Year 7 - 2025 to 2026 - first time at BIG school

[Jellyjellyonaplate]

Hi,

Anyone else got a year 6 soon to be year 7? I enjoyed reading some of the support thread for the current year 7s and thought it might be nice to make one for the coming year.

My DD is starting at a girls grammar where she knows no-one. It gets good results and I'm sure will be a much faster pace than her village primary that she is used to!

Hopefully she hangs in there and will make some friends. We've bought some uniform (ouch so expensive) and worked out the buses (we will have to give her a lift to the bus stop). Now researching a computer tablet which they need to have. It needs to be compatible with Teams, apparently android is which seems surprising.

Anyone else in the same boat?

Jelly

Hello, thank you for starting this thread. I have a Yr. 6 DD who will be starting at a state secondary school in September. My DD is going from a 2 form entry Primary to a secondary of 2k students, with 12 forms in each year! Yikes.

Hi my daughter is year 6 and will also be going to a girls grammar school she only knows couple of others but they are older and currently go to the same music group. After the recent transition days she’s even more excited to start in September. We’ve looked at uniform but buying most of it later this month

My son passed for Grammer but unfortunately didnt get in due to catchment area. He's starting at a big Catholic School in September and only knows one person going. He wanted to have a fresh change from Primary school. He did well in his Sats 110 so hope he carries on doing well at senior school.

DC starting at private co-ed secondary, will know no-one there, so lots of mixed emotions!

DC is starting at co-ed independent as well.

Great there's quite a few of us on here. Welcome all. My DD was talking today about how there's only 6 and a half days of primary left and it feels unreal that she won't be going back.

She doesn't know anyone who'll be going to the secondary but the school seem to have good strategies to get them to make friends.

I'm not sure how many of each uniform item to get! There's so much of it with the PE kit as well as usual daily stuff.

Just decided on a tablet computer for her to have. At some stage we'll get her a brick phone but prob end of the summer hols so she's not glued to it earlier than necessary.

I’ve been hoping someone will start a thread soon, I was reading last years for some tips and pointers.
Yr 6 DD starts an all girls state school. She joins with 5 of her close friends and they have all been put in the same form. Whilst this is great for her there has been a fair few fallouts between them this year and I’m worried this will only get worse in years to come.

we bought the main bits of uniform last weekend just shoes, coat, bag, stationery to get now. Stationery is a mindfield. Primary provided everything so no idea where to start

Jumping on for the ride!

My youngest daughter is starting at a state secondary school in Sept

we live in a small village so pretty much her whole primary (2 form intake) are going to the secondary school… it’s quite small.. 160 in the year

she is excited to be joining her big sis (going into year 10)! I’m a bit worried as she is summer born and only just passed her SATs (one she actually only scored 98) so I worry she won’t keep up

time will tell I guess

Hi all! Welcome!

We've got most of the uniform, still need socks, tights and school shoes,and a bag and coat.

The bag and coat are tricky, not sure what's going to be cool /accepted in year 7!

She's off to her induction activity days today for the first one. Really hoping she meets some girls to be friends with.

I have no idea about stationary, I don't think the school have given us any info about it at all! Seem to remember I had a protracter I never used as a kid!

Thank you for starting this thread 💖

My son (and only child) will be going to a private co-ed grammar school. He's the only one from his primary going but he made some friends on the assessment day and on transition day so that's good.

He enjoyed the transition day and the school is lovely and will also challenge him academically, so I am feeling OK about him starting.

It will be a change for him as he will get the bus some days (probably every morning and some afternoons). If he is doing extra curricular, I will be able to pick him up as the school I teach at is only 10 minutes away (couldn't get him in at mine due to us living out of catchment).

Need to start sorting uniform and try to work out what trainers will be trendy for PE but not cost me the earth 😯

Thank you for starting this thread!

@Lisamummy22girls my DD is a summer birthday as well, turns 11 next month and only just got by on her SATs. I just hope she doesn’t get overwhelmed.

Picked up most of the uniform already as the shop had a 10% discount. The school skirt is hideous 😂

We’ve held out on a phone so far but looking to introduce one over the summer. Will also have to sort a laptop for homework. Feels like so many big changes!

