If you have a child doing GCSEs or A levels, in hindsight, what you have done differently from Year 7 onwards?

[SayWhatNowNow]

As per title, you have a child doing GCSEs or A levels, in hindsight, what you have done differently from Year 7 onwards to help your child throughout their school life? Just wondering as I have a child starting year 7 this year. I think I new exactly what to do for primary as in helping them learn how to read and try and foster habit/love of reading from an early etc. So any advice how to help your child academically from year 7 onwards? Thanks!

To do homework as they get it and not the night before the 'due date' which might be two weeks away.
To get in the habit of making notes and revision cards early on.
When subject options come up, beware of or not choosing a subject based on your like or dislike for a teacher as the teachers can change.

Agreed @Redcrayons being a consistent steady, learner has undoubtedly been an advantage for exams this year. Somewhat unfair for those who had got their heads down and would have done better in the final exam but as you say teachers have no way to evidence this.

I'm a secondary (science) teacher. A lot of what has been said on this thread is excellent. I'd add or repeat:

For y7: have a cupboard or box where all school stuff lives at home so they can easily find books and other things they need. Include in here a glue stick and scissors, encourage them to stick in anything loose in the correct place in the book (sometimes they don't in lessons as they are trying to pack away quickly as they think they will get to go to break quicker). Try to be positive about all their subjects when speaking about them at home. Even if they say they find a subject hard encourage them to persevere, it teaches good life skills for later. If a teacher rings you about a behaviour issue try and present a united front with the school. You should not need to contact your child on their mobile phone during the day, if it is absolutely essential to contact your child go via the school office (I've had children who try and take phonecalls/texts from a parent in lesson because a relative is in hospital, this is unfair on the child as it leads to them being distressed and there is nothing they can actually do at that point in time), but even just general chit chat texts encourage students to check their phone when they shouldn't.

Someone asked about y12: buy them ring binders and those divider things, encourage them to use them. We do folder checks at school, it's amazing how many y12 think a wallet full of paper is a filing system. If school recommend that an option subject isn't right for your child don't push to have them do it anyway, particularly if they didn't get the entry requirements.

Great thread, thank you! I also have my eldest starting Year 7 and felt really confident helping him all through primary school but know it's not long before he's smarter than me! And life as a teenager is very different now, so I don't feel as confident about knowing how to protect and guide him as I would like to.

I am a secondary teacher. DC2 starts secondary this week. DC1 is at uni now. The advice on this thread is really good, especially about keeping up interests outside of school like sport, music or drama. Additionally I would add:

Help your child to understand that it is not a competition to add as many possible “friends” from Y7 to their social media accounts. As pp said, check your child’s phone regularly until they are quite a bit older. I wouldn’t allow Insta and DC won’t be joining whole year group or whole form group WhatsApp groups - they are a recipe for disaster. Leave mobile downstairs at bedtime and generally keep talking about online safety.

Encourage your child to read for 30 minutes every day.

Do homework on the night it is set and have a window for homework time at the weekend if Friday is considered a night off.

Get DC to pack their school bag the night before. Do packed lunch the night before too.

For Sixth Form: nothing is a dress rehearsal. For each hour in the classroom students should be spending an additional hour on homework / revision. Suggest to DC that they pencil in the subject they will work on in their independent study periods on their timetable, divided equally across their courses. Once DC is hopefully settled into Sixth Form routines, start the conversation and research about next destinations - uni, school leavers schemes, apprenticeships etc.