Year 7 what will she need

[RevolvingPivot]

Hi. I need to budget and put money away. I know it's months away but I'm stressing.

I'm not sure it would make much difference but just for info:

She won't turn 11 until the end of august

Has a little anxiety.

Has never walked to or from primary school alone before due to me going for her younger sister. Plus she doesn't want to meet me away from school.

Has dyspraxia and dyslexia

Is very unorganised.

Thanks x

If you know which school she is going to, the uniform list should be on their website.

They may say to get things like a basket for food tech. We didn't bother!

But broadly, it's not diasimalr from primary school (coat, bag, shoes). Possibly a scientific calculator, pencil case and pens etc.

If money is tight, the school may have a fund to help you and second hand unforom for sale, which is often great quality because kids grow at amazing rates at secondary.

You have the summer to get her independence up, do the walk with her a couple of times, that kind of thing.

*uniform.

How will she get to school? There’s plenty of time to start practicing walking/buses.

When I started secondary my mum made me practice walking without her - we’d walk places with me 10m ahead of her, then with her setting off a minute or two after me, and so on, stepping it up.

She also took me to the big main road I’d need to cross and made me practice crossing it, telling her when it was safe to go. I probably just about died of embarrassment at the time, but it was very sensible!

Does she have a phone/are you planning to get her one? If you’re planning to, you might consider getting it now-ish so it’s less of a novelty come September and she’s perhaps less likely to be waving it around to all and sundry out of excitement. It also gives you time to establish and bed in ground rules about phones in bedrooms, usage limits etc.

School will presumably provide info about uniform and kit etc. The advice in here is often to let them take an old bag for the first couple of weeks, then let them get a new one when they know what they want. You don’t want to shell out on a new bag only to find two weeks in that it’s the ‘wrong’ one.

The school will probably send you a pack with the requirements. DD's sent a list (with prices) of uniform, what she'd need in pencil case etc.
She might need specific pe kit.
You'll possibly find all this info on the school website.
I think she'd need a basic phone, particularly for the walk to and from.

If you use Facebook, you might find there's an incoming Y7 parents group set up, which is handy for arranging lift shares, reminders about inset days, hunting down lost property etc.

She’ll need somewhere to put her books at home. If she’s disorganised, have a look at plastic wallets that can contain all her workbooks and textbooks per subject.
Some schools don’t give or expect you to buy textbooks so check with them.
We have a big ikea box that dc put all their school books in.
Pens, pencil, pencil case, calculater, colouring pencils, sharpener and rubber.
Sometimes they mark each other’s work so my dc were expected to have red and green pens. They’ve got one of those pens that have 4 different colours.
My dc also have a couple of pens and pencils in their bag in case they leave their pencil case at home.

They’ll need a pe kit and trainers.

Uniform and shoes and trainers.
Pencil case and calculator. We were also asked for a protractor and compass. The school I work at ask for blue, black, green and purple pens
Bag to put it all in.
Lunch box? And water bottle.
We have been asked to buy a French dictionary, and an apron for food - that came as a request around Christmas.
We were also asked to donate about £10 for food and DT materials.

Some sort of device to access apps - all our homework is put on an app, that DS needs to access to find out what to do. Some of it is then done on the tablet. Some is done on paper.

We started DS walking home alone on nights where he or his brother had an afterschool club - ie I wasnt already at school. I also started it by telling him I was meeting X just before school collection, and if I was late, he should just start walking g, and I'd meet him half way. How will you daughter get to secondary? Walk or bus? Start using busses now if that's the way she will be travelling.

I think Covid has shrunk the current Y6 world quite a lot, and many will he anxious about travelling g to and from school.

My son is totally disorganised. All his school books come home (not all schools do this). So we have a plastic box with a lid. I've photocopied his time table several times. One is hidden so I can always access it, and one is stuck ontop of the box that all his books live in. If I find a book somewhere in the house, I tell him where it is, and that it needs putting away properly. To date, weve only lost 1 water bottle (compared to primary, this is awesome progress!).

I also bought some keyrings made from a plastic spring. His house key and bus pass are attached to his school bag, and are NEVER removed - the keyring is long enough to open the front door without detaching it from his bag. Key and pass get tucked in the front pocket of his bag when not in use.

Good luck. They do a lot of growing up in the next 6 months.

If you want to long term plan, I'd say by year 9 it would be useful to have a very very basic laptop but not needed til then probably.
Rest of it is uniform , sports kit, trainers, calculator, protractor maths set.
Good idea to practice the walk over summer, do they have friends they will walk with ?
Schools will do lots of transition and give out lots of info in next couple of months, you are just ahead of the game.
Have you got a y6 WhatsApp parents group? Or set one up for new y7 parents at your chosen school?

Transport - how is she getting to school and back? Practice the route, start getting her to walk (known) places alone.

Equipment - the school will likely issue a list but essentially, uniform, pe kit, stationary, and a bag to keep it in.

Organisation - once she starts, take a few copies of her timetable. Work with her to get organised every evening for the next school day. Agree a spot she drops all her letters and homework etc so you know where it is.

lots of great advice.
I would say as she is dyspraxic, that she is going to struggle with organisation

So, get a copy of her timetable on the fridge, help her every night to pack her bag. help her every evening to check her homework, and to prioritise - do the stuff due tomorrow first
Have aplace for pe kick/DT etc and every time put it back there and make sure she has it with her when she needs it.

Due to dyslexia, she may struggle to get homework written down. Keeo an eye on this. Most schools, due to lockdown, have put everything online, but maybe not. Make sure she isn't behind on homework due to not having written it down.

