Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
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:
magentadreamer · 10/09/2008 07:28

*whispers to Bellavita - I'd have sorted out the cooking ingredients myself too

Original poster
MaryAnnSingleton · 10/09/2008 10:27

I will probably sort out ds' cooking ingredients for Monday too !!
Hope he gets some lunch today and manages his locker - not much homework so far, was expecting more but I daresay it'll come soon enough !
Hope all dcs have a good day

OP posts:
Original poster
MaryAnnSingleton · 10/09/2008 16:30

well, he had a rushed lunch today but at least ate something...got into the wrong changing rooms for PE too but all seems ok.

OP posts:
bellavita · 10/09/2008 16:41

ds left his pencil case in the cooking class before lunch, he only realised after when the bell rang to say lunch over (all classrooms are locked).

Luckily, the cookery teacher was just passing by the door as ds was hanging around so she opened it for him and he was able to leg it to the class he was supposed to go into without being late - phew!

He has come home with what looks like a fairly edible pizza - which he is tucking into as I write this!

Him and some other classmates have been told they need extra literacy help (which they will get twice a week) I said it was ok to have extra help tis not a bad thing - at least there is not just him!

Hope everyone elses lo has had a good day

Original poster
MaryAnnSingleton · 10/09/2008 17:20

hope all of ds' PE kit made it into the locker - am trying not to probe too much... hope the pizza was nice - did you get a taste ?

OP posts:
roisin · 10/09/2008 18:19

ds1's Maths teacher has told them all off because they are supposed to have calculators. But at the parents' induction day the HT told parents not to buy calculators, because Maths Dept prefer a specific model, and will arrange for us to buy calculators through school

ds1 is less enthusiastic this week, but they have had loads and loads of tests, and they are just getting fed up of them.

magentadreamer · 10/09/2008 21:06

Glad your DS's pizza was edible Bellavita.

DD came home all tired and with a splitting headache - just hope she's not coming down with any thing! She slept till 7pm, had a bit of tea, had a bath and is now sound asleep again!

She wasn't too impressed with today especially PE - 1st lesson before lunch was tests to see what group she was going to be in. Lesson after lunch was tag rugby which she informs me was "ok I suppose" Just hope she'll be ok tomorrow.

Ashantai · 10/09/2008 23:18

I'm still doing the freakout thing about my daughter walking to school. She meets her friend at the top of the road and they go together.

I give her a kiss at the door and then run upstairs to my bedroom so i can make sure she meets her friend and walks past

I sit and wait at the kitchen window when she is about to come home, then launch myself on the sofa pretending to be cooly watching tv when she comes in

I need help..........

She has informed me that her PE is gonna be swimming for this term and she needs a swimsuit for Monday!! How in gods name do i find a swimsuit in September when all the shops have their winter stuff out

bellavita · 11/09/2008 00:23

Pizza was ok actually. Looked nice and I had a little taste (just to showing willing you know )

Forgot to say that in DS's pe lesson yesterday, they did tests so the teacher could asses what group they were going to go in - football or rugby. I had to put his trainers through the washing machine - they were wet through and filthy

Ashantai - hope you find a swimsuit - maybe you will have to go to a specialised shop?

Magenta - for your DD for the headache

Original poster
MaryAnnSingleton · 11/09/2008 09:15

Ashantai - a sports shop/school outfitters ?
I send ds up the road to wait for 2 other boys to walk in to school and lurk at the window to make sure he goes off safely !

OP posts:
Chocolateteapot · 11/09/2008 09:57

Ashanti, I got one for DD in Sainsburys last weekend so worth a look there.Hope your DD feels better today Magenta. Polgara, I do hope things went better for your DD yesterday.

Squeakypop, if DD's teacher is like you I will be utterly and completely delighted ! She has taken a dislike to the science teacher after being told off for writing in black ink.

Maybe they will get to the stage with the cookery when we can rely on what they are cooking for our tea ?! Though not for a while with DD as being that bit younger they are spending 3 weeks "finding their way around the kitchen!"

Fingers crossed they all get a decent lunch today, a bit strange having to worry about things like this compared to primary/first school. DD has gone off with money instead of sandwiches and then is planning to join the Harmony singing group afterwards.

PE twice today. Assessments in the morning for the football/netball groups starting next week, then swimming this afternoon.

She joined needlework club on Tuesday and came home clutching two pieces of furry fabric she'd cut into a teddy's head that she wanted to make for DS's birthday tomorrow. Guess who was the mug hiding away from DS in the folding camper outside on the drive sewing the wretched thing ?!

OrmIrian · 11/09/2008 10:02

Tears this morning! Bugger

He is worried about his hair. It's very long and he loves it like that but I am wondering if someone had been taking the p. The place is full of crew-cutted little thugs so it might be. He has also been told to wear a headband for PE which went down like a lead balloon and he didn't tell us until this morning anyway so too later to do anything about it. And* his first PE lesson was sitting down being talked to which wasn't popular.

