About to start year 7?

[Phox]

Thought it might be good to chat all things new starter, plus a distraction from the mess of the end of year 6 - DS effectively had his last day on Friday without knowing, as the call to isolate came over the weekend. So no leavers events or party at least for now. He did manage to get to an induction day for his new secondary school thankfully, which has settled some of his nerves.

Anyone else looking ahead to y7 in September - summer schools, crazy-priced uniforms and ‘they are just too young!!’ panics?

Finally ds had his first day and it was a success - the older years aren’t back in yet apart from the new sixth formers, so they’ve still got to get to grips with the busyness of a full school, but so far so good. Seems to be making a few friends but not only talking to them, so that’s good. Lots of talk about ‘expectations’, and reference to demerits and detentions, but I guess I knew the school was quite strict.

DS had his first day to day as well despite the school emailing us at 5:30 yesterday evening to say year us were to use a different entrance to the main entrance. An entrance that was not at all easy to explain to DS how to get there after he had done so many practice walks to the main entrance! Anyway first day went OK apart from he panicked he had spent £8 on a toasty at lunch time. We worked out what happened though, apparently when you tap you card it shows how much you have left on it not as DS thought how much you had spent!

Glad a few more people have had good first days. Here still all good except DS running on fumes already so increasingly concerned about later in the week. First try at the canteen tomorrow as they needed to get their fingerprints set up. I will have to warn him in case it works like @Hellocatshome’s DS’s school system!

Not a great first day DS forgot his water I told him to buy some from canteen but he purchased a slushy instead so dehydrated and miserable at pick up. Day 2 so much better happier even if his teachers did struggle with the new timetable,

Glad it seems to be going well for everyone, DD still seems happy, loving all the new lessons, she's seems a bit hyper at the moment so expecting a crash soon.

Navigating the canteen has been interesting, she's worked out the cold food queue is quicker so unless she spies her sister who is a sixth former and gets to go straight in, she's been sticking with this. Not loving the book covering

Letter about a test next week to set them for Maths and Science already!

My DS started today, it didn't go that well, he is very shy and seemed to be on his own a bit at break and lunch. He has friends from primary but they're not in the same form, and seems to think most of the boys in his form already know each other. I've encouraged him to try and join in with them tomorrow anyway, but he gets very anxious in social situations.

Friolero I’ve told ds to try to get into a chat with someone as he’s leaving the lesson before break, maybe the person he sat next to or someone he’s spotted as approachable - if he’s walking out with someone chatting it’s much easier to drift into hanging out with them for break. Just a comment about the lesson or something. Hope it gets easier for him.

Thanks Phox, I'll suggest that. We've had a chat before he left today about what he can do to try and join in more with the others, so hopefully he'll speak to them a bit more today but he's so shy and nervous he finds it hard and was looking quite unhappy when he left.

So coming up to three weeks in, how’s it going for everyone?

Overall I’m relieved with how DS has settled in - seems to be enjoying the classes (very excited by bunsen burners!), and has started to make friends. He’s struggling with the longer length of his day, and we’re trying to make sure he’s getting enough sleep to keep him on track. He’s not wanted to join any clubs yet, it feels like that would overload him. Homework has been gentle so far, but starting to pick up a bit now.

How did everyone’s DD/DS’s first term go, in the end. Overall for DS1 it went well but he still seems to be terribly worn out by the end of the day - I was expecting that to improve after a few weeks, but sadly not. Think they get set for Maths next term so bit nervous about where they will put him as he is terrible at arithmetic but quite good at geometry and basic algebra…

How is your DS doing Phox? (sorry I missed your last post).