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!

@ConflictedCheetah weekend was mainly ok, there was some general huffiness and moaning when asked to do tasks "I'm too tired, do I have too?"

Usually she's eager to help out, I was expecting some Kevin and Perry-esque moodiness but not for it to start so soon.

I've been helping her a lot with organisation and making sure she's got everything but I think I'm going to have to take a step back over the next week or so and she takes more responsibility.

I've been helping with organisation too but he got the right hump with me last night and was unacceptably rude so I stopped. Then total chaos getting out of the house this morning as any attempt to shimmy him along was met with increasing levels of snark so I stopped.

Ds2 told me last night his maths teacher was trying to tape his torn timetable for him so I've taken pity on them and laminated an a6 size timetable to keep in their blazer pockets. It's tiny but seems to have taken away the stress of reading an increasingly torn and crumpled sheet to work out which lesson is next.

We are doing generally OK at school. Ds2 was pleased to get vice house captain having only decided 5 minutes before the vote to enter. He scribbled his speech on the back of his English worksheet in the toilets apparently!

He is a little overwhelmed with homework but we are settling into an after school schedule and he said its not scary any more it's 'just school' so we are happy I think.

What are all your apps to keep track of? We have
Scopay for lunch and payments.
SatchelOne for homework and timetable.
Arbor for general admin, attendance, behaviour.

Then the kids have
Sparx for maths.
Century for English and Science.
Kerboodle for science.

Arbor for school admin, notifications about behaviour and it also handles lunch and school trip payments.

Sparx for Maths as well.

I can’t remember the others. The e-mails from the school are really coming in thick and fast now and I’m struggling to keep up because DS’ primary school sends at least two a day as well. I have calendars/planners on the wall but it’s a lot. I have just seen an email pop up about a school trip for DD plus a residential for her next year July which they are sending now to prepare parents due to the high cost..!

Hi everyone, I'm late here but my DD has just started in y7 so I thought I'd say hello!

So far she is absolutely loving y7. She's 12 already (early September birthday) and has probably been ready since around Christmas last year. She's quite anxious as a rule but this hasn't really been a factor so far. She's loving most of her lessons and even the homework! She's joining up for everything at the moment but I can envisage her starting to reduce the extracurriculars when she realises what she enjoys most.

Her brother is in y10 so we're familiar with the school but I'm disappointed with the communication from school. They're yet to be added to the main school app, we suspect a change is coming at they're joining a trust soon but this doesn't help when we'd like to know her timetable, points for good behaviour etc.

Hi I’m also late here, DD started 2 weeks late due to an international move meaning we didn’t get in until the first week shuffle - v luckily for us the school had 9 private school kids not turn up so 1 space came up! AND DD was offered a music scholar space as 1 music scholar didn’t turn up too due to an international move (we have mutual friends which is why I know).

Having not been to any of the induction evenings my main shock was that they have 8 hours of Spanish a fortnight. DD chose Spanish because she was learning it in the USA but I do not speak Spanish at all and feel like I can’t help her with any of it. It seems fine now and she isn’t struggling at all but I guess that feeling of not being better than my kid at school has come quicker than I expected and it’s a bit daunting 😆 Does anyone have a tutor for MFL?

The school is an academy and other bits of their curriculum are a bit unusual: Aksum empire in history… none of the cpg books seem to cover that.

Homework is 5, 15 minute tasks in preparation for each subject the next day which doesn’t seem to take as long as advertised which is a blessing and will hopefully stay that way in year 7.

At the end of half term the kids will all do exams which will solidify their sets for the next 6 months. They seem to be set for absolutely everything, even art and drama! I obviously want her to do well so she’s banded correctly but don’t want to pile the pressure on. Currently she’s been put where they had space as she didn’t sit the setting exam last year in year 6 (they use CATs). This seems to have placed her fairly high, I guess the private school kids who didn’t turn up were mostly in the higher sets.

7.35.... ahhh I haven't done my Maths homework
7.47.... homework complete, 100% correct...

Maybe working to deadlines suits her!

Welcome to the new joiners!

@MyBestFriendKenny glad your DD is enjoying school. My DD also seems to relish homework!

@Rhayader sounds as if you’ve had a bit of a baptism of fire but your DD is settling in quickly. I’m sure there are tutors for MFL but at this early stage I’d maybe just see how it goes? We are a multi lingual household (French & Italian) and DD is hoping to do both at GCSE. It’s one thing speaking at home and another doing an exam though so I’ve told her she still needs to put the work in. Her written skills in both are quite poor. That History curriculum sounds…niche😅

DD made the school football team and is very happy.

@Eastie77Returns thanks it certainly has been a bit of a ride!

That is so common that the written skills lag in a second language, I wouldn’t worry about picking that all up yourself though as the school will be making sure the kids are up to speed surely?

A few friends around here send their kids to Saturday schools for their native second language and these tend to focus heavily on written work. I see all the Chinese kids doing their Chinese homework at music school on a Saturday between lessons and ensembles.

My DS is trying to get in the rugby and football teams this week. I'm nervous for him but haven't said that 😬 So many are doing the trial. Seems very early on for them to do it and compete. Would be great for his confidence if he gets chosen. DS is growing in confidence and being very independent. More so than I imagined.

Even got homework done h the day it was given. They are easing them in slowly though.

Had to have "the chat" about how much to spend in the canteen though. He got carried away the first week 😅

I keep comparing my DS to Kevin and Perry since he started secondary. He doesn't get it but my OH and my friends totally get the comparisons 😅

Have also helped with organising. Think it's worth doing while they settle in.