But I am worried that something else is lurking behind it all.... will try to grill him this evening.

bellavita · 11/09/2008 10:27

OrmIrian - difficult isn't it - you want to ask questions but don't want to "dig". Sometimes when I ask about school I just get "OH I DON'T KNOW", other times (80%) he is willing to talk. I hope it isn't anything serious for your DS.

He told me this morning that yesterday in history, when it came down to putting in his planner what homework was required - he did not have enough room to copy it all down and he has forgotten the rest of the sentance

I have made him take some spare paper in his bag today and said he must ask his friend if he can copy down what the homework is.

Original poster
MaryAnnSingleton · 11/09/2008 10:44

God this is so hard isn't it ? lots of xxx to us all and our dcs

OP posts:
bellavita · 11/09/2008 10:48

sentance? sentence

saffy202 · 11/09/2008 11:48

Well on the 2nd day, after losing his bus ticket the first day, ds2 nearly missed the bus!
He has made friends with another boy a couple of streets away and wanted to go to school with him. So off he went.

DH passed the bus stop a few minutes later - no sign of ds2 but the bus was there. So he drives around looking for him, no sign of him. A few minutes later ds2 and his friend saunter out of his friend's house. Dh is screaming 'the bus is there' they just made it! Turns out the friend was doing his hair

I don't work thursdays or fridays so today is my first time 'alone' in the house since before the holidays so it is very quiet and I am walking around talking to myself!

bellavita · 11/09/2008 15:15

I don't need the house to be empty to talk to myself

Original poster
MaryAnnSingleton · 11/09/2008 15:56

me either ! Ds very cheery today - no homework and chicken tikka salad for lunch

OP posts:
bellavita · 11/09/2008 16:26

DS has come home feeling tired.

I have asked what homework he has got today and he said "he cannot remember", I asked him what he had for lunch he said "I cannot remember"

He also forgot to ask his friend if he could copy down the rest of the history homework instructions.

At least one of us has a cheery child MAS.

Chocolateteapot · 11/09/2008 16:37

Glad your DS is happy today and got a decent lunch MAS.

Bellavita, if it is any consolation, not all plain sailing here. She came out without her wet swimming kit which I didn't realise until we were nearly home so had to go back. Has also lost her purse and her Personal Notebook, which is the thing they have with all their homework etc in. I hope your DS feels better after a night's sleep.

On the plus side she had a hot lunch and joined the harmony singing club and has no homework (though DS flipping well has and I am now back to that Jolly sodding phonic palava !)

magentadreamer · 11/09/2008 20:29

Omrian - hope you've got to the bottom of the hair thing with your DS hope it's not because he's being teased about it! Bellavita I got aload of can't remembers yesterday too!

DD informed me on Wednesday how some children weren't wearing those £5.99 PE socks...so it was a waste buying them Mum! Tonight she tells me that the no PE sock wearers all have a detention!! Erk!

magentadreamer · 11/09/2008 20:31

Oh and her locker key spent the day at home today!!! Thankfully she didn't need anything from her locker!!!

OrmIrian · 11/09/2008 20:57

Hmmm...locker keys are an accident waiting to happen really aren't they

DS played hockey today in PE which was better but he's is a vile mood. I think he might be tired. He's been going to bed quite late, getting up earlier, walking 1.5 miles each way to school, and then all round the school, not to mention extra adrenalin coursing round his system. He's in bed now - earliest for a few months actually

DH think the main issue was that he had to wear a headband for PE. I did warn him that if he kept his girly hair he'd have to tie it up like a girl

magentadreamer · 11/09/2008 21:34

Your telling me OrmIrian! The best of it is she has two keys on a lanyard around her neck, I've just taken one off and put it on her house key ring which stays in her school bag - I thought she'd done that already Grrrr!

Hopefully the skin headed lot won't tease him too much about having to wear a hair band!

DD informed me that Geography wasn't too bad - she'd deemed it boring prior to starting. Apparently the Geog teacher is really nice and that makes it alot less boring in DD opinion. Science today was more experiments and it's the best ever lesson.

roisin · 11/09/2008 21:40

ds1 tells me loads and loads about every day ... it's getting a bit wearing.

He managed to sort out a locker today finally, so he will have somewhere to dump his PE kit after PE lesson first thing tomorrow.

The school seems quite strict (compared to ours) which I'm pleased about. He couldn't find one of his exercise books for a lesson today (found it later in his bag), so he worked on paper. But this evening he had to copy the work out into his exercise book and has to hand it in to the teacher tomorrow morning or break! Also today two students in his class got detention for chewing gum.