Oh! Oh! My firstborn starts secondary school in September. Surely that warrants a support thread?

[Cadelaide]

Am I a bit too early for this?

I mean it's months away yet, isn't it?

for bigTillyMint : www.pogopack.co.uk/pogo-pack

Apparently the toilets at secondary school are great, they have locks & everything

Good lord, I cannot believe i started this thread way back in march and now here we are.

We have survived in this house.

In fact, he's loving it!

re: homework, DS has been quite happy for me to boss him about and tell him suggest he does it on the day it is set. It does seem they really are going to give him homework every night so am hoping having NOTHING to do this weekend because he's done it all will be a good experience so next week when it really kicks in, he'll be more willing.

But I have no fear of being a slavedriver, because left to his own devices, he would do sweet FA... I've told him I'll back off when he shows some maturity about it. I figure that for the first few weeks, if he can feel some kudos about getting it all done, he will not want to slip back from that, rather than the other way round (where he learns quickly that not doing it gets him a detention!)

Really Pixie?

I wouldn't be a high school bus driver for anything in the world. It's my idea of hell.

DS, the boy who had refused to ever do any homework before was asked to think about his favourite person from history and why. So he wrote 200 words on the life of Nelson Mandela. I think he completely missed the point, but hey.

It's about cost, Pixie. The council have contracted a new company (who I presume have bid lower than the coach company) and two routes have been combined, so they now collect and drop off children at another school.

DS seems to be enjoying it now...and even remembers to get off at the right stop, after having a long walk home the first couple of days.

Bus companies can - and do - cancel the school service contract, or cancel the regular bus time/route that attracts the school traffic if behaviour becomes dangerous.

WilfShelf - I agree completely with your approach. Once homework is all done, I keep stressing to the boys how much free time they have and how they can relax and enjoy it, because they know the homework has been bottomed.

miso thanks!

Well, thank God the first week is over (apart from the homework ) DD seems to be getting into her stride now, so hopefully things will settle down a bit!

TheCheeseAlarm or dinosaur did your dc have any history homework?

Dd had a supply teacher and she says they weren't given any homework. She does have a piece of paper with 4 tasks on it but dd insists she wasn't told to do any of them. She doesn't have history until Friday which would be when the hw is due in (if there is any!)

Next week is going to be so different to this week. The lazy little madam didn't do any hw over the weekend so I have to spend my Sunday evening sitting with her making sure it's done properly!

See, that daughter of mine told me she didn't have any to do. I knew that couldn't be true, why would they have given the task paper if it were true!

Okay, we had better get on with some maths work. Think History is due in on Friday so that gives us a few days to waste! I don't know why I am saying 'we', I won't be getting a detention if its not done!

I'm hoping to get top marks for my RS homework.

Finally! First full day is done, dd survived and it went pretty well I think, she said she felt like she had always been at the school. She is getting annoyed at big people shoving her out of the way in the corridors as she tries to work purposefully! A nice boy helped her with her padlock this morning, she has made friends with a few more girls, had fun on the bus going to games (apparently they are allowed to play on their phones then, I am a bit at that), spent break and lunch with some friends, and said her form has to look after their tutor as she is a bit scatty and always late (they had to run to get to assembly this morning and arrived all red faced and puffed out in the serene surroundings of the cathedral ).
And to add to the pressure we learnt that there is an ofsted inspection on wed and thursday this week! There are about 16 new teachers at school so I feel for them...
She then had 2 hours of drama tonight so I think she must have gone to sleep within seconds.
She's only been given one piece of homework in textiles, due in 2 weeks time..... It's supposed to be two pieces a night so let's hope the pace picks up a bit cracks whip

hope everyone else's new year 7 had a good Monday!

oops sorry re weird bold letters! Not what I meant to do...

Sounds like a good day FrogPrincess

DD did some great work tonight. She had to do some homework on decimals and didn't know how to do it. Luckily, I love maths and as a TA, I work everyday helping kids understand their work. I started her off and she flew through the rest and the presentation was very good. She has the last little bit of that to do which won't take long at all.

The history is going to be more time consuming for us, think I'll encourage her to get started on that tomorrow or she won't get it done at all.

