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?

Yes let’s stick with it.
They have completely juggled the classes for year 8 so there may be some interesting times to come in year 8. Would appreciate the support

I dont think classes juggled here unfortunately.
dd had big argument with her friend group today where she doesnt even understand what she has done wrong.
and i got a letter saying she will be going into a top set for language BUT it means no IT lessons for y8 or y9 as they learn a second language.

she isnt going to want to do that as its IT and she likes that too.

but i dont understand the consequences as its not phrased as a choice... And it effectively means going into a lower set.
i couod probably teach her the language but that probably wpuld still mean timetaboe issues!
although teaching her the main language would be easier for me than the extra one

We won't know about sets or tutor groups until her first day back sadly. She is very worried that she will be moved down from top set English because she ballsed up the end of year exam, just over confidence in her own ability but a lesson well learned!
I believe Yr 8+9 can be challenging with friendship groups so there could be drama ahead!

That's not good that they have to sacrifice IT for another language! Surely both are important?

Yes i think so and in terms of what she enjoys i imagine it would be
Art
iT
language
Science
Maths, history, geo
Music

She wants to do anomatoon or IT. But i think oanguages are relatively easier for her (she got 120 on sats spag) i cant see her doing maths alevel

That sounds very stressful @Busornobus67 - presumably you can’t get hold of anyone now to ask if her set can be changed until Sept either. I’m guessing they have set it up that way because of a shortage of IT teachers? Fitting it all in the timetable is tricky - DSs’ school have a similar set up with an extra language in yr 8 but they get less PE, Welsh and French to fit it in and that apparently makes both of the latter significantly harder due to the time constraints (DS1 - like DS2- didn’t get put in that set so that’s word of mouth via friends). I guess dropping a subject entirely gets round that issue but it does seem weird that IT isn’t a compulsory part of the curriculum!

Yes IT seems a silly one to pick to drop.
And youre right no reply to email sent 2 days before term end not really surprisingly.
if there are maybe 7 lessons for lepang 1 lang 2 and IT.
I would do
2 IT
3 lang 1
2 lang 2.

i did a lang gcse in 1yr of 2-2.5 hrs a week.

I’m impressed you can remember your timetable. Plus doing it in only 1 year sounds really impressive. I did 2 language GCSE’s at school but can’t remember how long we had a week. DS has 2hrs a week (4 a fortnight) but the top set that do German as well only got 1.5 (3 a fortnight) this year which doesn’t sound like a lot to me tbf. If they have 7 lessons for them all per week that sounds doable in theory - not sure of their rationale then.

Do they have an INSET day or two at the start of term you can ring them on?

Well the Summer hols have flown by!! I took most of my annual leave so I could work half days in order to spend some time with DD. The reality is I have been a cash point and chauffeur.

DD has spent a lot of the hols at the stables volunteering and has not wanted to really do anything with sch friends. She had a weird falling out with her best friend around May / June time and that hasn't resolved.

Back to the school routine for us next Weds. The sch have been taken over by an academy and some very strict uniform rules are being implemented this academic year.

Over the holidays a 2 storey modular building has been built on the field, so at least all pupils will be on site instead of bussed to other schools.

Hope everyone has had a great Summer!

Ah I used to spend all my summer at the stables, happy memories! Sorry to hear about the falling out, think friendships can be rocky at this age.
We are back to school shopping tomorrow then she's back on next Thursday.
Fab summer here and she went away to PGL for 4 nights with her 3 best friends from school.

Great news about your DD @twistyizzy.

We're off to a good start: school have emailed this morning to say the modular building is not ready and yr8 will hopefully return on Thursday instead 🙄

Sorry, that's so frustrating. 1 of DDs friends is at a RAAC school, the whole of Yr 7 was spent in tents and the building is still not ready 😞.
Fingers crossed for Thursday for your DD

Dd2's school offers double languages too for the top third of the year. They get round it by doing it in the same time the rest do a single language + literacy. I'm not sure how Dd2 will cope but she found Spanish very easy this year so hopefully will take to French too. She's a bit disappointed that she's missing out on literacy as they were doing Latin/ancient History in their literacy classes. There offered it as an after school club to the dual language people but she doesn't want to do it enough to sacrifice her free time!