@RK800 have you been told you’ll need a laptop? We haven’t, she has an iPad with a keyboard attachment so I’m hoping this will be enough.
they have said homework will be set on teams so I assume mostly online.

@MammaGnomes no, but we don’t have a tablet at home so she’ll need something to access and submit homework as I assume it’s all done online now.

Yeah y7 is such a jump especially since they don’t do much in year 6 after the SATs

Hi all,

We’ve got most uniform now we had some vouchers to use sent over by the school just got to get shoes, bag socks/tights
my daughter can’t wait to go she loved the transition session. It’s going to be a big change catching buses each way most days we plan to do a couple more practice runs over the summer but my daughter is quite happy to do it alone it’s a school she really wanted to attend. She’s got a phone but never remembers to turn it on lol
we’ve been given this list of minimum stationery required

Biros blue/black for general writing; green/red
Pencil HB
Coloured pencils
Rubber
Sharpener
Ruler
Glue Stick
Scissors
Highlighters x 2
Protractor
Pair of compasses
Dry wipe pen and small cloth (for use with mini whiteboards)
Calculator – Casio Fx

I remember being so excited getting my scientific calculator for school!😂

How's it going everyone? @RK800 did you get a phone and tablet? We just got my DD a phone this week. We've gone for an old samsung and this evening are going to upload the Balance OS which makes it less addictive. It's £70 a year but hopefully it will make a difference. She's already become phone obsessed in the 3 days she's had it!

Thanks for the stationery list, @MyDenimBee , that looks good and thorough. We haven't really been told much about what stationery they need so I feel a bit lost on that one.

Otherwise we're fairly sorted. Got uniform, new bag, new school shoes, indoor PE trainers, outdoor sports trainers, and trainers for home (her feet keep growing!!). Also her new phone and tablet.

We need to sort out Google family link, that's also high on the to do list!

There's one girl she met on her activity week at the new school, though she's not in the same class as her so I hope she also makes friends in her class.

It's all feeling real now! One week to go!!!

Wow, 12 forms in a year @79onOrange that's huge. I wonder if they keep primary friends together or split them up on purpose to mix up all the groups.

@Darren2134 @Secretroses @Huntsvil did your kids have induction /activity days to get to know their new year group at all?

My DD new school is very proud they don't give our homework for the first 2 weeks, then it's 1 hour a day. That still seems huge to me, after sats they basically did the school play and no work at all for the last term. So it will be a shock!

@MammaGnomes at least 6 girls in a friendship group is an even number, and when there's tables of 4 no-one should be left out. I remember in year 7 I was in a friendship group of 5 girls in my class, it was rubbish as you always knew who was least popular in the group that week as they wouldn't get to sit on the table for 4 in form time!

@Lisamummy22girls yeh it's hard knowing that there's going to be such a jump in academic expectations. I reckon it will take them all 6 months to get used to it.

At least with lots of new subjects there will be lots of things that everyone finds hard! Does your DD school set the kids? It seems a lot of schools don't for year 7.

@PumpkinPie2016 hope you got on well with the hunt for trainers!

Is it a public bus or a school bus? Just wondered if you'd tried a trial run for it. It really seems amazing how fast they're all growing up!

@Jellyjellyonaplate DDs school only sets for maths in year 7

she is still very excited with just a week to go!
they go back next Thursday

Best of luck to all new year 7s – can I just add as a former secondary teacher (not a year 7 parent any more) – if you all provide your DC with black pens, a whiteboard marker and yayayayaya a glue stick their teachers will love them forever.

Sounds good! (a yayayayaya glue stick must be a really special one! 😂).

I got my DD some tippex but apparently they're not allowed it. What do most kids do? Back in my day I had a fountain pain and erasable ink, is that normal nowadays or super old fashioned?

@Lisamummy22girls that's great she's so excited! I think mine is still in holiday mode and in total denial 🤣

hahaha that's me being really excited about a student who has their own glue stick. I used to give them out one between two if we were lucky.

No tippex – cannot imagine a student using that! They write in biro (Bic is best – those four-colour ones are good) and if it’s wrong, just put a line through it. Not a problem.