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!

DDs school...
Blue/Black... writing etc
Green.. peer marking
Purple.... self marking
Red... teacher

The highlighters, colouring pencils, glue, ruler etc all used regularly too.

Why are older children so unpleasant to the new year 7s? Today an older child stuck his foot out to trip DS up as he was running across the playground between classes . Thankfully, he noticed, jumped over and went on his way 💪🏻. Then later someone opened the pocket on his bag in the corridor and took his phone out. Again, he was able to grab it back and go on his way. I know this is normal and he's dealing with it really well but this low level aggression just seems so pointless.

Hope all the DC's are settling in ok. DD seems very happy so far. She has been very organised in the morning which has surprised me! There are 5 chilidren from her primary school in her form and they seemed to have formed a little group together. She comes home on the bus with 2 of them and has asked permission to 'hang out' with all of them on Friday after school. I'll need to look into what hanging out entails:)). The school app shows she has picked up positive points for doing something or other in one of her first classes but I think the points were handed out to the entire class so DD wasn't especially bothered!

The school's one-way system has left her a bit flustered. In some cases she cannot turn around anf walk to a class room a few doors down from her form room but has to walk all the way around the building (10 min malk) to a class that would be 1 minute away if she could turn the 'wrong' way.

I'm a bit taken aback at the strictness of some of the school's policies but I'm ancient and its been decades since I was at Secondary school so I guess this is the way schools are run these days. There does seem to be some flex, i.e. the ban on phones actually just means phones need to be out of sight all day but they can be brought in.

@kaffkooks that sounds terrible and just so pointless as you say. Hopefully the school cracks down on it. I have to say so far I've only observed older kids being helpful to Y7s but obviously I only have a small snapshot of the behaviour. I think this kind of low level bullying is quite common unfortunately.

The one way systems can seem illogical but do make sense if you can see the sheer crowds in some corridors.

After her initial apprehension, DD seems to be really enjoying it. She likes her teachers... even her Form Tutor who had the reputation of being "horrible" but turns out is a very good form tutor (just strict)

@kaffkooks thata sounds dreadful 😕. Do have a word with student support or whoever is in charge of students outside lessons. School won't want to tolerate this insidious low level nonsense but they often don't hear about any of it as kids tend to put up with it and not say anything. If you email school now to say its happening they should jump on it straight away. At least, that was our experience.

Day 2 here, the thumbprint tech broke yesterday so only a few Yr 7s have their lunch payment set up so far. They take cash for the first week of term anyway but it's a nuisance.

Lots of passwords and logins and pictures etc yesterday, his comp Sci homework was to show they could use the snipping tool and cut/paste an online picture into a document. Easy enough.

How is your son getting on? Mine started yesterday completely on his own. He seemed to enjoy day one but today went back in looking like a lost sheep again

DD2's gone in positively so far but she's knackered now after a few days of it.

The one way system thing makes me giggle at the memory of doing a placement in a special school just post-Covid where things were still a bit yellow and black stripey bonkers. They'd put one way stickers on the floors so you had to go round a huge square of the school building in one direction only - except the kids had reversed half the stickers and I ended up regularly getting boxed into a dead end.

The spirit of teenage rebellion endured - it made me smile that kids were still being kids after all the chaos of the lockdowns.

The bad news...DD couldn't find her shorts after PE.
The good news... she located them after school... she forgot to take them off so were under her skirt.

Hope everyone has had a nice day.
My son started year seven today without knowing anyone and has had a great day. Hopefully he will continue to like it!

He's had a good first two days gone both days looking nervous and lost but came out both days really happy. In his words it's awesome, he's swapped numbers with a couple of kids already and discovered there's a boy there from his basketball club in a couple of his classes. So far it's been okay hope it continues and that your boy had a good day x

Hope everyone's kids are getting on well so far.

DD seems to have been enjoying it so far, but daunted by the crowds in the corridor and how busy the lunch queue is. She's absolutely shattered as well, think a lazy weekend is in order!

Joining in - DD started this week and despite major wobbles the night before has LOVED every minute of it. It's early days yet but she's really finding her feet after a very small primary school that didn't really have her gang. She stresses about the bus being late though.

She seems to have grown up about 5 years overnight!

🤣🤣🤣

Ds2 is shattered in the evening. He came out of school saying he was sad and anxious because he forgot his science book today and was panicking about it being lost. It was at home of course and he had tennis after school which helped relieve the tension.

