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

Hehehe I best get a new glue stick for her, all the ones in this house are old and dried out which I don't think would make anyone think yayayayayayay 😉

Noted re the pens, I feel a shopping trip to a stationery store coming on

They tend to need different colour pens (biros) as they self mark stuff and it has to be in a different colour
think it’s Green in my girls school

Hi @Jellyjellyonaplate , thanks for checking in!

Yes, she got a very locked down Android phone and it’s been sat in her drawer most of the time but I imagine she’ll use it more when school starts.

I think she’s more excited about getting new stationery! 😂

Can I jump on? DS is due to start v large academy on Wednesday. He only knows 2 other children. He had a bit of a rough few days during transition due to name calling and being pushed down the stairs by a group of girls.

Because of our work - ds will also now be the last person to leave the house and the first person home. He has to catch a public bus and journey for about 35 minutes each way. I’m so anxious. It’s a lot to juggle, especially as he’ll have to remember - keys, wallet, phone, bag and blazer. At primary everything stayed in the cloak room.

He has been practicing the bus journey over summer and he seems quite excited to start. Both DP and me are teachers at other schools. so know what it’s like on the ‘inside’ as it were. That really doesn’t help.

It seems like such a huge step up. He went to a very small local primary. I’m so worried for him, especially after being picked on during transition.

Wow he got picked on during transition 😮

Hi can I join too? Dd excited for secondary, I think we have everything, sges nervous about friendship groups as they've split some up putting them in different tutor groups abd teaching groups etc. She's also worried about maths!

I’m afraid so @purpleme12 . We were very proactive and the school have moved his form away from the girls that caused the issues.

But even so, it doesn’t exactly fill us with confidence.

@Jellyjellyonaplate the school makes a deliberate point of splitting up the kids from the same primary school across the 12 classes. In my DD's new class there is only one person from her primary. So far my DD is excited about starting.

Yesterday she filled her new pencil case with the stationery list that we were given by the school. After reading lots of previous threads on here we have got a 'home' pencil case with a copy of the same stationery so that the school one doesn't come out of her rucksack.
Just a few more days to go...

Hi everyone. @OfTheNight your poor DS that sounds like a horrible experience on transition day. I'm really glad the school listened to you and switched his class. Hopefully things go smoothly next week and he settles in OK. You're so right there's so much for them to remember and get used to all at once. I know I'm going to have to get really disciplined myself at helping my DD check her bag the night before every single day, otherwise there will be too much to do.

Today she was trying to work out what time she'll need to get up. Her new school is a 20 min drive plus 8 min walk, whereas her primary was a 5 min walk. She reckoned this means she has to get up at 6am to do all the things she wants to do each morning including reading for half an hour and having a relaxed breakfast and leaving time for last minute homework...... Not sure that's quite the best plan but I don't wanna quash her enthusiasm for leaving lots of time to get ready!

@79onOrange we did our final stationery shopping today and so have everything now. That's such a good idea to have 2 sets!

@Beansandcheesearegood the friendship thing is my biggest worry too for the first few weeks. I really hope it settles down soon. If anyone has any older kids - when did they have a bit more of a settled friendship group? Before half term I'm hoping!

My son Freddie has decided to go to a Catholic school where he doesn’t know anyone, rather than the one all his friends are going to. At induction they were all given Armistice Runner by Tom Palmer to read over the summer – he finished it the other night.

I’ve managed to get him a Casio scientific calculator (the one the school recommends) off eBay – £40 cheaper than Amazon, which felt like a win!

He starts tomorrow, travelling in on the bus. The season pass has set us back £760 😅.

In terms of settling in, a few of the forms are going on an away trip to Castlerigg in the Lake District at the end of September, which I think will really help with bonding.

I know it’s normal for them to feel a bit nervous at this stage, but I’m sure they’ll all do well in the end.

Wow I can not believe summer is over and the secondary school experience will start tomorrow!
DS is excited, we practiced the journey this afternoon so it is fresh in his mind.
His confidence is high, so hoping for the best tomorrow.

Good luck to all the DS and DD starting tomorrow ♥️

@Darren2134 ours was £450, I still think child bus/train fairs should be free!

Ours is £44.80 a month

My child is not ready

My DD starts TOMORROW. 7.55 am bus. Only 3 forms in year 7! I won't even mention the price (she's going out of county so we do have to pay).

Sending positive energy to you and your DC♥️

Good luck to your DD! If she is on a coach/ school bus she will have a blast bonding with the other children once they are all settled!

Honestly, now that we have paid for the train fare I am going to just forget about it and get annoyed again in 12months time!

Thank you i am getting the bus with her to school tomorrow (she's ok with this).
we've chosen to get the earlier bus. that may change as it goes on we'll see.
i asked her whether she wants me to get the bus back with her tomorrow as well she said yes.

I read on here where people say they change so much and they lose their little girl/boy and now it's all I'm thinking about 😢

@purpleme12that hasn’t been my experience. Yes, they develop an independence you didn’t know they were capable of but that’s a good thing.

They come home with funny stories and tales to tell and want to share some of the new things they’ve learnt. Their strengths start to really develop too.

My youngest starts today and I must admit I feel a tiny bit wistful the primary years are over.

Walked her to the stop, as it's just Y7 today there was only one other child waiting, who she was in primary with. YOU CAN GO NOW she says so I did. It is a school coach which is better though a friend's DS was bullied on the coach so there's that worry.

@PatChaunceysFruitCake I am delighted we no longer have to deal with the primary school as they were full of nonsense with a HT who was very much "my way or the highway", and incredibly fake.

Dropped Freddie on a small coach which i think is a bit freindlier than a normal big bus. I just got an email that they are having CAT tests on Monday. There's me thinking after 11 plus and Sats we might have a year or two off tests 😅🤦

What's a CAT test?

CATs are baseline tests schools often do in Year 7 to see how children think and learn. They look at verbal, maths and problem-solving skills, and help teachers with setting/targets. Nothing they can revise for – just “do your best” type of test.

Ha, DD has a friend of mine for Maths. No hiding for her now!

Unfortunately they'll likely have more tests than ever, they'll have end of topic tests for each subject likely a few times a year. Espeically if they're doing 2 topics simultaneously, with 2 teachers. Then the big end of year tests as well. But they'll get used to it.