Y7- 2023/24 support thread

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

Hi, just dropping in a thread for those of us who have kids starting secondary this coming September. There was a lovely thread going last year and they are carrying it on into Year 8, so here is a place for us the year behind.

How is everyone feeling as they finish Primary and prepare for Secondary?

Dd is moving from a single form entry "family feel" type cosy Primary into a large 8 form entry, multiple building secondary. She's going alone, her primary class are really split up across multiple secondaries.

The transition days helped, and she is excited,but has been really sad this weke saying her goodbyes

Is everyone prepped for uniform etc?

But this is the first day she has been happy. Maybe she’s just a bit tired and overwhelmed. She did the bleep test today and got one of the highest scores. So maybe physically pushed to her extremes.

Ahh thats awful!
Maybe ask if she can move seats.

I wish there were more girl only state schools.

I heard a boy at an activity say a new kid was the most hated boy in school. No even commented on by the leader!

Though in some ways its good to know who to avoid!

My dd is struggling too to make friends. She is in form class with her friend but none of the learning groups. The other girls all seem to have paired off already and she is on the periphery as usual.

I dont think my asd/adhd referal girl has spoke to any kids she didnt already know yet.
and has now lost map and timetable.
but wont take phone to use.
she believes that random teacher is going to bring it to her tomorrow,🤔
she actually doesnt have a lot.as pe day
found her pe kit list scrumpled in bottom of bag

dd is one of younger ones so isnt really ready plus the sen immaturity.
one positive behaviour thing for history.
her set 4 maths isnt even full so def a case of kids who need help, which surprised me a little as i thought that would be the bottom set

I emailed that teacher and I said I don’t want her sitting next to this boy as he really upset her and I had a quick response. She doesn’t need to sit next to him.

I’ve often wondered if my DD is on the spectrum but I really don’t know. She’s very sensitive and does seem to be on the periphery of groups. Guess it’s just a waiting game to see if she settles. She’s chilling now and is cuddling her favourite teddy (but she can also be very mature).

DS is at a selective independent. He was so happy and achieved well in the junior school but is already struggling with the homework workload. 2-3 subjects per night.
Tell me it gets easier once they settle?

Friends etc he seems fine. He knows nearly half the year, half his form are his year 6 friendship group and he’s making new friends. Plus residential next week. He comes out happy and excited about his day.
Then tears over homework.

@HalfasleepChrisintheMorning that's a lot of homework this early on - it's more than my Y9 gets!

It still very early days for making friends. DD2 seems to have a few that she's hanging out with but I hear different names every day. She's very outgoing but has set up a class what's app group which about half the class has joined, I think most of the ones that have phones. It's girls only which may help.

They had auditions for the school play today which seems very early too. She decided not to audition as none of her friends were which is, really sad as she loves drama but I guess Y7s are only going to be chorus anyway.

@HalfasleepChrisintheMorning DD tonight had an hour and a half. I'm hoping it gets easier too, they have a homework timetable but the teachers don't seem to be following at the moment. They are meant to have 2 x preps of 20 mins each but tonight has been 3 of 30 mins each.

Gosh, that's a lot @HalfasleepChrisintheMorning, DD's school gets excellent results so I'm sure they will pile it on in the future but they have a policy of no homework for the first two weeks.

Very grateful for this, they say the girls have enough going on with such a big adjustment.

Think they're easing them in at DS's grammar too, got his first homework today, which was a couple of maths questions that took 15minutes. Sure it'll ramp up soon enough.

They are following the homework timetable thankfully. Homework has always been a pain TBH! He has dyspraxia which does affect him a bit but he has a laptop which helps. It’s all overwhelming him I think. He also hates modern languages, finds it really difficult. He’s loving Latin though - nice teacher!

The appearance of homework has not been appreciated here. In spite of DS being perfectly capable, he can't organise himself to start, so we have half an hour or more of faffing about, arguing and whinging then the actual homework is only taking 15 mins, done to a perfectly decent standard, and he enjoys it when he gets down to it, so frustrating! Trying to instill doing it the night it's set, one exception is a technology craft project which we've left to the weekend, that will be a fun one though.

Steady flow of homework for dd too - usually 20mins of work max per subject and whilst she is still happy to follow my guidance I've been telling her to do it as soon as she gets home.

She was very confused about what to do with the types of homework which are "memorise these definitions" or "revise the steps for Xyz" - never having done tasks like this before.

Same here @ElvenDreamer ! Flashbacks to home schooling!
I wonder what effect, if any, lockdown had on our cohort. I do think they were lucky in the sense that they didn't miss a critical stage and were safely esconsed in primary when it happened. But perhaps some of the shyness that we've seen mentioned in this thread is a result of a slightly less socially developed group?

I think missing the after school clubs affected social behaviour.
scouting has been amazing for dd.
she didnt go in during lockdowns.

we have no real homework at all yet!
which is good as dd doesnt like homework.
although looking at her books history seems the only subject to have done much work.

Anyone’s child utterly exhausted? My daughter looks wiped out despite adequate sleep. She did the bleep test though yesterday in PE and got one of the highest scores but I think she pushed herself too hard and is now physically exhausted from the whole thing. First week adrenaline now wearing off.

My eldest son didn’t really get tired even at the beginning of year 7 but I guess they’re all different.

@Itslosenotloose yes DD is tired. I can see half term being spent in bed!
We started her on multi-vits before school started and are being very strict on a 9pm lights off bedtime but she still looks tired.

@twistyizzy

The multivitamins are a good idea. I also think her periods will most likely start soon. Mothers instinct. Jeez it’s all fun and games.

Yes @Itslosenotloose my DD had to be carried to bed on Monday night and is absolutely exhausted - and left this morning for a Y7 residential so it’s not going to get better! She has done brilliantly so far and thrown herself into all sorts but by Tuesday started to be completely overwhelmed by the volume of emails from teachers, expectations and homework. It’s a lot at her school but she is rising to the challenge if regressing to grunts and immature behaviour at home! We have just decided that we won’t be going away for half term after all (so she can just chill at home) and her home chores will be done by me for the next few weeks to help ease her into school life.

Got a tired DD here too. She goes up at 8.45 to get sorted for bed then lights out at 9pm. Usually she'll find an excuse to come back down stairs at least once but last night she didn't.

I've had to wake her every morning this week when usually she's up with the larks.

DD didn't want to go this morning, she hates the communal changing rooms for PE. In primary they went in in their PE kit on the days they had PE so this is a change for them.

Then we had drama when I dropped her off to meet her two friends and both messaged to say they weren't coming in today: 1 poorly and the other refusing to get dressed for school because of the PE changing rooms. DD had tears in her eyes when she had to walk up to school on her own.

Or perhaps they're emotionally unable to show their parents how they feel?

@Mikimoto

Exactly. I had this conversation with my best friend yesterday. My year 7 came in yesterday and we had tears from her. Mostly I suspect down to tiredness but she does take a long time to settle with new people. I was exactly the same looking back but I definitely wouldn’t have cried at home. I’d have been told to man up. So in a way, I’m pleased my daughter can express herself infront of me. She goes to our large, busy, inner city state and as someone who has worked in secondaries, they’re different places these days.

He’s loads happier today. Had a fab day, loved his club (painting minature figures) and only homework is art.

@HalfasleepChrisintheMorning great news 😊

We are doing homework together! At the moment it's all online! I want to go back to school! In geography they are learning about dark tourism! Which I had never heard of before! So very interesting researching together!