Is there a Y7 2024-25 support thread?

[Eastie77Returns]

I’ve been following the 2023-24 one as DD starts secondary school this year so was interested to read about the experiences of pupils who started last September. I’m ancient and things have changed so much since I was at Secondary school. I’m already struggling to keep up with the e-mails and flood of information from her new school and the new term hasn’t even started yet!

Next week she is attending a week long summer school / transition week which I thought was a really good idea to help her get settled ahead of September but she is complaining she doesn’t want to go and it’s unfair she has to spend part of her summer holiday in school (which is fair enough). She has already spent a day at the school and came home overwhelmed saying the buildings are too big, she felt lost and lunch was rushed. On the other hand she really enjoyed the taster lessons and as she likes structure she was excited about having a timetable of different classes.

I’m sensing the months ahead might be a bit tricky and DD is my oldest so the first to attend Secondary and I’m really not sure what to expect!

I am a little bit worried about her coming home from school on her own. She will have to catch a little Hoppa bus that doesn’t really stop at designated bus stops but seems to let people off at random spots. When we did a dummy run the other day DD got off and walked across the road without looking properly - if a car was coming at that moment she would have been sent flying (and they drive at speed along this particular road, it’s like a country lane with a bend). The other issue is there are only 2 an hour in the morning so DD has to get one bus at a specific time or she will be late. I know this is the norm for lots of kids but we’ve moved here from a busy part of London where there are a dozen buses an hour and I think she’ll struggle to be on time. Her old primary school is a 60 second walk from our front door so it’s going to be a bit of a learning curve!

Yes similar to us we’re a 5 minute walk right now. My DS is awful with road crossing, he told me yesterday when he wasn’t paying attention that ‘he pays more attention when he’s on his own’ 🙄

Lol although hopefully that is actually true? Perhaps when we are not around they are forced to be more observant. We can only hope!

DD’s school has sent details of the app we need to download to make payments etc. She was very disappointed to learn I can also use it to track what she is buying at break and lunch. She is literally addicted to sugary crap (I do have to take responsibility for this as her parent) and I was a bit shocked at the amount of junk available on the school menu they sent to parents.

Joining in here, in theory it should be relatively straightforward, most of his friends from primary are going and he already knows he is in the same form as his best mate so that’s a good start. Primary is almost next door to school, he’ll be taking the bus from 7 minute walk away. Just had to sort a bus pass this week which I was a bit late organising.

He seems remarkably relaxed about the whole thing. He’s not one to show his emotions but is actually quite emotional behind the curtains if that makes sense. I worry the transition is going to hit him very suddenly. Also he’s an August kid, academically fine but always seems quite young compared to his peers. Us mums do worry!

DD is also Summer born. There was almost a year between her and some of the September born kids in her class. She was also fine academically but physically one of the smallest in her class. She looked tiny in her new blazer when we went uniform shopping. She has also been quite blasé about the move. Her main concern is getting lost in the various school buildings. There are 3 and it seems huge even to me.

They have...but used an EHCP from 2020 to consult with. Unsurprisingly it does not represent her needs at all.

2 days of transition summer school have gone really well. DS says he had a good time. On Monday I walked 50m behind him and he managed crossing all the busy roads himself. Today he managed to walk to and from school himself and let himself into the house as my husband and I were both out. We are all feeling more positive than after the transition day last month.

Dts are going into y9 now but they had a week of 'summer school'. It wasn't school it was enrichment and familiarisation with the school, their form rooms etc. they really enjoyed it and made friends that are still in their core group. No one from their school was going up with them.

It also gave them the opportunity to practice the bus route and not be in a flap on their first days.

Just joining in. Ds4 is off to secondary school this September. He has learning disabilities but he is very confident and so excited. He's going to be in the same tutor group as his best friend.

Right. I have officially labelled everything I can think of, barring socks.

Previous Y7 (Ds1) losses have included:
•Raincoat (came back several weeks later after I'd replaced it)
•PE shorts (never seen again)
•Trainers (found one some time later but his feet had grown anyway)
•Calculator #1 (screen broke)
•Calculator #2 (left in maths, never seen again)
•Wallet with bus pass (left on sodding bus, returned to school by kind driver, handed to him later that day, hadn't realised he'd not had it...)
•Whole pe kit (left on bus etc etc. Recurring theme here) was returned intact.
•Big coat mid-January when he really needed it waiting for the bus. (left in class, not seen for some weeks, replaced grudgingly, returned mysteriously in the bottom of his bag one day in March, denied all knowledge )
•Calculator #3 (advised he would need to buy his own in future. £11 a time, I'm done with it.)
•Many pencils (expected of course). "why so many pencils going missing Ds1?"
"Billy ate them 😊"
Billy had, in fact, eaten them. Proof in their class WhatsApp. They all thought it was funny.

This is a grammar school.
Idiocy is endemic in teenagers.
Label it all.
It will all go missing anyway.

