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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

If your child is going into year 7 in September have you heard from their school yet?

29 replies

listsandbudgets · 19/04/2023 16:19

Beyond the offer from the council we've not heard a single thing. I had assumed we might have had something from the school by now at least telling us if they will have an induction day and if so when.

Perhaps I'm just in too much of a rush but it would be good to hear from them in one way or another.

OP posts:
Mogloveseggs · 19/04/2023 16:20

Yes but only yesterday. I was starting to get a little concerned I must admit.

Ihategoingtothehairdressers · 19/04/2023 16:28

Secondary schools have current pupils to focus on and will have just opened after Easter.

Induction days likely won't be until after GCSE exams have finished, and they don't even start for a few weeks yet, so there's plenty of time for them to communicate details with you.

It's certainly not concerning that that they haven't yet been in contact. You've got a place...for next academic year.

TeenDivided · 19/04/2023 17:04

They may well be waiting for the waiting list shuffling to stop / slow so they can send info out to everyone together.

If you hunt of the school website, there may be a school calendar that might mention induction days. it won't be before towards the end of June as they will wait for GCSEs to be done and out the way first.

They may well visit local primaries (ours did) to talk to pupils / y6 teachers to help inform their putting you into tutor groups, but that won't be before SATs as primary schools won't want it.

1sttodie · 19/04/2023 17:24

We received the 1st letter on March 3rd. The 1st email was around the same time. We've had to complete an online reg form and have been informed of Induction days, etc. Some friends going to different secondary schools in our area also received communications quickly, so my son's school is certainly not unique but it doesn't mean that it's common practice. There's still plenty of time.

Dodgeitornot · 19/04/2023 17:32

You don't normally hear till May in my part of London. It's normally a letter inviting you to a taster in June or July and info about summer school.

Jules912 · 19/04/2023 17:58

We did the day after offers but it's a very over subscribed grammar school and I think they wanted to make sure everyone actually wanted their places asap. Then something before Easter asking about language preferences and saying they'll send more after once they've sorted the forms.

Mangomingo · 19/04/2023 18:00

Yes we’ve been sent a form to send back and photocopies of passports etc and we know the induction day in July.

Soproudoflionesses · 19/04/2023 18:02

They emailed to ask us if we don't want the place offered to let them know.

Then yesterday got asked to fill in a contact form etc

Wavingnotdrown1ng · 19/04/2023 18:03

This is something that schools offer when the GCSEs and A- Levels have finished - usually late June or July. I wouldn’t expect to hear from them until after half-term about this. As PP said, the schools are waiting for the waiting lists to shake down, which takes a while.

ShowOfHands · 19/04/2023 18:07

We received a new starter form, an information pack, a booklet for DS to fill in about himself and the school contract. Arrived end of March. More details will be sent in May about induction and similar (I work at the school and focus right now is making sure we are GCSE ready).

handmademitlove · 19/04/2023 18:29

It varies greatly from school to school. Of our local schools, mine emailed all parents the day after offers were made, another school had a parents meeting a few weeks later. One has still made no contact.. for us it was helpful to give parents a heads up of dates such as parents meetings and transition day, and also gather information so we had time to go through and work out who needed longer transition etc... But not all schools do this. If you have not heard after half term I would drop them an email to ask.

Figgygal · 19/04/2023 18:31

We had an email the following week with transition information and asking us to complete some information

SleepyRooster · 19/04/2023 18:43

Ours sent a postcard, addressed to DD, with a note (not handwritten obvs) saying they were looking forward to welcoming her. Nice touch

Thingsthatgo · 19/04/2023 19:46

We've had 10000000 forms to fill in and requests for money!

cansu · 19/04/2023 19:55

Most schools are focused on y11 and y13 in the run up to exams.

Walkingbkwrm · 19/04/2023 20:01

We heard from them today - though he has an elder brother currently at the school and I can see him on the SIMS app already!

Sazzlesw2 · 19/04/2023 20:14

We had an email addressed to DS a couple of days after offer day welcoming him to school and telling him when the induction day was. It also mentioned an online form but we haven't heard anything about that since!

From the replies above it seems to be a real mixed bag!

Plumbear2 · 19/04/2023 21:53

It can be anytime from now untill July. Schools have existing pupils, GCSE and year 10 have their summer mocks coming up. They also have summer concerts, sports days , awards ceremonies and various evening meetings for parents already in the school for exam revision, parents evening, trips information, careers advice etc etc. You will hear in good time but it's not a priority at the moment.

Rockbird · 19/04/2023 22:13

A welcome email with a form to fill in with family/medical etc details. I don't expect to hear anything for a while, DD1's transition info came through in May as I remember.

Muchtoomuchtodo · 19/04/2023 22:26

Ours start transition days in year 5 so they’ve been there for several days already.

mnahmnah · 19/04/2023 22:32

On offer day, we had an email with a link to the enrolment information to complete and the 50 page induction pack. The next day we got a hard copy in the post too. Nothing since.

DumpedByText · 19/04/2023 22:34

I work in a secondary school, we're just getting letters ready to send to the next year 7 parents over the next week or so. We're concentrating on year 11's and GCSE's at the moment!

Original poster
listsandbudgets · 20/04/2023 12:19

Thank you everyone. It's reassuring to know that lots of schools still not got round to it yet. I think I'm being impatient partly because DS is going to a different school to most of the others in his year and they've all heard something already so he keeps asking me what's happening.

Still at least no request for money yet Grin

OP posts:
Dodgeitornot · 20/04/2023 16:23

@mnahmnah 😲 is this state school? That must cost a fortune in printing and postage fees.

TallulahBetty · 20/04/2023 16:24

Yes, but only yesterday.