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?

That’s rubbish @gingeristhenewblack43 ! You would think they would at least have a plan (maybe they do and just aren’t telling parents in case they don’t manage to meet it?). Sorry if you have already said, I’ve forgotten- where is she we going for 2 hours a week if the school is shut - or is it partially open?

Haha I wish I was as chill as your sister

@Walkingbkwrm school is open to Yrs 10 11 12 & 13 but they are only using the areas known to be safe.

Yrs 7 8 & 9 get 2 hours a week in school in the hall which is safe. The rest is online live lessons.

We've been told we'll get an update early this week with a plan for returning to face to face lessons, although it might involve going to other schools in the borough.

@gingeristhenewblack43
Really hope they sort something as thats awful, particularly for y7 with friendships etc.
My youngest started reception in 2020 and i think it affected the parents more as we didnt all meet up etc.

Dd is doing ok. Still not keen due to behaviour of other classmates etc.

Our reports are odd on that they dont show how they actually did just position in yeargroup.
We've got parents eve soon. I think im only going to see maths and science and spanish. Depending if i can get them.
Shes not interested in history or geo. Though will have to do one for gcse.

The maths has moved on fast from y6 stuff and there are at leasf 3 kids who've moved down sets already.
I think this is because sats practise during y6 and few new topics. So the ones to pick things up quickly are doing ok. But those may not be the most accurate kids so it will switch around later on

🤞The update brings good news @gingeristhenewblack43

Our reports are odd on that they dont show how they actually did just position in yeargroup

See, ours show scores, but dont say the position. And I've no idea what the score is out of. I'd much rather be told "dd is in the top/bottom 10%, top/bottom 25% etc"

Ours use the primary school grading scheme in KS3 which I was a bit iffy about but actually really like in practice - so there are the three main bands of Working Towards, Working At and Greater Depth and then -, = and + within each so there are 9 grades altogether. They're also super clear on the expectations for each grading so the kids know what they need to do to get a certain level.

That said report cards were due today (this is our second one) ahead of our first parents evening on Thursday but it hasn't arrived despite much refreshing of my email, so no idea how he's doing apart from his self-assessment of "pretty good really".

Our recent Y7 report card gave an attainment score of 5 (highest) to 1 (lowest) in each subject other than PSHE together with an effort grade of Excellent, Very Good etc (again 5 categories) in each subject - this time including PSHE.

The attainment scale stretches each year so that in Y8 the top attainers will get a 6, in Y9 a 7, and so on, so that by Y11 it maps onto the 9-1 scale for GCSEs.

Oh that's a super interesting way to do it!

Ours also include effort and homework grades.

Just got DS's and he's (mostly) smashed it, improvement on term 1 and effort grades also good. He's very grumpy because I made him revise properly for his science exam and he did really well, compared to a lacklustre result last term. He feels very resentful that revision works.

DD1 who is at a grammar school has the same @Marisquita.

DD2 has a variation on the KS2 scale- they seem to have extending, advancing, on track and developing. Then within each subject, they get a mark from 1 to 4 for engagement in class, quality & completion of classwork, and quality and completion of homework.

We just got their reports for the spring and have parents evening tomorrow. DD2 is doing well in everything except for Maths where she's in set 1 but I think would be far happier in set 2. I'm not sure whether to raise it at parent's evening or just wait and see what happens. The set 1 teacher gives them all detention if they get less than 45/50 which just seems a bit harsh!

At DS school they have achievement grades which run outstanding, very good, good, satisfactory and cause for concern and approach to learning grades 1-4.
Last term DS got very good or good for achievement on all but maths (cause for concern - oh dear) and mostly 1s which is the best on approach to learning.
We need to work out how to help him in maths. He’s been going to his teacher one lunchtime a week for extra help so let’s see what happens this term.
They do seem to do some complex tracking to work out where they might be at GCSE- a few teachers mentioned it at parents evening- but it was beyond me.
There already seems to be some competition among subjects to be chosen for GCSE! They have to do 3 separate science and a modern language so only have 3 true choices really!

There has been development in DD returning to face to face learning. The whole of Yr7 are going to be bussed each day to another secondary school which is about 5-6 miles away. This is going to be the status quo for the rest of the academic year.

At least she will start getting proper face to face teaching again however its still less than ideal. How does she feel about it?

@twistyizzy it is less than ideal but DD can't remain working from home. Her enthusiasm is waining and she misses her friends. She has had friends over for the occasional day to do the home learning together but it's still very isolating.

I think DD has mixed feelings about it. She was due to have a therapy session with the mental health practitioner this morn. It would have been an ideal opportunity to talk about her anxieties, but the appt got cancelled.

I only booked parents eve to see science, spanish and maths teachers

Feel like i should have seen at least English too.
Not sure how much can be said in 5 min

We have Parents Evening next week but the kids book the appointments!

I've told DS that the main ones I want to see are English, Maths, Science and his for tutor but if he manages to get those or decided for others I'm a bit worried.

I'm struggling a little bit with the lack of control over the process!

The online system got stuck on the maths and i had to log back in.
But overall it took only minutes.
i expect kids asking after lessons delays everything a bit.

That sounds a bit chaotic if they are leaving it up to the kids to book! We have 2 x online tutor meetings and 2 x face to face parents evenings per year. The online ones are booked via a link so you choose your time slot bit the face to face you just turn up and queue. The one in December was remarkably civilised and we never had to wait more than a few minutes per teacher however they only have 60 in the year group so that makes it quicker.

It's a 210 pan so I think it would be chaotic however they decided to do it. We only have one meeting a year and two reports.

It is a big change from the one form Primary school we are used to!

Final week of term and going into a 3 week holiday. She is exhausted again and a whole school concert that went on 9pm last week didn't help!
Looking to book her and her friend group a week away at PGL summer camp to try and break up the 9 week summer hols. I'm so happy she feels secure enough in her friendships to even contemplate that.

We had an app and you just tick boxed the ones you want to see and it autobooked and generated a timetable for you and then sent it to your email. Didn't make some staff stick to time but was pretty efficient.

As for the 9pm concert finish - DD1 has her school musical for the next four nights (I'm really proud of her for auditioning and sticking it out as a new y7)... 9.30 pick ups for the rest of the week - she's going to be foul for the weekend!

DD2's joining her sister at the same school next year as well now. DD1 is not impressed at the idea!

DS getting appointments turned out well(although apparently some children struggled). We have just come back from the evening and it all worked really well and DS got glowing reports from all his teachers which was lovely.

That's brilliant, well done to your DS. Nice way to end the term 😊

DS had parents eve a couple of weeks ago. Online virtual 5 min slots. Booking system not too stressful, managed to see 7 Subject teachers. (At DDs school it's a complete free for all with the kids attempting to book appointments, we only got to see 3! Upside was they were face to face I guess.) Was pleasantly surprised by how good it was actually, and with the possible exception of 1, was also pleasantly surprised by how many of the teachers really seemed to 'get' DS, and like his sense of humour and appreciate him as a person. It is something I'd worried about in secondary.

Proud mummy moment here. DS terms report was great, including a “good” for maths after “cause for concern” before Christmas and 3 “outstanding” grades for biology, chemistry and geography. So proud for his hard work and motivation. Long may it continue.