Transition to secondary school

[Juliet37]

How much time is reasonable to expect an informal update on how your child is settling into new classrooms with new teachers and subjects in a new school after transition from Primary?

We had our meet the tutor session 2 weeks ago I think it was.

We’ve not had this, I just ask my child how they are getting on and feeling?

If you want an informal update I suggest you phone the school. Schools are very busy have hundreds of children it’s difficult to give informal updates on every child alongside the parents evenings and open events that staff will be doing.

Also ask your child.

You don't really get the kind of information you do at Primary in Secondary.

We had a short report (no comments, just a 1-4 for things like organisation, effort etc) after half-term in Y7, another in the Spring and a long one with comments in the Summer Term followed by parents evening.

I work on the basis that if the App isn't showing detentions and is showing merit marks that is good news, and school will tend to call if there's an issue with something. Otherwise just ask your child how they are getting on.

We had a phone call from Tutor in Week 2 and Parents' evening is next week. Exams are before Christmas and then again in summer term but for now I just look in exercise books + online portal for grades/merits etc.

My child does gives me brief updates. The school have inspectors on Monday and have asked parents to pop up the school to give parent views. To be fair to the school, it's very early in the new year to have inspectors and especially for year 7 parents who only hears a few things from their child 🤔

Once a year at parents .evening, at my kids school it's in March. There are 300 kids per year at his school, it's not like primary they carnt give regular updates. If you don't hear anything count that as a blessing that everything is fine

I don't think I've ever had a transition update! Eldest started in covid and didn't even get a parents' evening, one call from form tutor at end of year instead. Nothing until parents' evening (around Feb/March) for DC2.

I really don't think they expect first time year 7 parents to pop in to talk to inspectors.

Thanks all. Looks like I'll have to like it or lump it with this new, impersonal approach 😅 but fully understand it's a new ball game for all! Another school in our area's parents were given a time slot to meet their child's tutor for feedback or any concerns a parent may have, guess they may have been a minority.

@Juliet37 pre-covid we had a face to face meeting with his form tutor about 2-3 weeks in. Mainly to convey whether they are organised, settled into the routine of getting all their required equipment out in form to be checked, that their homework is being completed and handed in etc. His form time was 30 minutes every day where the teacher checked their planners to see if there were comments or negative behaviour marks etc. It was also a hello from them and meeting us the parents.

This is an outstanding state school, there is a box in the planner you tick to say you want a telephone call home too. That means the form teacher will call you within 48 hours. They also have an email for the year group and you will get a response, again usually a telephone call within 48 hours. Depending on the contents of the email it can be a subject teacher or pastoral.

It is very different to primary where you see the one and only teacher they have for all lessons on the door. If you want to speak to someone, look at your child's planner or welcome email from the school which should detail how to contact them. And then contact them.

I don't know if this will help you but when mine started secondary, they went through their timetable and gave us a brief description of what they did that day, ie maths we did algebra, science we did osmosis, history we did Tudor England etc. We felt that was a great way to expand their knowledge, talk about those topics etc. Our friend is a head of subject in a different school and he said those children that read around a subject (not read specifically but YouTube basically) are the ones who are more successful academically.

@RedBarGap thank you so much for your reply, it's very helpful. I will bear some of these points in mind for a private consultation. I'm biding my time with it being early days, although I'm unsure if the curriculum has been dumbed down because of the lockdowns or if my son has self taught himself too much during his spare time (out of pure interest and love of learning) but he's still not mentally stimulated in school, which is sad, as he thought he was going to learn so much more. Trying to find new interests at home and fingers crossed school will become more encouraging. Thanks again

@Juliet37 it sounds like he has great stimulation outside of school, learning for fun is brilliant. I wish I had had the internet when I was a child instead of trying to find out things in a library.

The way I explained it to my sons was that it might not be interesting but it is necessary. So apply yourself, do the homework to the best of your ability. We had a set time homework slot and if they didn't have homework they had to do something educational. Youtube is an incredible resource for this kind of thing. It could be science, history, geography, they got to pick and they tried to tie it in with what they were studying in school. Then they could do whatever they liked in their free time.

Re dumbing down it depends on the cohort they have taken in. If you have already done this then apologies for this, if not Info on that is on https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Search then put the school in, then click on the Find school or college performance data link. Then on Results by Pupil Characteristic, then Prior Attainment which breaks down their usual intake of low, middle and high attainers.

They are also probably getting the lay of the land at this early stage re abilities in the classrooms. It is mainly not overwhelming children as this is a huge transition for most. Mainly as well that not all learning takes place in a classroom.

Fantastic advice! Many thanks! I feel more positive now with a plan of action 😊 instead of a head full of worry.
Starting with an after-school timetable for homework or to expand on a topic he has in school will encourage him to not be bored in class. I started reading some introductory Shakespeare stories with him before he started secondary school (complete contrast to anything he has been interested in previously). He then enjoyed listening and writing about a couple of Shakespeare stories in class!
Ooh thanks I shall do a search on that link....
Yes, there are plenty of resources for our children to learn from home these days, and after all it's from us at home where their learning began 👍👍

We didn't get anything specific to our kids until the third term, you soon hear if they are being a pain in the bum though 🫣

Check your junk emails! My son's form teacher introduction went there, as did important information for my daughter. We've just had a 'meet the form teacher' slot and it was sent out maybe a week ahead of the actual event!