Fallings out here at the end of last term too and her bestie has moved away so I'm not sure how the term will go. She's hoping the classes will be quite mixed up as former friend used to have all the same classes as her. I agree that Y8 can be a tricky year for friendships so good luck to everyone.

@Stokey yes DD does Spanish or German as well as French in Yr 8 and then if she is in top set for Classics she will also do Latin. So ramping up the languages from next week! She wants to be top set as she loves Classics and the teacher but doesn't really like MFL so not sure how that will play out.
I've heard Yr 8 can be tricky so just keeping fingers crossed for all our kids

Oh no! And it sounded so promising too…
Here we have had a good but low key summer but both mine embracing their inner teenager (even if DS2 still 12..) with late starts and incredibly late bedtimes. Really really not looking forward to getting them up at 6:15 next week.
No massive friend fallouts here but there have been a couple of rows over the summer. DS2 and his friends seem quite good at moving past them though so fingers crossed that continues.
We are back on Weds - we have done the shopping to replace all the stationary that has vanished into the ether and outgrown uniform. I’m feeling surprisingly prepped this year!

Oh @gingeristhenewblack43 that is so disappointing 😢

Thanks everyone! It feels like a continuation of last year, school was supposed to be starting afresh in Sept with all pupils back on site and already it's not happening 🤯

I know it seems like an over reaction to be delayed by one day but we had so much misinformation and last minute changes last year, and it feels like we're going down the same path again of what was an incredibly stressful year for both me and DD.

If I get an email about home schooling again next week I will lose my shit.

Ugh, the RAAC saga is just ridiculous, commiserations to anyone affected, so frustrating.

DS goes back on Thusday, I think he's looking forward to it in his own way. He's very pleased to find out he will have 2 of his favourite teachers again, but there are lots of new ones to get to know which he is apprehensive about.

I'm not very organised this year, still need to do the dreaded shoe shop...

Good luck for year 8 everyone!

Ds goes back on Thursday as well and not a moment too soon!

Still waiting for his timetable to be published but this year the classes will be mixed with other forms and they will be set for Maths.

He hasn't seen or really messaged his friends over the summer but I'm putting that down to him being a rubbish communicator on his phone and the fact they all live in a quite wide area so aren't likely to bump into each other in the street.

I'm another who hasn't done shoe shopping yet. DS1 is now taller than me and has size 11 feet... would quite like him to slow down a bit.

We haven't got timetables yet and he's asking every day. Two of his favourite teachers left at the end of last term though which was gutting, so I hope he gets a good bunch this year. I think a lot of his success and enjoyment last year was down to the fact that he had a really brilliant bunch of teachers and he responded so well to them.

Huge commiserations to those kids still being affected by RAAC! It's ridiculous this is still ongoing and it can only add to stress.

Dd doesn't go back until Thursday, although she is getting that Sunday evening feeling, particularly about maths teacher this year.

I’m really surprised so many of you have timetables. My two probably not getting them until they go back on Wednesday. Outside chance they will get loaded to the app tomorrow but not holding my breath tbh.
Here the preschool jitters have definitely started too :(. Hopefully they will be ok when they get into the swing of things but anticipate a stressful week.

DS isn't back until next Monday ( much to the annoyance of his sister who is back today) and so far no timetable or any other information. He doesn't even know who his form tutor is other than it's a new teacher, I'm assuming they might at least tell him which room to go to before Monday.

Our timetables have been on the parent app for a month now. DD1 goes back Wednesday into Y8, with DD2 starting Y7 tomorrow.

I may need a crowbar to remove DD1 from bed before noon.

Checking in for Y8! DS has had a good summer, with a family holiday, a football camp and lots of very chilled time with his best friend hanging out at the local park tennis courts. They have happily played tennis for hours - unbooked courts are made available for free to under-18s - and their level has improved hugely.

Anyway, his Y12 sister has already started term and DS starts on Thursday, though I think the first couple of days are team-building and photos for their passes and choosing enrichment activities. The timetable proper will start next week. He’s been put in a form group with enough of his buddies and has a new local friend joining too.

Wishing a happy and healthy Y8 to all our DC.