Some schools ask the DC to take photos of the homework displayed on the board - if your school does this then does she have a camera phone?

There will be a check list in the welcome package the school send to you.
For the stationery, our school had a package that was sold which included everything they need, pens, calculator, etc in a plastic case, which was very handy.
Also we had a choice of buying logoed uniform, or buy the logo and stich it on yourself if you can be bothered, which was way cheaper if you are on a budget.

DTs school has a complete list on their website from uniform to tech to stationary with links to suppliers.

There's no point in buying eg a scientific calculator if doesn't have the functions she will need for the curriculum.

Hi sorry yes I've been on the website and noted all the stationary and the uniform she needs. It says the pe kit needs a logo. The jumper is £14 leggings £14 and T-shirt £12.00. If everyone wears the school issue one I would get it but I won't know until she's started will I? I'm thinking to buy the same colour without the logo if you CAN wear it but I don't want her looking left out.

Sometimes I assume people can read my mind!!! I meant to say what will I need other than what the school suggest. Ie tips / useful hacks.

She has a phone. She will have to walk to school. It's just over a mile with 2 very busy roads but there is a crossing there. My plan is to walk her there in the 6 weeks holidays. She said she doesn't want to "practice" but I'd prefer her too.

School won't help with money as DH is on a good wage it's just we are daft with money so have debt and loans.

The school receive SPP because of her dads job but it's not like the regular pupil premium so we don't get help with school stuff.

That's all x

What we did as a parents before my dc started secondary was to arrange with other children's parents who lives near by to come up with a plan to let them walk together.
Does she have anyone she can walk to school with?

Just read all the replies.

Thanks so much x

I don't drive.
All the parents that live by do so I'm assuming they may get lifts. There is a bus but I think that might be more traumatic for her and it's only a 30 minute walk. I went to this school and lived 5 minutes away. I feel guilty but it's not as though she has to get two buses or anything.

I bought her a laptop during lockdown it was only a £100 one and it's a "Google" does anyone know how I get Microsoft word on it. I'm useless. I wish I'd spent more now.

A couple of things I'd suggest that haven't been mentioned are:

• have duplicate pencil cases at home so she can complete homework without needing to get her pencil case out of her bag
• have two pencil cases in her school bag. One for the regular kit e.g. pen, pencil, ruler, rubber etc. and a second for colouring pencils, highlighters, scissors, glue.
• order personalised dog tags/those pet discs with your phone number on e.g. A. Lastname, 07896 123 456 so and fix to door keys plus any instrument cases and her PE bag.
• write A. Lastname and your number inside her coat, school bag, blazer, back of bus pass and anything she might be able to leave behind - make it easy for it to get returned.
• write A. Lastname 7 inside pencil cases

a rain coat that folds up small to fit in to bag - she wont want to carry a big bulky coat about but if it rains on walk to/fromschool she will need something to keep her dry

Water bottle - espcially now as water fountains etc arent allowed to be used.

Facemask and hand gel - pop a spare mask in a little pocket somewhere in case she loses her normal one.

if she has started her period or likely to I got a little lillet pack which was a little zip up pouch - you can then put a little pad and a spare pair of pants etc in there.

As she has dyspraxia and is disorganised, the first thing to do is to ignore anyone who tells you stuff along the lines of 'just leave them to it, she'll learn to be organised after a couple of times'.

Help set up systems to be organised:

• a place for everything
• everything goes to that place every time
• all messages in planner / phone
• planner / phone checked every day before and after school
• lists
• multiple copies of timetable - on fridge, in blazer etc

You scaffold as much as is needed until she can do things reliably. My dyspraxic DD needed a lot of help until around y10. So reminding, checki8ng, doing things with her, prompting etc.

Most useful thing for DD was a good quality A4 plastic wallet for brining home homework sheets, letters etc.

Biggest unexpected expense for us in Y7 was a Chromebook laptop (ar 350 quid).
DD did have a battered ancient laptop. The battery no longer charged and it was the size of a home cinema system, but we thought she could use it at home for homework. It turns out they need to take it to school with them so had to get her a new one. School has some to borrow for kids who can't afford one, but it really is so much easier if they can bring it home with them.

PE kit is extortionate in our school and needs to have the school logo.
My advice would be no to get it all to start with. For instance, if the school uniform list says they need tracksuit bottoms, shorts and skorts, trainers and football boots, just get the tracksuit bottoms and the trainers, then wait and see if they actually use the rest. DD has not. Utter waste of money .

@BrieAndChilli

a rain coat that folds up small to fit in to bag - she wont want to carry a big bulky coat about but if it rains on walk to/fromschool she will need something to keep her dry

Water bottle - espcially now as water fountains etc arent allowed to be used.

Facemask and hand gel - pop a spare mask in a little pocket somewhere in case she loses her normal one.

if she has started her period or likely to I got a little lillet pack which was a little zip up pouch - you can then put a little pad and a spare pair of pants etc in there.

I got her one of those packs in the little bag. She put the tampons in water and took the stick strips off the pads. Honestly!!!

You will need to buy the logo pe kit it’s expected and she could face punishments for not having it. I’ve been lucky and dd pe kit I brought at the start still fits and she’s now in yr 9 the only thing I’ve replaced is the socks.
Check your local food bank lots run a uniform shop, they ask for donations (primary & secondary) and hand out free (don’t need a referral) around July/August time.
One thing I’m always buying is opaque tights.

Multiple pens.
2 in pencil case.
2 more in a backup area in her bookbag.
Label anything you want to get returned.

@TeenMinusTests

Multiple pens. 2 in pencil case. 2 more in a backup area in her bookbag. Label anything you want to get returned.

Can I label her too lol