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?

We have a sleepover in progress which seems to involve watching increasingly terrible livestreams of the TS concert and screeching a lot.

I feel your pain

DS has been performatively denouncing TS but his music history tells a different story... 😂

Some of you seem to break up much earlier than us - we still have 5 1/2 weeks to go and they haven’t done any end of year exams yet (they start next week). Not much revision being done at all here despite my urging/ offers of help but he has picked up a couple of new friends (finally!).
No TS interest here though.
@gingeristhenewblack43 how is the school coming along - 🤞they have a good solution for next year at least.

We still have 6 weeks left of term here too. End of year assessments this week and next week to be graded for sets for year 8 in English, Maths and Science.
Overall I'm pleased with how well Dd has settled and coped with the big changes in homework, travelling, new friendships etc

5 weeks plus here too.
Sadly for dd only maths set next year still. I think she would benefit from sets in language and science.

She really struggling with groupwork in performing etc. They get left to to organise things but she doesnt talk to the others

I know setting can be contentious but it really helped DD settle quickly at school. This year they just set in maths/English but for Yr 8 they additionally set for Humanities (Classics/Latin, History and Geography). Yr 9 they set for science.
I personally don't feel that mixed ability classes work well but I'm aware that many people do.

3 weeks of term left here. Very long summer to fill and no holiday because my Dad’s on palliative care.
DS school don’t set until year 9 and then only for maths. It’s a selective school though so no low ability cohort. He would probably benefit from setting for maths next year TBH as he’s one of the weaker ones. To be with others of the same ability might help. Anyway he’s agreed to a maths tutor for his GCSE years.

Had report through. It was ok, she can improve, but is say in top 1/3 for modt things however that isnt great.
I looked in her books as obviously we dont see the tests its all based on. Her books are awful! Just pages of stàrter answers - no questions. In science i cant tell which topic she is on!

Any worksheets dd hasnt
completed all of
ticked
corrected

still geting bullied

Honestly at end of Yr 7 I would be pleased with top 1/3 as they have another 2 years before they start GCSEs..
Have the school addressed the bullying?

Sorry to hear about bullying. A few years ago with older DD we had an awful time trying to get her school to do anything about persistent bullying. They seemed to think that the answer was to get the bullies and the bullied together in a room with a jug of orange squash and leave them to have a nice chat to smooth things over.

Lockdown then intervened and we didn’t send DD back to that school afterwards. She’s had a great experience at her subsequent school.

Back to Y7. DS (not to be outdone by his sister doing her GCSEs) has announced that he “aced” his end-of-year exams and is “definitely the top boy”. (There is a girl who is the undisputed cleverest in the year group). DS has a tendency to cockiness, so we have congratulated him on his efforts but will reserve judgment on the outcome until his report materialises!

Well done to all our Y7s. Haven’t they come on a long way since this time last year?

I’m sorry about the bullying @Busornobus67.
We’d do anything to protect them so it’s horrible when you can’t.

Sports Day, winning the Yr 7 History + Classics awards and a meal out with new friends + Mums means that's a wrap for Yr 7 and 9 weeks of Summer to fill!

Can't wait to see what Yr 8 brings.

Thats great twisty!
we havent had sports day yet. Still 2w left.

DS had sports day yesterday (only did shotput!) and end of year choral evensong today.
End of year report also came out today… He hasn’t done too badly - super in the sciences and languages, but really sucking at history (he loves the subject but is awful at answering essay questions) and geography. SEN department have been fab and already done an update of his pupil passport with him for next year.
One week to go! He is running on empty now…

Good luck to all the other Y7s in these final few days!

No sports day here, but not surprised as there isn't the space on site at school.

DS is currently on his way to France with school for the weekend and I'm sure he is going be exhausted by the time the get back.

Thankfully the final week they don't have proper lessons instead have been split into different groups and doing different fun subjects eg Local History, Gaming, Women's Football, making a musical.

Really can't believe that Y7 is finishing, the time really has flown

Last day of year 7 for DS today, I honestly couldn't be prouder of him and how far he's come since the 1st horrendous weeks of struggling to cope with transition. Here's to year 8!

Hooray @ElvenDreamer! What a great feeling to finish the year - well done to your DS

Thats great! We still have about a week left

Mine are now done. Bit of a stagger to the end including oversleeping this morning (oops). DS2 obviously been overtired and on edge for the last week so possibly should have expected it. Luckily no special plans for first week of the holidays so he can chill and get some bounce back.

Anyone else besides @ElvenDreamer done? Congratulations for your DS’s progress this year :).
How was the French trip @Sazzlesw2 ?

Can we keep this thread going next year? If so can we rename it or will we need a new one?

We are done too! DS managed to remember to return everything he needed to today (locker key, books, etc) so that’s a win.

I agree @Walkingbkwrm it would be nice to keep this thread / cohort going. Maybe starting a new Y8 one in August? We are only 6 pages or so off filling this thread, so that probably works well…

Aaand we're out as well. DS has absolutely flourished in secondary school, we've been incredibly lucky in the school which has been brilliant. But I didn't realise how grim he was finding the end of primary school - he's a much nicer person now, works hard enough, makes me the occasional cup of tea.

Well done to all the kids!

Done here too. Half day and DS came home exhausted, but still managed to come with me to pick DD ( who still has a few days to go) up and talk to her teacher ( who used to be his teacher) for half an hour. Bet she loved us!

Would be lovely to do a Yr 8 thread and keep getting updates of them all. This thread was a life saver for my anxiety this year so thank you all 😊

@Walkingbkwrm he was very homesick the first night but I have a feeling that was more to do with the 3am start than anything else. Rest of the trip was fine and he came home full of stories.

DS1 finished today and was exhausted when he got home.

DS2 (Y4) also finished today so we are planning on having a few chilled days before Camp Bestival next week