She has made a few friends and she has informed me that she likes secondary school a lot more than primary school. I have found out that she has had an argument with the girl she was walking to school with. I don't know what happened but won't push her. They aren't in the same classes as eachother so there isn't really any point trying to push the friendship. DD spends her mornings and lunchtimes in the library. Thats fine by me, as long as she is happy to do so.

Well, dd doesn't like school today as she is being bullied. Those are her words, I am yet to decide if it's a case of bullying. She is scared to walk to or from school but hasn't yet said she doesn't want to go to school.

Dd's version is a girl in her form has told her big sister that dd was mean to her. Big sis has told dd she will pull her hair out if she ever sees her again.
I need to speak to dd again to find out what actually happened and to see if she can deal with it herself or if I need to contact the school. I really didn't need to be dealing with this right now, biut I'll do what I have to
do.

Kid - sorry to hear your DD is unhappy. DS1 lives in the library as well, apparently he plays scrabble every day with his new friend whose name he does not know, but it might begin with an N or perhaps an S or maybe an R. He had a problem with a boy in his science lessons last week but he seems to have resolved it now.

He got all overwhelmed this afternoon as he needed to finish his biography of Colin Jackson tonight but he was given English homework to be in tomorrow as well. He arrived at the school I teach at in tears wondering how he was going to manage it all. I think the exhaustion has set in.

Dino - glad you're getting the PE kit back - I'm sitting here trying to work out the best way for DS1 to carry everything tomorrow to minimise the chance of him leaving his anywhere!

so sorry to hear your DS is srtuggling with the homework TheCheeseAlarm They will do an extension if its needed but not on the day its due in.
The homework seems neverending, so an extension probably isn't that helpful.

Whats the English homework that is due in tomorrow? DD only had to design a T-shirt which is finished. I am just hopeing there wasn't more homework that she failed to mention! She has completed her PE, English and Maths H/W that is all due tomorrow. We She only has 3 more pieces to complete by the 20th, so it finally feels like we can breathe!

I phoned the school tonight for advice on who I should speak to regarding the incident. They have taken it out of my hands and will deal it tomorrow as this is a form of bullying and they don't tolerate bullying at all. I am very happy with their instant response, I don't feel that it was that serious for such a knee jerk reaction, or maybe I am just hoping it would all blow over. DD's problem also started in Science today. Apparently, she pushed this girl and thats why the girl told her big sister. My DD is tiny, I would like to meet this Y9 girl myself, but I know that won't help matters and I am a grown up (apparently )

I think DD knows your son, you said his name started with an O didn't you? Does it end with an R?

DS had to find the definitions of various figures of speech - which he has ended up copying from my grammar exercise book from 1981. We had all the definitions dictated to us - they were such thrilling lessons we had but I'm pleased it's come in useful!

We haven't had any t-shirt designing, perhaps that's yet to come!

Homework issues are compounded by him needing to type everything as he has hypotonia and his writing is painfully slow and spidery. At the moment we only have my work laptop that he can use as he has broken my PC. You wouldn't think his Dad works in IT! We spend our evenings fighting over the laptop.

His name does end in R - I think he knows who your DD is.

I'm glad they're dealing with things so quickly; the head of Year 7 is really nice - I did the hand over with her for all the children going there from the school I teach at - I'm holding off ringing until next week with my long list of things, not least being when is DS1 getting the promised laptop to use in lessons as he's obviously struggling with the written work.

Lets hope they sort the laptop out quickly.

DD was identified as having high indicators of dyslexia at her primary school (who did nothing to help her)
New school have made no contact or mention of any SEN. This worries me slightly but according to their diary, there is a Y7 parents information evening on the 23rd.

Do you know my lovely twin friends at your school (I&Z)? I love them so much and really miss them They used to attend my school a few years ago.

DD is the tiny little one in the class, I'm sure she will stand out to anyone!

I do know I&Z, I've known their mum through another friend for years, as well as knowing them through school. It's a small world.

Your DD's primary school should have passed on any SEN information. I spent about an hour with the Head of Year 7 doing the transition forms for the children we sent. She was really thorough.