success.

My Ds is asd and his primary just didn’t meef his needs well at home. Their interventions were divisive for example making him spend play indoors because of social issues. I an honestly say he is thriving at 2ndry. The school seem to understand him so much more. He understands the rules better and knows what is expected o& him also.

Wow I was only saying this to ds last night!
He's 15, nearly 16 and in year 11 and he has Aspergers.

He was diagnosed at the age of 8 and his primary school were pretty useless when it came to his SATS regarding extra provision. He did ok ( science 3, maths 4, English 5 ) but these exams sat at 11 are used to set them in secondary school and are even used for GCSE target grades.

Ds is an extraordinary artist, always has been. He also excels at drama and English and at his recent parents evening we were stunned to learn he is targeted grade 8's in his best subjects and 5 and above for everything else.
He would have classed as decidedly average in primary school.

I think he has blossomed because he got to choose his options and has put his heart and soul into school. He lacks confidence which is hard for me as he's so talented.

I think once he sees his results in August he will start to believe it.
Secondary school didn't start well for ds. He started at a different one which was supposedly fantastic for kids with ASD but he was bullied badly and ended up off school for 9 weeks whilst we went to appeal for another school. The appeals process and the bullying issue nearly killed me off and I'm still suffering with my MH 5 years on.
We lost the appeal and ds started at his school which had a less than great reputation at the time but is now top of the league in our borough and has been amazing for him. The difference has been the outstanding pastoral support as ds
has got through to year 11 without needing any special provision for his AS.

Sorry this is so long but I just feel so strongly that some people are under the impression that kids with ASD can't do well and hopefully my ds will prove that wrong ( yes dad I'm looking at you )

After just one term at secondary my dd has also really blossomed. She not great socially, but has made a core group of friends just like her, she is doing so well academically, and while bright and always while exceeding at primary school she was never g and t; however, at secondary she is and I’m so glad as I did hope secondary would be the making of her.

I hope it continues. I have 2 dds with ASD and I’m so concerned about the transition to secondary for them (one in y6 now) and I’m so glad to hear dc with ASD doing so well.

Yes for all DC, including the very shy academic one and the ‘most popular kid in the year’ one. The shy one in particular - suddenly surrounded by other people wanting to be friends was transformational.
Doesn’t mean they all thought it was miles better themselves (once homework was factored in)