Y8-2023/2024

It has been such a long term, but DD seems to have retained most of her energy and humour, which is good! They finish on Friday lunchtime.

Termly reports came out yesterday, and the school has simplified the system so all we are told is that DD hands her homework in on time and her effort and attainment are good. I guess that’s good news, but it's not very interesting!

Have a restful break, everyone.

DC school has also simplified the report and now it's similar to what they have at primary. A simple meeting expectations. It's not helpful at all. Previously, they have score indicating where DC sits in the distribution of the class. Then at least I can see how she performed compared to other kids.

@ReadyForPumpkins did this score tell a student they are 13th in the class etc? Literally a list in order of attainment? Was this per subject or overall? How did it work with subjects that have sets? Did you get their rank in the class and their rank in the year?

At a friend’s independent secondary they give the student’s percentage, the class highest percentage achieved and the median percentage, which feels to be useful data.

At DD’s school they actively discourage any comparisons between the students. It’s a girls’ state grammar and I assume it’s a policy designed with the girls’ mental health in mind. They don’t even receive scores on their test results – they get the marked paper back without the result totalled up (though it is of course possible to go through and count.)

In last year's termly reports teachers could indicate how strong your DC was in their subject (good / very good / exceptional) though that felt a bit subjective. Now we’re told that ‘secure’ is all we need to know.

We will just have to trust the system!

I realised yesterday thatvDD actually has a lesson with the headteacher every week. I had seen the name on the timetable but it hadn't twigged!😂

Initially I thought it seemed odd that the headteacher is teaching Yr7 and Yr8 Food technology... but it actually means she teaches every Yr7 and Yr8 pupil over the year. Must be a good way to meet them all in a relatively relaxed environment.

Term finishes in two more hours. All DD has today is a rehearsal final performance of part of the school musical in front of the whole school this time.

@PuttingDownRoots that's amazing!

The head of Y7 at DD's school teaches all the girls Personal Development in their first year - and she is the most approachable person ever, so that really helps them to settle.

The headteacher, however, is not approachable at all! At school events she gives a good speech and smiles and welcomes people, but I have never seen her chat with a parent (or even a teacher!) in a natural and relaxed way. DD reports that the girls are a bit scared of her as she stands and looks in classes but never engages. The other week, DD came home very pleased because the headteacher spotted her in the library one lunchtime, surrounded by books, and looked her in the eye and smiled at her! That's as good as it gets!

I have explained to DD that the headteacher is probably socially quite shy, and DD should do her best to smile at her and be natural and friendly. Maybe one day they will have a conversation, but I'm not holding my breath! I also explained to DD that there is a lot more to being a headteacher than chatting to people, and she is probably brilliant at running a school. I've no reason to think that isn't the case.

The Head at my DD's school teaches but I'm not sure what subject. I know DD hasn't had her, she seems very nice though.

So glad it's the holidays now. Boo to the Maths teacher who set homework, nobody else seems to have done so thankfully.

@LetItGoToRuin DC is in a large state school with 300 a year. Last year they get the position of their score in a subject in a distribution chart. The graph also shows the range of scores for 50% of the students. Not an absolute position, and much more useful statistics. Given the large cohort, it eliminates the outliers effect too.

I suspect it takes a lot of time to do the reports this way and that’s why they dropped it.

Amazing and so useful, lucky you. I guess it not that hard to input the data in Excel and take out the outliers for the smaller size schools.

The holidays seemed to have flown by, and first week back has been ok so far.

We have options evening next week, and then ds will submit choices at the end of the month. DS is undecided with his choices, and is considering doing two languages (French and German), alongside design technology and geography (but also enjoys art, food and nutrition and doesn't mind Latin 😂).

@CouldNotStayAway I can't believe your DS has to make choices so soon! Will this be for the start of Y9? Will all the other subjects stop at that point (apart from PE, presumably) or will some be taught, but less frequently?

DD commented that, as soon as she was in the form room on the first day back, it was a though she'd never had a break at all. Not sure whether that is a good thing or a bad thing!

I think we have to make choices next month. In my DD school they add the new subjects and just drop art & food tech (unless it's an option) to make way for the extra lessons.

Then in y10 after having done new subjects for a year they make a final decision - so say they added sociology or economics they can drop it if they don't like it but would have to pick for example both of history and geography instead of just one to take to gcse.

They are not allowed to add any new subjects in y10 - you could not drop economics and add sociology for example as you have already started the course.

Patents evening in just over a week... and DH will finally actually see part of the school!!

Choices this term here, they start in Y9 and the subjects they don’t choose are dropped never to be seen again. My DD can’t wait to see the back of some of them!

@LetItGoToRuin I had initially assumed the subjects they don't choose are never to be seen again in year 9, however I was off the mark on that one 😂

They will all have to continue with all subjects in year 9, but the timetables will be designed so that the 'non chosen' subjects take up less time during the week. They will also have the first term of year 9 to make changes, and allow the students to switch if they'd like.

