How much information have you had from school about your child in year 7

[LadyFuschia]

First child in secondary coming to the end of year 7. We had a progress report last term during home learning.
Telephone parents eve this Tuesday coming: I went to book appointments and only four subjects have free slots - eng, science, pe & textiles.
Never had any communication from her tutor though she replied to an email I sent when there was a friendship issue in the autumn term which was just flagging up that DD wasn’t happy.

I’m trying to gain perspective and understand what is reasonable to expect to know from a school about a child’s progress throughout year 7, and especially throughout the past year.

My expectations are that I hear from each subject, especially the core subjects, to know a) how she settled in to year 7 and b) what progress she is making. Is she behaving, completing homework (not that there is much) to a good standard, are there any areas of concern or that she needs to improve upon? Is she generally doing ok?

I realise that through secondary this becomes more for her to manage but surely in year 7 this is what people want to know to support their child?

What are other people’s experiences and expectations?

Usual - report at the end of every term. More numbers then any useful feedback. Option to contact teachers with specific questions following each report.

Parents' evening once a year. Many teachers have more students than slots, which might well have been why you only found 4 available. You need to get in early. If it's particularly important you need to speak to an individual teacher ring school and request this.

Also meeting with tutor once a year. I wouldn't expect them to pro-actively contact me otherwise unless there was anything to worry about.

Yes I have been told I can email individual teachers. So you’d normally get one tutor update? I’m not asking for too much information but I don’t know how one supports a 12 year old if we have no idea! I think also because there is little-to-no homework we have no sense of what she’s learning and if she is struggling with any of it.

Basically no news is good news :)
If she was struggling with anything you would be told.

In Year 7 we had a parents evening in October where you spoke to your child's form tutor. It was more of a how is your child settling sort of thing. A report at christmas. Then another parents evening where you queued up to speak to all the subject teachers and an end of year report.

My dd is in middle school years 5 -8. she's in year 7

we have had engagement reports relating to lockdown learning and another report given them an age related expectation number. We has zoom parents evening in the autumn term which I didn't attend and one this term..,This one we could reply saying we only wanted to attend if there was a specific issue any teacher had (there wasn't )

there will be an end of year assessment. .again the age related expectation number. none of the reports have had any written comments.

in addition I can log on any time to a system (sims) that lists her timetable homework due and achievement points won.

I dont think your requests are unreasonable. Surely any good school will give a progress report for each subject even it's only twice a year? Doesn't need to be massive, maybe just a set of assessment scores?

My ds is just finishing year 7 but a small private day school so I recognise it's unfair to compare. But we get assessment scores every term, two parents evenings a year, and two reports a year.
Any emails are responded to within 24 hours.

He had end of year 7 exams, we were slightly concerned at his marks for maths, my email was replied to within hours with detailed constructive feedback.

DD's Year 7 parent's evening was very early on in the year and I thought it might have been a bit too early to get any meaningful info. A friend with a child in a different school thought their parent's evening was too late in the year and if they had any problem they'd like to know earlier, so it must be hard for schools to find a balance!

We did get 4 reports the first year, and when I did book slots it was easy - although as DD does not have her form tutor for any subject, it wasn't possible to book an appointment with her. She had an online one this year and I thought that actually worked better and stuck to time. I can email teacher at any time and they are usually pretty quick to respond and are helpful.

It's a big change from the Primary school where I felt I knew the teachers well.

Does she have a planner with behaviour stamps?
If you want to know standard of homework she does, ask her to show it to you.
Your DD should know what she needs to be working on for each section.

We got a report termly with an 'attitude' and 'attainment' grade for each subject. You get way less info than at primary, but somehow it is good enough.

DS is Year 7.

We had weekly online learning reports (largely attendance, contribution and effort)

We had a call from Pastoral Support once a fortnight during lockdown.

Apart from that as someone said no news is good news...

