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?

Amazing, what a lovely way to end the term

Last day of term, I cannot wait to have a couple of weeks off the morning madness of making sure everyone gets to their respective buses on time! 2 terms done, Happy Easter everyone.

Next term is the shortest one for us, 5 weeks then half term followed by 4 weeks and break up for summer so only 2 months left! In no time they will be starting Yr 8.

Do your DC all have end of year exams? DDs are immediately after half term so looks like she will be spending half term revising which is a shame but I suppose it gets them used to the process. At least once the week of exams is over they have lots of trips and outings to help them wind down.

We have booked 4 nights at PGL summer camp for DD + 3 friends over Summer as the friendship group looks pretty tight and it is a long 9 weeks of not seeing each other. Looks like the others will be summering abroad whilst DD slums it at home lol.

@twistyizzy yes DS’s exams are the week following half term too. Now wishing we hadn’t planned to be away the whole week; will have to make an effort to get home as early as poss on the Sunday. He always struggles with transitions it at the start of terms / half terms, so it isn’t ideal for him, but there we go. We start with History and English, so at least those whoppers are out of the way! (And history will likely be his worse if the quality of his homework is anything to go by…)
We are going to spend some time this Easter hols working on revisions techniques and notes.

DS has his exams before half term, and then the Y7 residential after half term. We can’t travel anyway, as his big sister will be doing her GCSEs.

DD's school is still partially closed. We were told that Yr7 would be at the other high school until the end of the academic year. Then got an email last week to say the other secondary need the space back early May. No update or plan announced for what will happen from then.

The recent ofsted inspection report was published on Thursday. The school has gone from outstanding 10 years ago, then down graded to good in the last couple of inspections and has now been rated as inadequate. They will be forced to become an academy as per govt policy. No info given on what this means.

All a bit of a shambles really.

Oh @gingeristhenewblack43 I’m really sorry to hear that! Hopefully this will be the impetus for things to improve - but I appreciate that doesn’t make the here and now any better for your DD, and it must be very stressful for you all.

I'm feeling rather down about my child's school. We tried to choose the school that was the best fit for them but since the start of the school year, 3 of his teachers have left and there have been a lot of substitute teachers. I don't know how the children are supposed to get a good education with so many teachers leaving.

Oh no but sadly that is becoming a more common story across many schools. It is worryingly disruptive for everyone.

Quick question: how do I support DD with end of year exams ie how can I teach her to revise effectively?
No homework being given this term because they have all been told that they should now be revising for end of year exams in 5 weeks.
I have emailed her Tutor but just wondering whether anyone has any effective strategies?
11 subjects to revise for......

I revise by rewriting stuff out. But it will depend how good memory they have.
Science/maths i would go through questions.
maybe first look through her workbooks.

@twistyizzy I’ve been helping DS make some flashcards for science and geography, and some mind maps for history. For Maths I got him the CGP KS3 10 min workout workbooks (they were advised to get the main book for revision, but I thought this would be good for I’ve been helping DS make some flashcards for science and geography, and some mind maps for history. For Maths I got him the CGP KS3 10 min workout workbooks (they were advised to get the main book for revision, but I thought this would be good for dipping in and out of).
We’ve also been going through using class materials on Teams, and BBC Bitesize to fill in any gaps in his class exercise books.
We got given a list of topics that will be covered by each subject in the exam, so that was helpful.

Has your school given them any revision resources? Ours has given a huge amount including tips and advice on different revision styles and techniques, and finding what works for you. They've also given them template revision timetables etc along with subject by subject revision resources and the mark schemes for achieving different grades.

Just a question about school donations here. Our school asks for donations to charities several times a term. Fine with that but what I am struggling with is my dd coming home piling the pressure on saying she's been told she has to bring in 'at least £10' or ' between £10-15. She says the teacher sighs if that amount isn't provided and there is an expectation. I am finding it hard to keep giving such amounts. In primary school no amounts were specified and in fact teachers were very aware of the cost of living and not asking for too much. Is this a high school culture issue or is it just our school?

DD seems to have end of term tests and start of term tests and tests to assess if they need more tests - all very low key and not done as some kind of big "exam" but moving from a primary that wasn't this data driven is a bit of a shock for her!

She's done really well though - the school was definitely the best fit for her despite not being shiny, glossy or outstanding when we made school choices - shiny, glossy and outstanding school is since downgraded by Ofsted and only just scraped a good... DD's school has just retained their solid Good and the new build wheels are in motion. DD2 is following her in September which will be nice as she'll know a lot of the current Y7/future Y8 already (and they'll hopefully stick up for her a bit because I think she'll have a rougher ride as she tends to gravitate to younger kids than her own age group).

Anyone else's kid develop the annoying habit of trying to speak like a London street gangsta by about mid-September this year? DD1 is driving me fucking insane with it.

Ha ha no thankfully, NE England so no London street gangsta here!

DS went all London street gangsta in about Y5. TBF that was the vibe by that point at his “outstanding” primary. Fortunately he has moved on and grown out of it!

I don’t think we’ll be doing a huge amount for Y7 exams as he’s cruising happily with the academic stuff and frankly there’s enough going on with his Y11 sister doing GCSEs. But I might dig out some of the old KS3 revision books, that’s a good idea.

We're in London and no slang has made it home but DS only seems to communicate in grunts or mumbles that it actually hard to know what he is saying!

Exams next month for him, school provided a revision guide for the autumn exams so assume they will get the same this time.

And we are nowhere near London incidentally - Midlands so I have no fucking idea where she's picked it up from.

Between that - and the endless barrage of Taylor Swift songs...

We've got the fun of cookery lessons this term.
proving bit tricky as dd a bit perticular with foods.
so when they did pizza she wouldnt put anything on it. u
She also had some girls pick on her group and take their things so those girls are pissed off with her group for telling on them.
last maths test of the year this week. Havent had time to revise as been away and to a wedding.

Exams done and dusted and now only 4 weeks of Yr 7 left.
Can't believe how quickly is has flown and how much DD has changed.
Really proud of how she has grasped every opportunity and got knuckled down to academic work.
Now just 4 weeks of relative chilling before a loooooong summer break.

Hope all DC have found their feet + tribes. Wonder what Yr 8 will hold 🤔

The TS frenzy has now hit here too 😕

DS is back from a fab school trip to Germany now.
We are so glad the exams are over and so far really proud of how hard DS has worked and how well he’s done. I’m particularly proud of 70% in maths as he was really struggling in maths earlier in the year.
He’s really enjoying rowing this term and has developed a great interest in painting Warhammer miniature figures. He’s also loving Italian club. Great to see him embracing the extracurricular opportunities.
friendships seem to be widening out now, less focus on those he was at junior school with.

Ah, my DS is into Warhammer recently too HalfAsleepChris. It's quite a nice hobby I think.

DS is half way though end of year exams and coping way better than we imagined he might. Hopefully the marks reflect how he thinks they're going! He has some homework to write a letter to one of the new prospective year 7s, can't believe this 1st year is nearly over!

I can't believe they only have 4 more weeks of year 7 before they break up.