He had pe last lesson and one of the other boys helped him with his tie after - it was backwards and sideways with the big end behind and small end in front 😂 but they helped each other which was nice.

Quite happy to go in this morning so fingers crossed it will be a good day.

@Pascha teach him the trick of just loosening the tie so it goes over his head then it won't need retying.

@TickingAlongNicely Ds1 has been 'teaching' him but it's all different when they're all together just trying to get ready quickly. He'll get better, it was the first pe lesson.

@Fedupoftheshits ds and his friends have avoided the canteen thus far. His Scopay is set up but it's all a bit scary with the big kids and he has a nice safe lunchbox instead.

Well it hasn’t taken long for requests for money to arrive from school😭 An e-mail landed today informing parents they need to log into the app and pay for a confidence building workshop the children attended earlier in the week. DD made no mention of it so it was clearly very memorable!

Hi everyone!

My DS started high school on Wednesday. So far so good (or so I thought) he's been coming out bouncing until tonight. His whole friendship group has been split up from primary (he didn't have a big group but they're all in different houses) and we've had tear's tonight over everyone else in his class seems to be making friends and he doesn't really know anyone/ nobody is interested in the same things as him, Is this normal? Currently sat crying (locked in the bathroom so he can't see me) as I hate to think he has nobody in his class he can talk to 😞 I just think we're all absolutely exhausted and maybe need a weekend break

That felt good to write down 🙈

Hi everyone,

I’m joining in a bit belatedly - my DD started on Tuesday and it’s been so far so good, except for the tiredness! She seems to have really enjoyed it and settled well. Got lost between classes a couple of times but soon found her way.

@AyBeeSeeDeeEff I hope your DS is feeling a bit better about things now - it’s hard to see them upset isn’t it. We had something similar on Wednesday. DD was saying that some people had already made new friends and she hadn’t and she finds it hard with new people. We just reassured her that for some people it’s more of a gradual thing and you get to know people slowly, over time. Then the next day she tells us that she’s got 2 new friends and they’ve been travelling home together since.

I think it’s quite overwhelming, plus exhausting, so I’m sure a weekend break will help

DD has been perusing the Club timetable and can't decide!

I think she's come to a decision of Crochet, Cooking and rugby...
But also fancies science, reading, netball.....

It does help to share things on here. I think doing clubs can help find people with the same interests. Making new friends takes time and all the groups can change a lot during the first term. The children will all have been tired and emotional yesterday too. Hope you are having a relaxing weekend.

@AyBeeSeeDeeEff I’m sorry your son (and you) are having such a tough time. I would say what he is experiencing is completely normal but obviously that doesn’t make it any easier. It is heartbreaking when we see our DC feeling isolated and struggling with friendships. My DS is still at Primary school and only seems to have 1 or 2 friends at best but he seems perfectly happy with the situation and has no qualms about playing by himself so it’s slightly different. But I worry a bit about him. I’m sure your DS will find his tribe.

There have been no updates from DD’s school regarding clubs. There was an email that said information regarding “enrichment activities” would be sent in the first week but nothing so far. DD is keen to sign up to anything sporty.

In other news we have a new front door and DD cannot open it. The lock is a bit tricky to be fair. She has tried and tried but doesn’t have the strength to turn the key. This is a problem as I’m back at work next week and won’t be here Tues-Thurs when she gets home. DP doesn’t get home until 6pm. Eek.

@Eastie77Returns I found the club info on the school website.

Seems to be one of those things school expects you to know by osmosis... I know its there due to DD1!

I’ve received an e-mail informing me DD has received Negative points. In one instance she was a couple of minutes late to a class. This was a class where the kids have to race from one side of the school to a building on the other (but they are understandably not allowed to run) so it is tricky. She said half the class was late. She was also late for school on Monday as the bus didn’t stop so she arrived late along with other pupils who were at that stop so she has detention. Her friend’s mum messaged me to say her DD burst into tears outside the classroom yesterday as she was given detention due to forgetting her class diary.

I assumed the school would give Y7 kids a bit more grace as they get used to everything but I guess not.

I understand in a school with 1000 adolescents you need discipline and rigour but this all seems a bit much for 11 year olds. Or am I just being really precious and need to chill??😂

That does sound harsh. My son's just started year 7, and they've been told that no one will get a negative for the first two weeks. They're still learning their way around the building!