Hello, can I join in?

My son started Y7 a couple of weeks ago and he's having a few issues. I don't really know what to do. He's in a form with a couple of boys from primary, one of which fell out with him earlier this year when previously they'd been good friends. He seems intent on making DS's life a misery and has today reported him for something that didn't happen. DS has tried to repair the friendship by sending him chatty messages, but he's been ignored. He's spent the evening sobbing. He's made some new friends, however he's also worried ex-friend is trying to sabotage his new friendships. He's so sad and it's horrible.

On a lighter note, I'm glad others have had to have the "canteen chat" - he nearly bankrupt me last week!

@Peachesandfizz we're having friendship issues too. She's in form with 2 friends from primary but one of them has 'gone off' with friends from outside school and there's been a bit of conflict there. DD was very upset by her yesterday but had the sense to go and have a chat with the Pastoral teacher for y7, who was able to give her some strategies for how to deal with her feelings.

We've lost one £20 PE shirt already (which was labelled in massive letters)

Ds1 who is year 9 has ripped a large hole in the knees of his trousers while skidding about playing football on the astroturf at lunchtime which means I now have to fork out for new ones not even three weeks into the term.

Ds2 yr7 is still pristine.

I had to buy new shirts in the first week as DS fell playing football and shredded his shirt, and his hip underneath it.
Our school doesn't have 'trials' for football or rugby as such - you can sign up for training and the teams are fairly fluid, picked weekly, which is great. DS not feeling wildly positive about football, but is loving rugby. He already plays club football and to be honest we can't do EVERYTHING at school as he'll have no time for homework and he's already shattered!
And yes, the canteen 'chat' was had! Set a tighter limit this week for sure.

Our biggest problem is finding out what homework needs doing, now that it's beginning to pile up. We were told it'd be on either MS Teams or ShowMyHomework (aka Satchel One) but some teachers seem to be setting it verbally in class too, which is causing mass confusion. Poor DS was crying and so stressed and feeling sick this morning as he thinks he's going to get detention today for not having done his DT homework on time. Hardly anyone did it in time for lesson last week as they all thought it would be set on the app so the teacher told them they could do it overnight and hand it in by lunch the next day. DS tried but couldn't seem to get into the right building so he couldn't get it to her. He took a pick and sent it to her on Teams but she hasn't replied in a week so he's facing the music this morning. He was so upset - never gets in trouble at all so he's not used it to.

Thankfully we have a parents evening next week, where we're invited in to meet with the form tutors and ask questions about how it's all going. I'll DEFINITELY be raising this.

Hi my son has just started year 7 as well - has had some anxiety and school based avoidance in the past (year 6 was awful) but going well so far - we are at the first high school to be awarded the gold standard for mental health and it does make a difference I think

@Peachesandfizz i would raise this with his tutor to get ahead of it a friends daughter had this and it got pretty bad with the rumours that were spread

There was a clubs fair last week and DD signed up for 4 clubs. Mix of after school and lunchtime. But no one knows what days or times they will be, or when they start, not even the school office know. We just have to wait. They also don’t communicate any of it to parents, just the kids. Feels a different world to primary school!

DD managed to spent £10 on lunch one day but it was an error and she was overcharged. Has happened to quite a few people so I do check the online statement each day.

Uniform all still in tact. So far anyway.

Also seems to be some confusion across the year group around homework. It clearly states that Y7 only get homework for 3 subjects until half term. Some form groups have had much more. We’ve only had homework for two subjects and only once so far.

def do raise this. At our school ALL homework is via a bromcom app, and it's very easy to see what there is to do. once it is submitted, parents get a notifcation and if it is not we get a reminder, thogh it appears it's often a case to mark it as done on the app, not a reminder to actually do it per se.

we have a meeting with the form tutor tonnight. It's only just become apparent that we're suppose to take the kid with us, in full school uniform. seems a bit OTT

Ha. We've specifically been informed NOT to bring the kids us.

@Clearinguptheclutter i reckon at this stage it is so they know exactly who they are talking about! DD (yesr 11 sibling) has been to all her parents evenings though

@Peachesandfizz This sounds awful. How much are they together, is it just form time or lessons too?

@DoNotScrapeMyDataBishes I have a theory that parents don’t label stuff their kid comes home with 1 top and it has someone else’s name on, so they just keep it as they figure it’s 1-4-1 and their top ends up unclaimed in the lost property.

To get one of each piece of the PE kit, not including the trainers, football boots, shin pads, a gum shield, the PE bag which is optional (but you would never fit the kit in the compulsory school backpack and it’s £30) £118.50 at our school. Most people are spending over £200 on PE kit alone. The entire PE kit is branded, even socks - I do question the legality of this…

I have bought multiple ties and the blazer in the size up just in case. The kids get in huge amounts of trouble if they have missing uniform.

Our parent consultation appointment slots seem to be during school / work hours 😵‍💫

@MyBestFriendKenny He went to see the pastoral lady today but she was busy. He said he'd pop back in again to see her tomorrow. He's a sensitive little soul and she's already helped him with a couple of other things. I hope it gets easier for your DD.

@Rhayader They are in the same form and share every single lesson at the moment. I'm not sure if they'll get put into sets anytime soon? They were close so he was the friend DS put down to be in a form with. Then it all went downhill.

He said it's all been fine today. He said "Hi" to the other boy and was met with hostility but it seems his new friends can see through the other boy already. DS seems much happier today so hopefully it lasts!