A positive thread: The things I love about secondary school are:

[Cattitudes]

Teachers who are specialists in their subjects and don't mind a tricky question.

Not being needed for the school run so I can catch up with friends in a more relaxed style/ increase my paid work commitments.

Different teachers for every lesson, if they don't like a teacher they probably only see them four hours a week.

There are many more but I want to leave a few! When my oldest went to secondary from MN it seemed as if from reading posts on here that my dc would be in detention every week for having the wrong shade of blue pen or be bullied for having the wrong bag. It is very different to primary but this is not intended to be a primary bashing thread. I wonder what you like about secondary school or that age of child? Hopefully it will be useful for those first time secondary school parents.

How kind and caring almost every single one of my DDs' teachers have been.

How they start learning stuff you don't know already.

The wider pool for possible friendships, so my DDs could find friends even though they didn't really have them in primary.

They can just crack on with their homework without being chased around.
No more dressing up days e.g book day etc.

Yes that wider friendship pool is really good. One of mine I was worried about because didn't quite fit in at primary. Though clubs and mixing with other children has found a number of different friends who are more similar.

No dressing up days is good, though replaced by the 'oh got food tech tomorrow, do we have 15 ingredients?' No, not at 10pm at night dear.

There are 2500 students at my DD's school. And yet the staff know her as an individual and have taken time and effort to address specific difficulties that she has.

Thank you so much @Cattitudes for starting this thread. My DS is starting secondary in September and I'm absolutely terrified for him. He has ASD and will be in a resourced provision so slightly different circumstances to most but it's really helping me to hear some positive things about secondary as I don't really know anyone with secondary-aged children in RL.

I think secondary often deal well with SEN. Partly it is a matter of scale, whereas there may be one or two dc in a year group with say dyslexia if it is a small school, in a large school there could be 100 or more children with dyslexia. That means the staff can develop some expertise more quickly. Plus there are specialist support staff/ teachers, so the SENCO aren't also having to juggle being ks2 head and teaching yr4.

The pastoral care at our comp is unbelievable, you are never made to feel that you are a pain when you ring with a concern and the student support team are beyond amazing.

@Cattitudes
The food tech at 10pm is my life! Am learning to always have flour, marg and eggs on standby!

Having a bigger pool of friends has definitely been good for my DD2. She had some issues with friends at primary but now, coming to the end of Year 11, she has a really lovely group of friends.

Although the school is an ‘average comp’ ,the teachers have been great as has the pastoral care. On the very rare occasions I have had to raise an issue it has always been dealt with.

She has been so much happier at secondary than at primary and the memories I have of the performing arts events and shows she has been in will stay with me for ever.

The fact this thread only has 10 comments after almost 7 hours is a bit worrying. Clearly people can't find much positive to say about modern secondary education.
Perhaps this thread should be shown to the education minister.

I love Masie , I think that says more about people’s mindsets than school issues.
I value : the art and drama facilities and specialised teaching - regular state comp. my ds showed minimal interest or aptitude for art at primary , but that’s because there was no specific teaching . At secondary he has learned so much and is now studying it as GCSE.

I love that DD could be taught maths in sets so could go at her own pace without the clever children calling out the answer before DD had even processed the question.

I love that DD was taught drawing techniques such as shading which improved her drawing even though she still can't draw.

I love that DDs both were taught drama by a teacher who could bring out their skills.

The food brought home by DD2 was super tasty.

hoop good points. I love the art department at my daughter's secondary. It's really open and bright and full of fantastic equipment. I love that is a small school compared to most secondary schools. The staff are lovely, pupils mostly a nice lot....
I just don't like the gsce system (too many subjects, bring back coursework please). I don't like formal uniforms. My daughter has ASD and anxiety and various other issues. We might have to switch her to a more specialist school. One of her issues is with the uniform. Not following the rules about it but the fact she physically finds wearing a blazer, tie etc uncomfortable. The school have let her change a few things (type of shirt) but to me a major barrier to her confidence and education is the clothes she is expected to wear. It breaks my heart.

At my dcs' primary the geeky kids were looked down on by the cool kids and treated unkindly by them. At their Comp, the cool kids don't bother them and they find a like minded, lovely group of friends and are a lot happier. I've seen that again and again with kids from their primary school.
Bullying was dealt with ineffectively at their primary school. If the mum of a bully was friends with school staff it would be brushed under the carpet. That doesn't happen at the secondary. They crack down harder on bullying.
My dc have found secondary more fun and interesting.
I like not having to hob nob with school parents and do the school run. Less requirement for me to visit the school for assemblies, sports days etc.

Agree that the staff have been helpful and caring at secondary if ever I've needed to contact them

Having separate support staff seems to really help too, that independent viewpoint can be very useful.

My son loves secondary school so much more than Primary, where the curriculum can be so boring in the later years. He is loving his independence and the full range of subjects. Cant wait for his sister to start at hers this autumn.

No dressing up days is good, though replaced by the 'oh got food tech tomorrow, do we have 15 ingredients?' No, not at 10pm at night dear.

The end of world book day! By far the best thing🤣🤣🤣
We just pay through parent pay for food tech so don’t need to buy ingredients which makes it very easy. Although nothing gets eaten anyway. 🙄

The pastoral care at the secondary schools I’ve know has always been amazing. Really caring and understanding, will do anything to help.

They seem to punish children more effectively than at primary school. At primary that disruptive bully was excused as just being a ‘big character’ and was entertained. At secondary they’re given warnings, put in isolation and are out of the school if it continues.

In my experience the quieter, always good kids get noticed at secondary. At primary they were often overlooked.

No more parent cliques in the playground. 😬

Actual support to improve rather than just being told to try harder in PE lessons.

In my experience the quieter, always good kids get noticed at secondary. At primary they were often overlooked
I've found that too

Parents evenings as the teachers talk to the students and parents listen even in non-COVID times. A much more collegiate feel with the responsibility to learn being the students - just as well as it’s beyond me now! I think it makes a huge difference children hearing first hand how they are doing & what they need to improve on.

DS1 s comprehensive was seen as very much the second choice including by us but they have done good by him ( apart from a couple of teachers). It was a while until he found his feet and the more disruptive elements some of whom bullied him were addressed and either shaped up or got expelled. Now in 6th form he has a good group of friends and is a diligent student.

@Ilovemaisie

The fact this thread only has 10 comments after almost 7 hours is a bit worrying. Clearly people can't find much positive to say about modern secondary education. Perhaps this thread should be shown to the education minister.

I think it's just a quieter board than say AIBU, so threads tend to be slower burners.

My sons' secondary is amazing

Passionate teachers who treat the kids as individuals and get to know them all really well

The pastoral care is incredible

Ds1 is Y11 and ds2 is Y10 and in all the time they have been there I have nothing but positives to say about the school