This is terrifying

Glad they enjoyed the week. DD had a couple of mock lessons during her week but most of it seems to have been arts, crafts and games. It now seems there was no familiarisation with the school layout..she says they were not really shown around and she still has no idea how to navigate the 3 huge buildings that make up the school😅

I assume your Dts will not be in the same form class? I have a friend with twins and they were in the same class at one point which was not great (they don't get on!).

@Eastie77Returns Ds2 is much more on the ball so hopefully we won't be going through that much loss this time round.

I've found the folder of summer work they were given which hasn't been touched. I think that's next week's plan. Transition for us seems such a long time ago now.

Ds2 has been on the bus all summer with his big brother so I'm confident about that. I'm driving him in first day so he can meet his mates and they all walk in together as I know he's apprehensive about that.

I have bought the last items: shoes, the blasted Drama socks with gripped soles and a very specific Scientific calculator. There was something on uniform list about skirts and that they have to be Kilts. I’ve bought pleated ones and that will have to do!

Arrrggghhh

Everytime i think we are ready we think of something else we need.

We have...
Logoed uniform
Pe kit (generic and logoed)
Trainers and school shoes
Pe bag and school bag
Enough stationery to open a branch of wh Smith
Blouses, socks and school trousers
Calculator and maths equipment
Coat
Lunch bag and drinks bottle

I do need a door key still.

What might I have forgotten?
DD1 is only Yr9 and has been very helpful

@TickingAlongNicely I think you've got everything.

We are struggling to find trainers because d's needs support round his ankles. And I still haven't got pe socks or new name labels. I've got everything else though. Ds's hospital appointment on the 2nd day back has been cancelled because the dr is ill. Tbh I'm quite relieved and so is ds. I felt like we shouldn't cancel but I didn't want ds to have to miss a day at this stage when he isn't ill.

Door key! Knew I’d forgotten something.

I will now attending a work meeting on DD’s first day so won’t be home when she finishes school. I’m wondering if I should reschedule the meeting. I had planned to pick her up from school on that first day - or is that not the done thing??

@Eastie77Returns I think that depends on school. We live within walking distance so it would definitely be social suicide for DD! But others need to be picked up by car. Its only Yr7 and Yr11 on the first day... but DD2 has asked DD1 to walk part way with her on that day.

Yeah I think it’s Y7 and Y11 on DD’s first day as well. She definitely wants me to take her in. The school is a 20 min walk or short bus ride.

I ordered DD’s blouses, skirts, socks and tights from Tu online last week with a click and collect delivery date of Aug 26th. It hasn’t turned up yet and the order update now inexplicably says it will arrive by Sept 5th, two after DD starts school😐. First time I’ve shopped with them as I usually get uniform essentials Asda and they are always reliable. Lesson learned!

Hi! Thanks for starting a thread.

DS starts in Y7 next week in one of the Bexley grammars. He's so excited. He was pretty overwhelmed by the induction day but he did 3 days of summer camp in July and is there today and tomorrow too. Has made some friends in his form group as well as wider year and got the bus home one day in July and today.

Need to get on the labelling of uniform but I think we have everything now. School also ask that initials are embroidered onto sports/PE items but shop we bought them in do it for free, so picked those up this morning too.

Big times ahead!

@historyrepeatz we were on a few 11+ threads together (some I used this name and some I used a different one). Where did your DS decide in the end? We went with his heart, so Beth's.

At our dc school you can pick them up and drop them off in the car at the drop off point/preschool car park just to the side of the main entrance. Lots of parents do that. If you want to walk them into the building or park in the school car park then you need special permission from the head teacher. This is mostly used by children who have autism, mobility issues or who are likely to wander off.

If there is a parents of the secondary school facebook group, they are usually really good at answering questions from nervous mums of year 7's. Ours usually has lots of questions about how to do drop offs, pick up and parents evening without embarrassing your child.

It's like primary school run parking mayhem on crack outside the secondary they'll both be at from next week (hurrah - no more double-school runs)... it's seriously a jaw dropping festival of stupidity!

If all goes to plan they'll probably both decide to walk across the back end of the school site and get picked up at the local park which has a sensible car parking area at least rather than the school gate clusterfuck.

We went and got trainers and school shoes the other day so everything's sorted and ready for DD2 to lose it all. It's all named so the learning support staff will hopefully help make sure it finds its way back to DD2 for future abandonment. I can beat everything previously forgotten - DD2 has managed in the past to leave school without shoes on, and to go to school without a skirt one morning.

Sod the not embarrassing - I live to wind DD1 up about embarrassing her by virtue of existing!

There is extremely limited parking outside DD’s school. No car park to speak off and the school is on a residential road where residents have ‘NO PARKING’ signs next to their driveways which is understandable as it must be horrendous with cars blocking their exits etc. I will take her in on the first day and maybe just walk up to discreetly meet her at the end of the first day. If she doesn’t want to go home with me I can always scuttle away😭

The TU clothes turned up so DD will be trying on her complete uniform today and hopefully everything fits. I went to pick up something from the uniform shop that I ordered online and there was a queue of about 100 parents. Thank god I was organised for once this year!