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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

pfb -in fact only child - off to secondary on Thursday...

788 replies

MaryAnnSingleton · 02/09/2008 08:07

am being calm but every so often panic strikes me - ds is fine about it, it's just me fretting about roads to cross/ money for the canteen - will it get lost/stolen, what about the lockers, arghhh ! Plus,as with the beginning of every term,I'll miss him - I love having him here in the holidays !
It also means that I have no excuses not to sit at my desk and work on the job I'm meant to finish by the end of Seot...

OP posts:
bellavita · 27/11/2008 08:23

Magenta - he told his form tutor who gave him a photocopied planner sheet (which was lucky) so he escaped any "punishment".

I bet your dd is looking forward to her cookery lesson. Next week ds is making apple cake and then two weeks after that a chocolate log (well I have to send in the swiss roll and bits and pieces) he then decorates it.

Original poster
MaryAnnSingleton · 27/11/2008 09:11

mmm, homemade bread - yum !

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bellavita · 27/11/2008 10:50

Just what I was thinking MAS! Have just come back from having dental treatment and I cannot eat anything for a couple of hours and am drooling at thought of the smell of the bread baking.

Original poster
MaryAnnSingleton · 27/11/2008 10:51

oh poor you ! I had a filling on Monday and bought myself a nice soft croissant to have once the numbness had gone !

OP posts:
bellavita · 27/11/2008 10:55

mmm croissant - if only.

I have to go to work at 11.20 so there will be no time for me to have anything. If we are busy at work then I have no chance of them making me a sandwich (although I think the soup is minestrone so I may ask for a cup about 1.00ish). Typical that the only appointment I could get was on a day shift and they were running behind time.

Original poster
MaryAnnSingleton · 27/11/2008 11:04

aww, poor bellavita..soup will be nice though.

OP posts:
Original poster
MaryAnnSingleton · 27/11/2008 15:57

call me a mug but I've just driven ds back to school to look for his planner which he'd forgotten...it was in the RS room...

OP posts:
bellavita · 27/11/2008 16:05

MAS!!

DS's school is a 15 minute drive away - so he would have had no chance , but then I am just mean

Oh and I ended up having some soup for my lunch. By the time I got to have it after it was ladled out for me it was stone cold. We were busy at work!

Original poster
MaryAnnSingleton · 27/11/2008 16:07

ours is barely five mins by car ! I did lecture him rather incessantly on responsibilty etc
Hope you have something nice to eat tonight !

OP posts:
magentadreamer · 27/11/2008 16:55

Ouch@dental work! I've got to go on Thursday!

Thankfully at DD's school they don't seem so hot on planners being with the DC's at all times as DD's did spend the day on her bed one day. DD's friend who goes to the other local High School had a detention because she had not got her planner in her blazer pocket - it was in her bag which she'd locked in her locker as it was lunchtime! Apparently they have to carry their planners at all times. Now that I do find a bit OTT!

Applecake sounds really scrummy!

roisin · 27/11/2008 17:30

It's obviously dentist time of year - I went last week and had two fillings done. I can't believe I put it off so long, the anticipation is always far worse than the actual event! Sympathy from me.

Can I have a proud mummy of pfb moment?
Today ds1 has been awarded a Head Teacher's award, and is the first in yr7 (out of 210) to do so
You get a merit certificate for 10 merits in one single subject.
For HT Award you have to have 10 merit certificates.
Merits are primarily awarded for effort, behaviour and participation in class; so I am extremely proud of him to be doing so well. He will have the certificate and badge presented to him in assembly.

magentadreamer · 27/11/2008 18:41

Well done your DS Roisin!

bellavita · 27/11/2008 19:39

Fantastic roisin - is he pleased too or is he just taking it in his stride?

roisin · 27/11/2008 20:44

Thanks. He is very chuffed too: he's a summer baby, so is one of the youngest in the year and in some ways is quite young for his age. This sort of thing is just right up his street, and he's no concept [yet] that some teenagers think it's not cool to work hard.

He's gorgeous at the moment - I don't want him to 'mature' into a stroppy, sulky, grumpy teenager!

Original poster
MaryAnnSingleton · 27/11/2008 21:15

hooray for roisin's ds1 - what a star !!

OP posts:
christMAScomesbutonceayear · 28/11/2008 12:25

don't be alarmed - I've changed to my festive name !

bellavita · 28/11/2008 15:52

Loving the name christMAS!

Can you be creative with mine 'cos I can't.

OrmIrian · 28/11/2008 15:56

Sorry if this has been done already (nt up to date with this thread) but has anyone had parents evening yet? Ours is next Thursday and we're supposed to tell our DC what subjects we want to talk about so they can then make appointments with the relevant bods. We'll get a report on his progress when we arrive at the school. Might be useful to see that before we decide who to see but never mind.

DS was adamant he didn't want me to see his German teacher - so she was first on my list

bellavita · 28/11/2008 16:00

First and foremost Orm - you should be ashamed - not up to date with the thread indeed - where have you been? You have been missed!

We don't have our parents meeting till about next March/April and I am sure we only see the form tutor who gets all the info from all the other teachers about how well/not so well they have been doing.

christMAScomesbutonceayear · 28/11/2008 16:01

we have ours in Feb,I think Orm...we've already had a meeting (brief) with tutor.
mmm,bellavita - will try to think of festive name..it's not easy,is it..

roisin · 28/11/2008 18:22

We've got ours on Tuesday. After some advice on here we have decided to see:
The big 5 - i.e. subjects he has 3 or 4 times a week: Maths, English, Science, Humanities and Languages.
Plus any other subjects he has a particular flair for/interest in or anything where there is 'a problem'.

For us this is RE/citizenship and Music (maybe if she's not too busy).

[Fortunately for us the subjects he is most interested in/shows particular talent for are the big 5 anyway. He's not terribly happy in PE, but I don't think there's anything we can do about that tbh.]

Some teachers - like art, IT - have several yr7 classes, and cannot possibly see everybody. ds1 tells me his dance teacher teaches 180 yr7s each week!

HTH

roisin · 28/11/2008 18:25

Do tell your ds not to make appointments back-to-back, so you have chance to get from one to the other. We didn't do this and we have appts:
5.00
5.20
5.30
5.35
5.40
5.50 [two at 5.50!]

Aarrghhh... Dh and I are both going, so if it is very busy we will split up and divide and conquer that way!

OrmIrian · 01/12/2008 08:09

Thanks.

'back-to-back' ...ha! 6.05, 6.35, 7.10, 7.35 and 7.55. Carefully encompassing the whole 2 hours .....

christMAScomesbutonceayear · 01/12/2008 09:47

good morning ! December already ! Ds is off to the Natural History Museum tomorrow - have got him a clipboard ! Hope he sees the blue whale as it was my childhood favourite- we used to visit the museums after our dental appointments as our dentist was up in South Kensington. It used to scare me a bit (the whale) being so huge.

roisin · 01/12/2008 18:16

Oh no, Ormirian - what a nightmare. Take a flask of coffee and a good book: you're in for the duration.

Ours starts at 4pm, but we haven't any appointments until 5pm. So I'm hoping that by the time we arrive the rush will be dying down somewhat.