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?

I've got another coming along later who will almost certainly go to the same school but he'll be starting Y7 when DS1 starts Year 11 so I'm expecting that year to be a whole other level of stress. I think I'll be more chilled next time around but DS2 is generally a less chilled person - I've honestly been amazed how well DS1 has taken it in his stride. He's a totally different personality, I think Y6 and over the summer there was a combo of boredom with the school curriculum and stress around the idea of secondary school. He's now loving his lessons and feeling challenged and interested and secondary wasn't as terrifying as he thought, and he's just all around a nicer and more thoughtful person to be around.

I don't think I'll get this lucky twice though!

Yes i was thinking that. Its a while yet as mine have same gap as Jassy so will have dd going into y11. My dc2 is quite sebsitive so would be upset by the bulkying dd1 is getting.
The downsides have been aside from the bullying some worse behaviour than i expected - from her class its actually the girls being sent to behaviour unit.
I also think i would find y6 more steessful now knowing how competitive the top sets are but in reality the focus is likely to be on dd being y10 then.

I have a similar gap but already know that DD won't go to DS's school as it's an all boys school. She also has SEN which means all the options are a bit rubbish for her so definitely won't be more chilled!

We are having issues re dd sen. Just now looking at her geography classwork. she had ignored the box containing the labels to put on the map. So there was basildon (london) luton (london) newport (cardiff) leeds (englanð). So would all be wrong as not the 'correct' answer.
Theres a large amount of gaps and unfinished work (but that could be the case for the whole class).
On one of the maps she was crossing out used ones but luton wasnt listed but she still put that..
I think she would benefit from classwork being marked by the teacher. It doesnt even look like they are marking themself or swopping.

There were some tricky q on time zones. (Intro part from teacher was wrong which isnt great). But dd had the answers right for the questions. Some q require knowlesge of where countries were even if the q was about something slightly diff.

DD doesn't break up until 2pm on Friday. We are ready for the rest. Hopefully there will not be too much homework set over the hols as it's been relentless.

The first term has been so much more difficult than I anticipated. But on a positive note: last week DD got through the full week without crying before / after school, before bed time, and no retching.

We had parent's eve last week and every single teacher sang DD's praises for behaviour, but also commented on her shyness.

ExH and I completed our part for the CAHMS / ASD referral and submitted it to school for them to do their bit.

Last day of term for us today and I can't wait, DS is exhausted. He has had a positive term though I think. 1st weeks were horrendous, transition is so so hard for autistic kids. However, it has slowly got better, he has made friends, both his form teacher and the SENCO have been very engaged. Not all the teachers 'get' him, but a decent amount do which is honestly more than I'd hoped for and the SENCO is being proactive in talking to the others (I get the impression sen provision was quite poor before she came there and she is young, enthusiastic and on a mission!) He joined a lunch club, performed with his class (1st time he's done anything like that in years!) Honestly couldn't be prouder of him right now but my goodness he's tired!

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz I'd like to tell you it gets easier with 2nd child bit that probably depends on your situation. DS is my second at secondary, I knew he wouldn't go to the same school as his sister as she is at an all girls grammar. I was super stressed fro him though as the ASD adds a whole new dimension. I have one more to go and if anything I'm finding the thoughts even more stressful as there's an added incentive to get him to the same school as his brother as I'm really not wanting 3 in 3 different secondary schools!

Finished - yay!
Shes been watching films at school all week which has surprised me. Only maths and art over holidays. Though she tells me engkish too, but thats not on the app.
No xmas cards, though she didnt do any either.

Ours finally broke up yesterday. Both girls completely exhausted, so going to leave them sleep when I go to work.
I'm so pleased with how dd2 first term has gone. She's doing well in most classes, has joined 2 after school clubs and has made a really nice group of friends. This was my main concern for her as she moved to a school away from her primary school friends.

They had a half day yesterday and she walked into town with her new friends for lunch and a mooch around the shops.
She's settled so much better than dd1 did. They both have some homework/coursework to do over the holidays but will let them enjoy the first week before stressing at them.
I hope the next couple of days pass quickly for the ones not finished yet x

We finally made it to the end of term. DD broke up at 2pm today, she said they had just sat around chatting and playing bingo in each lesson.

Only one piece of homework for the hols 🙌🏻

Back ro all the tests. Got science on friday.
she seems to have been unlucky and had some tougher topics

happy for a day or so as school were going to move some tricky kids ro another tutor group but that may not happen now. The kids seem to be getting even worse after xmas

@Busornobus67 sorry to hear the behaviour is getting worse. I suppose they are starting to feel more settled and confident now to push boundaries?
Hopefully they will start setting soon

A few movements of kids in sets for English and maths but DD has stayed in her sets which she is happy with
She has signed up to the school musical so auditions next week as well as choir practice and they have a week's workshop with a chamber choir next week. I think she is finding a newly found love of singing which has shocked us all.
Whole school concert at end of term plus some assessments this term.
Friendship groups seems settled and they met up a couple of times over Christmas holidays. Mean girls seem to be getting meaner but DD is still avoiding/ignoring.