School have emailed to let us know the boys will have an assembly on Monday explaining everything in detail, and hopefully the options evening will make things clearer.

@Fluffycloudsfloatinginthesky that sounds interesting, also sounds like they have access to a wider range of subjects.

@RosieRiveting think DS would have liked it if they could drop the other subjects. Makes it feel so close to GCSEs yet they're only year 8 🥴

We dont do options till year 9 here either

DD will defiantly take PE and she already chose French

How has the second term of Y8 gone? DD just has the rest of this week to go here.

This short term has really flown by. However, DD is really in need of the Easter break, as the homework has really ramped up in the past month.

I am hopeful that it has just been some bad luck with a cluster of pieces that have just taken slightly longer, coupled with yet another round of tests for most subjects. I don't think DD is struggling with the work, but the volume has just caught her out a bit, and for the past three weeks or so, she's been pretty fully committed during the weekdays from when she gets home from school to when she goes to bed. That's on top of music practice and a couple of other activities.

It has just started to get her down that she hasn't had half an hour to herself during the week, so we're keeping an eye out on the mental health front - issuing lots of praise and also reminding her that things don't have to be perfect.

I actually don't think the homework has been excessive - I just think it has been quite light until now! Anyway, the break will be much welcomed.

How is everyone else getting on?

Having just read back a few pages, I am very pleased to say that the friendship issues DD experienced in Y7 and just into Y8 are much improved. She had realised that her initial group of friends weren't really her people, but didn't want to upset them by abandoning them, but has managed gradually to pull away from these friends. Meanwhile, she has formed new friendships in her new teaching group, and seems to be really happy with these girls. She also feels generally liked and respected in her teaching group, which just didn't quite happen in her form group (which was her teaching group for Y7.)

So she finally feels as though she has found her place and her tribe - other than in her form group, which unfortunately contains some characters she struggles to be herself with.

We're encouraging her to make the most of Y8 with this nice teaching group, as they'll mix them all up again in Y9...

I am having a bit of a nightmare at the moment. My y8 is getting endless behaviour points for a whole range of stupid stuff. It's been since about October - she was perfectly behaved last school year.

I suspect she has adhd - school have agreed to do classroom observation.

I am fortunately to have private healthcare through work for the whole family so if they do agree to a referral I can hopefully get it done soon.

If they don't I think I will pay out my own pocket - her dad reached the top of his waiting list and was diagnosed with it today so there is definitely family history!

I'm glad friendships are better now @LetItGoToRuin and I totally hear you on the extra curricular/ hw. DD takes on waaay too much, gives it her absolute all, and then is very tired and grumpy! Any suggestions that she dials it back a bit is met with absolute outrage 😆 On the whole though yr 8 is going well, thankfully no options for us until yr 9.

That's great that things are more settled for your DD now @LetItGoToRuin and long may that continue.

After my last more positive post in December, as predicted I am now eating my words as my DD is finding school life hard again. Not sure if this is the pattern of how things will go from now on, but she finds the social side quite difficult to navigate and we're starting the ASD assessment process.

Hoping everyone else is more settled and getting on okay though and that things improve for those who may still have their struggles.

@Fluffycloudsfloatinginthesky my daughter is constantly getting behaviour points too, and I am getting regular phone calls from school. It's really starting getting me down, I dread the time in the afternoon when the Behaviour Digest emails usually come in, argh. In primary school everybody always said what a delight she was, but that seems to gone completely the other way now. She also does virtually no home learning, and the tiny bit she does do is only because I nag nag nag her all the time. It's so draining. I too am wondering whether there is something else going on as on her dad's side of the family a few family members have ADHD

@RaisingMissDaisy

She got about 1 in y7 and was terrified at getting any. Now she's like I don't care. She has a really bad influence friend. She does join in but doesn't walk away so gets tarred with bad behaviour. She also gets really stressy and rude when she gets worked up and worried and that doesn't help. She also doesn't like upsetting people so would rather wait for a friend who is running late than say sorry I need to go so I'm not late!

I am hoping the wait list for school assesment isn't too long so we can get underway.

@RaisingMissDaisy I would pay that and ask for assesment in school.

I went to this talk on parenting teens with suspected adhd and it was her to a tee.

@Fluffycloudsfloatinginthesky I may have to go down that route too. It makes me quite sad listening to her talk about school, she seems to enjoy nothing and hate everybody, or at least all the teachers, except a couple. She feels picked on by them, but I fear by now she has got herself a bit of a reputation for being disruptive and, I am afraid, disrespectful, which doesn't help. She doesn't want to accept that at school the teachers have authority over her and ARE allowed to tell her what to do - that that is, in fact, their job. It's quite baffling really. I keep hoping maybe it's just a phase, raging hormones and all that.. We are likely having a meeting with the school in the next few weeks, will see what that brings.