We had parents evening last week. You have to get in early. There were three subjects I missed a slot with so dropped those three teachers a brief email saying I was unable to get a slot booked but would appreciate if they had a minute to drop me a short email on his progress. They did within a few days.

Expecting an end of year report but currently they doing end of year assessments so I think will be just before end of term.

@TeenMinusTests no planner. Show My Homework lists tasks. They get very little homework; it often seems to be to complete a knowledge organiser. Some weeks none, others a couple of small tasks. Nothing much seems to get marked so I never know if she’s done what she should have.

I think there is usually an autumn parents eve which didn’t happen.

I know no news is good news, but I also think that it’s easy for the middle range kids to fall off the radar when teachers are rightly concerned about more vulnerable or challenging children; therefore it’s my responsibility to have some oversight until she’s old enough and established in secondary to manage it more herself. I want to support the teachers & the school too!

Thanks for taking the time to reply, it does sound like we’re at the lower end of communication and I will go back & ask for more feedback from the subjects we haven’t had appointments with.

I can see that no planner and limited homework would make things harder.
Make sure you chat about what she is learning as part of your routine. Especially she should be having end of topic tests throughout the year but now specifically, so make sure she knows she is expected to tell you about them when set so you can take an interest and support revision if needed.

DD3 is finishing year 7. She's had 3 reports (LORIC points, behaviour points, attendance, effort and engagement grades for homework and lessons, achievement grade), a 'meet the tutor' 5 minute virtual appointment to discuss settling in, and 2 virtual parents evenings.

I'm lucky in that I have a DD 2 years ahead in the same school, so I knew that as soon as the email drops to book parents evening, even if you're out at the shops, you log in and book the appointments, choosing 'auto generate'. I got 16 appointments this time. But you have to be fast because teachers have one parents evening with 36 slots and there are 300 children.

I agree with others that no news is good news, though. Also, don't be afraid to email in. I've needed to email 3 times this year and each time I got an excellent response.

Y7 - large London comprehensive:

Autumn Term - short report and 5 min online zoom with form tutor
Spring Term - progress scores and a couple of calls from tutor to DD during lockdown
Summer Term - full report and virtual parents evening with 5 mins zoom with up to 12 teachers.

I've had emails and calls when DD has been struggling (languages) and I can email teachers or tutor at any time.

Also have Go4Schools that tracks behaviour points and the progress scores seem to change on there (although never quite sure if I've just forgotten).

Given school have called me very fast when there have been problems (DD v dyslexic hence languages are a big struggle) I would guess that no news is good news... but you do rather want to hear that rather than hope! I'd try emailing - I've had great responses whenever I have.

DS is in Y7.

We had a progress report each term, the final one a week or so ago, which was like an end of year report, with an indication of where your child is with regards to the other kids.
One 5min zoom parents evening in February.
I have emailed the teachers on a couple of occassions and they have been ok with responding in time.

Would have likes another parents evening at the end of the year, but apparently they only do one a year.

However, this is better than my DD who's in year 6 and haven't had a single parents evening yet!

For context DD is at a small urban comprehensive (4-form entry).

She is in Y8 but last year in Y7 I was so disappointed with the level of contact from school. We got:

• 1 progress report in term 1 that was just a series of initials indicating foundation / expected / extending / excelling etc no individual comments
• no parents evening at all due to covid
• 1 progress report in term 3 that again was just a series of initials indicating foundation / expected / extending / excelling etc no individual comments

No calls from tutor throughout lockdown but two random 2-min pastoral calls to DD towards the end of the school year from a teacher she'd never met or spoken to..

This year it was:

• 1 progress report in term 1 with initials indicating foundation / expected / extending / excelling etc no individual comments
• 1 zoom parents evening in term two - 5 mins with each subject teacher
• 1 progress report in term 3 that included initials indicating foundation / expected / extending / excelling etc and some individual comments

No calls whatsoever but this year's experience seems to be the expected norm each year unless there is a problem.