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?

Good to see things are going well for a lot of DC. I'm still pumping vitamins into DD but I'm sure she will come down with something at some point.
DH wants us to go away for October half term but I think DD will just want to sleep/chill so I'm against it.
Back to school on Saturdays for next 3 weeks so planning on making her a fry up for when she gets home at lunchtime.

@twistyizzy what does your DD do at school on Saturdays? It's bad enough getting my DD there 5 days a week!

@gingeristhenewblack43 day pupil at boarding school. They have double games every day Mon-Fri so Saturday morning is to catch up on lessons. They have every 3rd Saturday off though as Exeat when the boarders go home plus loooooooong holidays.
To be fair the first 2 she did grumble but today went in quite happily.

@twistyizzy we’re also pumping vitamins into our DD (pills and lots of raw vegetables!) - I even switched her to vitamins for teens now (even though only 11) as she is so tall so figured they would be better for her. She has had this dreadful cold for over 2 weeks now (which hasn‘t helped settling as she felt so under the weather some days) but I’m hopefully it’s finally shifting - it’s nasty, so definitely keep the vitamins up for your DD! And same in our house re half term - DH wants to go away, I’m saying no and planning a completely chilled half term as feel it’s needed!

We have the cold as well! Mainly it's a horrible
cough but he's still insisting on doing all of his sports activities.

We're actually going away at half term but it's DS's choice - taking them to Wales for some walking in the hills/hot chocolate and bookshops so shoudl
hopefully be low key and give him a mental break.

DS2 is in Year 3 and smashing it so probably also needs some TLC as I think he's feeling a bit neglected/invisible at home...

Hi all, hope all are having a lovely weekend and our children x

May I join? Have my first y7 just settling in now and no experience with this.

Illnesses for the last two weeks here too- Covid I assume though haven’t tested

Welcome @Pisserdansunviolon

Not too much homework this weekend for DD, just maths (that she did at her dad's yesterday) and English to do today.

I've tried bribing her that we'll go shopping for birthday presents for the guinea pigs after her homework is done, but that's not working 🙄

Thank you! Looking forward to catching up on the thread. Not up to much this weekend, all in goblin mode waiting for the lergy to pass. DD is outraged that the homework that’s been set during absence is still expected to be done. Steep learning curve!

Yes i wondered about homework when off ill but having missed learning about the topic in the lesson

Do they post the lesson slides/notes in Google classroom? That's about the only helpful thing I've found amidst the general confusion of Google classroom.

DD2 has got her friends to tell her what homework she needs to do. She's still testing positive but feels fine so am going to ask if the school can set her something tomorrow.

DD1 generally gets her friends to take photos of their books when she's been off ill so she can catch up on her notes. Am going to ask DD2 to do the same but not that many of them have phones.

Well I am still in talks with the school over ironing out issues with epi pens, and a poor quality pe too with the uniform company (they aren't interested) but other than that, son isn't finding it too bad.

He isn't keen on the moving between lessons and the 3 mins to get changed at the end of PE and rushing to next lesson so they don't get penalised...

Ours dont use google classroom unfortunately.
Dd doesnt have much in her books really and maths and eng book havent been coming home (except the day of homework).
I dont remember ever copying out notes for classes i missed but i was rarely ill.
Dd doesnt take her phone in but they used them in geography so she had to sit with another kid.

All these apps for school are doing my head in.

We have school gateway for messages. Latest one about school photos, they will not be taken unless they have parent's consent. There is no link to give consent. Add that to my mental load to phone school tomorrow morning.

Flu nasal spray messages on school gateway: initially give your consent. Online form completed ✅ Another 2 messages: you have not given consent, if you want your child to have the flu nasal spray you must submit this form. Submitted another two times ✅✅ DD may not get the nasal spray or she may get it 3 times because I've submitted it 3 times.

We have Class charts for info on homework that is set, all set homework should be on class charts. Then google classroom for some of the homework to be uploaded, then some is to be uploaded on class charts. IT homework added to google classroom this afternoon but is not on class charts under DD's homework to complete.

Then Maths sparx, then quizlet for Spanish neither of which are apps. My head is 🤯

We were told at the parents meeting everything is online.
It isnt - already had paper eng and science. But both of those did appear on the homework app. That can take a day or so. But im 'handing it in' when she done it as not clear whether i hand in when shes passed it to teacher?!

We do have quizlet and sparx. They almost stay logged in though. And ive added to favourites.
Dd is fastest at matching up on quizlet for spanish at moment lol.

We have at least two teachers who keep forgetting to post the homework on ClassCharts so I feel obliged to keep checking Google Classroom...

That said I feel like I know more about what DS is learning and how he's performing in 4 weeks at secondary school than in most of primary, so that's a plus.

Friendship dramas here this morning. The friend from primary that DD has walked into school with every day since they started secondary has decided she wants to walk in with someone else. She walked away from DD this morn and joined another girl leaving DD on her own. DD told me to go and she would find someone else to walk in with.

I'm a little late but can I join you? So pleased to have found this thread. DD started secondary a month ago and she is struggling with the long days (an hour longer than primary), finding the right classrooms, organising her stuff etc. She is autistic but in the part of the spectrum that was once aspergers, but she's so exhausted she's fallen asleep twice in lessons even with moving her bedtime back to 7pm! She's also very small and has a heart condition, and her backpack literally weighs just over half what she does so I'm not suprised she's knackered every evening. She's getting herself very emotional and teary at school just trying to keep up. Is anyone else's young person struggling with the pace of it?

Oh @gingeristhenewblack43 that sucks. Kids can be so beastly to each other. Well done your DD for just getting on with it though.

Welcome @VikingsandDragons - I've found this thread such a comfort! It must be so much for your DD, is she getting support at school? Do they have access to lockers or similar? I've been horrified by the weight of DS's bag and the fact they have to carry them to every lesson, when I was a kid it was lockers and bag racks rather than carrying all your stuff around all day! DS is a 5'4 weed so it must be so much for your wee DD especially with her health issues.

DS has definitely been knackered even though overall he's really enjoying it.

Thanks @JassyRadlett - wow, my daughter is 35 cm smaller! She's also only 24kg so just teeny every which way. She does have a locker thankfully, but one of her teachers has taken to staying in her car in the car park until she sees us pull up and then helping her from the car to her locker with this bag, so it's usually only 7-8kg most of the day she has to carry but that's still a signifiant amount to her. She's getting wellbeing support but she's never really needed adjustments for the autism apart from to have ear defenders (she's moved to inner ear ones now) but she just seems to be so tired trying to hold it all together all day.

Vikings - she sounds a lot like mine. But my dd has had big growth spurt and gone from 59th to over 91st centile last yr and now over 5'2.
I dont think mine would wear inner ear defenders. And now a music show this month after school so obviously she doesnt want to do that.
Mine doesnt sleep well usually but has still been asleep when i wake her at 7:30 so having 9h30 sleep.

Hi everyone. Hope everyone is doing ok? My daughter, despite having anxiety is settling in really well in year 7. I hope it continues. Feeling very proud as she's doing a speech tonight at the open evening for year 6 parents.

The major downside is a really disruptive boy in her class. Today he threatened to do a school shooting :( This Was said in class and the teacher heard so I hope it's being dealt with :(

@BeverleyMacker yikes that must have been a bit worrying for the other kids to hear. Hopefully it will get dealt with appropriately by the school!
You must be so proud of her doing a speech.