Yes mean girks getting meaner here too.
the girls did move tutor group. But now shes got a boy from primary squirting his water bottle in her face and girls saying they dont want her sat with them. She sat on the floor today in class!
with the asd though she wouldnt listen to me saying she needs to ignore and just sit as giving in will escalate it and the whoke class will start
i never expected issues with the whoke ckass. I mean she wasbt popular in primary but i dont think disliked.
I dont think its the teachers fault but seems a culture
the school does have much higher sen than previously like 7 ehcp. Plus obviously kids like dd on pathways to diagnosi. The school isnt coping though as kids going to the behaviour unit hasnt stopped them.
if the moved kids cope in the other class then its a dc tutor group issue or her teachers.
tbh i find this woth my kids they bounce off each other and then its fire fighting.

How did reports go?

dc was given scaled scores.
everything 50th or above.
b ut surprised about spanish as was certain would be top 10%... Coame out as,top33%
And yet was getting 100% on the tests.

@Busornobus67 how is your DD getting on now? Have things settled for her?

Finally half term here for us although DD has been home learning for the last 2 weeks as the school has closed due to concerns over concrete in the roof. Apparently it's not the RAAC stuff that was all over the news in Aug / Sept.

Had an email yesterday to say the home learning will continue after half term with no information on what the long term plan is to deal with this.

DD went into school for 2 hours on Weds to sit in a hall with 3 other form groups.

In other news her counselling has started. It was supposed to be taking place in school given her anxieties are about school. The mental health practitioner is unsure how beneficial it's going to be given DD is not at school at the mo.

We also had an initial CAHMS assessment and got immediately discharged with a 'see how the counselling goes and re refer in the future if you still have concerns'.

Year 7 seems to really reveal strengths and weaknesses.
DS is generally doing well, above average in most but he’s really struggling in maths. In primary he was never brilliant at maths but always did ok, whereas now he’s getting cause for concern grades.
School have done some tests for dyscalculia as he has dyspraxia/ dysgraphia and they are borderline. Apparently below 85 is an indication and he got 83 and 87 on the 2 tests they did.
Anyone have any experience of this?
He can go to his teacher at lunchtime any day for help and they run maths club also, which he’s dipping in and out of. I’ll get him a tutor for GCSE but school advise not yet.

I can't believe we are halfway through Yr 7 and only 18 weeks until they break up for summer! 4 weeks to go until Easter so this term will fly by.
Hope all your DC are finding their feet and tribes. After all the angst of that first half term things seemed to be working well for DD so fingers crossed for the rear of Yr 7 to go as smoothly before hormones start hitting everyone in Yr 8.

Oh I was just thinking about this thread this morning and wanted to check in at the half way mark.

Dd seems really settled into the routines of the school. She's tweaked which school buses she gets so that she's travelling with friends now, even though she then has to do a longer walk at home time

Homework is super small, biteseize pieces, maybe 4 a week max. By the end of each half term she is much more tired than at Primary, and I think part of it is the movement - she regularly clocks up 6k steps just during school hours from all the movement between classes, and that doesn't include PE.

One set of annual exams done - not sure if they also sit end of year exams too we will see. First report fine - at expected levels for subjects, but at this point I'm more bothered about behaviour and engagement which is good.

No trips yet - I'd like for them to do something connected to a subject outside of school at some point. Their school did do a whole year group hike on a nature trail that runs past the grounds which sounded fun.

Got about 18 months til we have to so the viewings of schools again for dc2 - dds school doesn't have a sibling link and it was a miracle she got in, so need to see what other options suit dc2 just in case.

Pleased to hear many DC are starting to find their feet now!
DS just had his spring report card - generally pretty good, though the expected comments about focus / completing class work… I definitely need to spend some more focused time with him each afternoon consolidating what he has done and making sure he hasn’t missed anything. It’s just so hard to fit everything in though!
He’s now walking to the bus stop with a friend two days a week and making his own way home, which is good to have him gaining some independence. He’s only once got on the wrong bus so far 🤦🏻‍♀️ but it wasn’t the end of the world.
He seems to have found a couple of nice buddies.

Glad things are going well for people. Nice to maybe have the thread back :).
Here DC2 had a disappointing English report so I am getting him to do a bit at home in the evenings - just 15 min but hopefully it will help a bit - like @HalfasleepChrisintheMorning think secondary has hightailed problems as it’s never been his favourite thing but he was doing ok in primary. Re discalculia - they don’t test for it here so can’t advise on the test but my eldest (currently in yr9) has ASD “with associated maths difficulties” (possibly the same or a similar thing?) and his maths ability is weird- he’s fine on most concepts but terrible at basic arithmetic- also proportions and number lines. I wish I had good advice but haven’t found anything that really helps except lots of practice he really really doesn’t want to do…..
Everything else was fine. He’s even gone to a club (just once so far but hopefully he’ll go back on Thursday). He’s not enjoying school a lot overall though which makes me sad.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz nice to hear from you and pleased that everything is going well.
I'm reading some of the Offers Day posts and remembering the anxiety I felt, seems a lifetime away now.

Same! A few friends have dc the year below my eldest and they've all been on pins the last few weeks. Strangely, everyone I know has got their second choice.

I ventured into some of the locals school posts, that panic of not getting first choice at the start of the day followed a few calls and either on the wait list or managed to get the school they wanted. Glad I have a few years to forget about offer day before the last DC goes through it all.

My DSis completely forgot about offers day until I text her to ask if DN had got his first choice. He had!

DD still not back to school. She's going in for 2 hours per week. No news on when the school will reopen or what the long term plans are 🤯