State primary - joining Independent in Y7 - Will she be behind?

[Devicey]

Our daughter starts at an independent school in September and is hugely excited. She's worked so hard to get in and is very academic.

She'll be doing 2 modern languages and Latin.

I'm just wondering - do prep school children learn languages at prep?

I went to a state grammar so pretty much everyone in my class was a total beginner other than the basic holiday stuff which is very much how our daughter is.

Not sure if she's going to be the only child whose French stops with Bonjour/Merci etc.

This is very true also. There will be such a wide range of things she can get into and discover that she will find her talent. We gave discovered the extra curricular activities mind blowing and DD is thoroughly enjoying throwing herself in and exploring new options. The academic stuff is almost incidental in Yr 7 as the teachers are ensuring all the kids are on a pretty much level playing field.

Some students from prep schools already had a good level of French or Spanish, the school teacher would adjust the class sets to ensure that everyone progressed according to their abilities.

Thanks all.

They've had a Spanish teacher come in once a week but from DDs accounts the time is spent telling off the naughty kids and threatening punishments.

I'm yet to see any proof that she's learned much Spanish beyond what we use on holiday.

That sounds exactly like DD's French lessons in her primary. It was apparently total chaos.

Thanks. I need to get my head around the differences.

I've sort of learnt not to 'bother' DDs primary unless it's urgent stuff as they're too pressed with much more urgent issues for me to worry that she hates PE.

You're right. Once we're closer to September and in touch with her teachers I'll drop them some emails.

Madness that we'll even be able to contact the teachers. DDs school only has 'office@' as a contact option.

They’ll almost certainly get in touch with you towards the end of the Summer term. But certainly, for any intended catching up you need to be in touch before the long holiday.

It probably is different to state school. My recent experience is with boarding - where you could call the house staff night or day and they always tried to respond pretty much immediately. Don’t think we ever really needed to call teaching staff - because there were so many opportunities to speak to them in person at any of the countless gatherings that occurred, or when picking up / dropping off. But certainly emails were answered generally within a couple of hours.

I wouldn't get stressed about it. My three older children went to independent from state at yr 7. My eldest ended up in the first team for rugby , My daughter was in the orchestra and my younger son was chess champion. My 4th is the only one to have gone through prep since 4 and I can see the difference but in terms of languages he did french and spanish but he isnt great. his strength is maths! Really doesnt matter

Honestly I wouldn't. Teachers at Yr 7 private schools are very used to helping state school kids catch up where needed. Remember the smaller class sizes and (most probably) more regular homework both help to narrow the gap. By the end of the first half term there will be no noticeable difference. Yr 7 is all about the transition from primary to secondary, once kids feel happy and settled then they can start learning.

DD's primary got as far as counting to twenty, some colours and a couple of animals... They may have also taught them key words such as 'brie' and 'croissant'.

She's doing two languages and Latin at her selective school. Most of the other kids had learnt French before but she caught up very quickly. It has been a non-issue. She's enjoying it and doing well.

Wow - I didn’t even think to be worried about this. Just assumed it was fine since she got an offer she could cope with the level of work! Thanks for the responses from those who experienced it, still might consider getting the duolingo out over the summer 😂

Wondering if anyone can provide any advice on friendship groups and settling in for state pupils. I am a bit worried about DD going to selective independent where there is a large number from the school’s own primary and then other preps. She is the only one with an offer from her state primary and at the offer event it was clear that local state pupils seemed to be the only one from their school, whereas there were quite large groups from certain preps. It could be quite daunting if everyone seems to know each other…

Both State, but my dd went from a Primary which taught Spanish into a Secondary which taught French. She's picked it up no problem.

@minimiffy DD was the only one from her state primary to go to private. She knew 1 other girl through Pony Club who also going so they clung together the first few days but by the end of the week DD was finding other friends. The school has a house system so sensibly splits up the preppies and new Yr 7 entries. The preppues were (are still to some extent) a bit cliquey but it is waning as time goes on. By the end of the first month DD had found a little group of 4 other newbies and they have now formed a really strong friendship group.
Honestly the schools are very used to this process and how to manage it, trust them. The first week was really just an orienteering week with lots of team building exercises/games etc designed specifically to help them meet as many people as possible.
It also helps that there are year group House common rooms too so they have somewhere to all chill out and talk to.
I was so anxious about it all so fully understand where you are coming from. The first 2 weeks I doubted our decision but now I know it was the best possible option for DD.

The school is not going to want to drag down their GCSE and A level averages by taking in state primary kids who are not capable of keeping up. Yes year 7 the ex prep school kids might be better at MFL but by Easter I expect that some of the prep school kids who were dragged over the pass mark by excessive tutoring are probably being to show their true ability level. By the end of year 7 I doubt it will show who was previously educated.

Thank you @twistyizzy - that is great to hear, and would love my DD to find the same strong friendship group. Coming from the state system, I don't think I really thought about potential cliques from preps until I saw all the children in same uniform on the offer holder day. I just thought it would be more like grammar where there was one from each school.

There are cliques at any school I think but naturally the preppies stick together at first. Honestly though friendship groups seem to be fairly fluid. She will figure it out I'm sure and by Christmas the gap between prep Vs state had practically disappeared

It’s true that whether you already know other children or not makes no difference once you’re in the new school - but preparing for entry can be a lot of fun if you’re doing it with your little schoolmates.

Several years ago I recall such a crowd of pupils from ‘our’ prep (including our child) turned up for the pre-test to Big Famous Public School that there were mutterings from other parents. Presumably because they feared their own children might be intimidated by a giggling gang of tweedily clad 10 year olds.

Of course, once child arrived at the new school they made completely new friends and barely had time to nod at their old chums when they passed them in a corridor.

(50 odd years ago I moved from a state to an independent school at the same time as one other girl from my old school. I’m not sure I spoke to her more than twice for the rest of our school careers.)

We went from and Good village state to indie and she was actually ahead of a lot of the prep for Maths (some were still struggling with tables) - so I wouldn't worry too much. It seemed that school did end up with a lot who didn't pass the KT, so if you are in a grammar area she may have less to worry about.