Y8-2023/2024

@Lisaquin01 ah hopefully the year 8 group will suit your dc much better.

@ReadyForPumpkins hope she does have a lovely time. I've noticed friendships are still changing, but I guess that is to be expected.

DS school will mix up teaching groups for next year, so it'll be the same form group and teacher but all 4 houses will be shuffled creating new teaching groups.

Last day tomorrow- I'm still shocked as it's flown by. For those that have seen my previous posts, you'll note that DS was home educated during primary, so I was extremely nervous about the transition. School have been brilliant though, hopefully it'll be happy memories 😊

Can I join you? A year 8 one be great....

Y7 feels like it's flown by.

Positives

She has some great friends and has really come out of herself and now has a few different friendship groups through different sports.
She won sportswoman of the year in year 7.
She settled in and is enjoying most things.
She has grown up and matured so much
She learnt lessons from her bad experience at the start of the year

Negatives
Had a awful start with two very unkind girls
She needs to focus more and stop chatting
She needs to understand how strict her school is and that any behaviour that is different to the "school way" will not be tolerated. (Or at least how to have fun without getting in trouble!)

@CouldNotStayAway as you were the OP (albeit name changed!) do you want to see if you can contact MNHQ to get the title changed (perhaps if it mentions Y8 2023-24 it will help people to find the right year group?) If MNHQ say no, it will have to be a new thread.

It's great that some more lovely people have found the group: welcome @troppibambini6 and anyone else I've missed! I have found it so helpful to hear the similarities between our DC's experiences, and the different approaches taken by the various schools.

@troppibambini6 glad you found the thread.
It's been nice to see how things have developed for lots of year 7s. Of course, reading the negatives has been sad, and some dc have had it a lot harder. I'm hoping the new academic year will be much better for all :)

@LetItGoToRuin I've messaged requesting change of title, would be nice to keep this going as dc make their way through secondary school years.

New title is a bit scary! 😂

Well done for getting it changed, @CouldNotStayAway!

DD is now home for the summer - Y7 is over in this house :)

Thank you for the name change. Both my DC are home and summer has started. Looking forward to the 6 week break.

All done and dusted here too 😁

@LetMeJustCheckMyCitrusPocket how are things going for your DD? Sorry if I've missed your update?

Great to see all the positive updates. My DD has settled in so much better - more clubs after school really helped. And the school's weird quirks are now met with eye-rolls from me rather than stressing out....

I'd love to join this group.

I was quite apprehensive about my dd starting Y7 as she has mild SEN and I felt primary friends had been growing apart as she was quite young for her age.

Well she is at a 300+ intake school so she has found her tribe. She seems to have lots of friends (although she does flit from person to person which may cause issues later)

She's really grown up and is a lot more independent.

Checking back in, I posted some considerable while ago last but would like to hang on in for year 8. I've been reading everyone's updates, commiserations to those who had a tough start and we'll done for supporting your DC through yr 7, we made it!

Dd has loved her school, dealing with public transport was her hardest thing, especially longish journeys meaning leaving and getting home in the dark in the winter months but she has absolutely thrived on everything her school have offered and cannot wait to get back to year 8. Onwards and upwards! (Now off to join the new year 7 chat too as DC 2 starts in September 😆)

Welcome to the new members 👋

@ElvenDreamer lovely to hear from you, I remember your posts from 11+ (for the now to be y8s!). Great to hear your dd has enjoyed her year, and hopefully it'll be a positive experience for your DS too.

Hope all the dc have a lovely much deserved summer break.

@MaitreKarlsson glad to hear your dd is doing well. I don't know if I was just a bit blasé or secondary schools have always been like this 😂
I do believe social media has made things a little tricky. Nevertheless it's nice to hear about dc who have managed to get through the first year 😊

@ISaySteadyOn hope your dd has been much happier, and is enjoying home Ed 😊

@LetMeJustCheckMyCitrusPocket hope your dd has been happier too, and things have been easier for her.

How is it looking on the uniform front? I don't think we need to buy anything, but I think I'll have to do a double check nearer the end of the holidays.

@CouldNotStayAway and @MaitreKarlsson thank you both so much for asking. We have had many ups and downs over the year but have persevered and are not looking to change school. They have been supportive and despite everything DD did well academically, but our priority is her happiness above all else and we need to see how year 8 goes. The forms have been changed around and she was happy with her new form group so I am crossing everything for the new school year but at the same time am expecting there will be difficult times ahead too. We haven't progressed any further with a possible ASD diagnosis, life has taken over in other ways, but I do think we need to pursue this.

It's been great to read that so many of your DC are so much more settled, and it's been good to see that and I keep telling myself that it's an ongoing process.

Best of luck to everyone for a smooth start to year 8!

@LetMeJustCheckMyCitrusPocket hoping year 8 will be much better for your dd

Last week before it's back to school, we've had a lovely summer holiday, and now I'm panic mode with uniform/stationary etc 😂

Hoping year 8 will be smooth sailing for all the dc 😊

Last night DD declared she could really do with a new pe bag as hers was too big for locker really... weve been near the shops so many times over the holidays why now!

Also...Wilko has stationery reduced.

@PuttingDownRoots why do they always do this to us

Think we are all sorted although dd told me she needs an umbrella in fact she said you may as well a few as I always lose them. Fabulous!

Everyone ready for the return? We’re off to do some stationery shopping as somehow I neglected to educate my child that September = shiny new pencil cases. Buying back to school stationery is surely the highlight of the year?

Ready and waiting here, DD can't wait to get back and is excitedly waiting for the timetable to appear online. We have been labelling some colourful new folders ready for the new subjects that will be started (science will be separated out now and Latin starts this year.)

Well, I thought I was doing ok, until we tried football boots and trainers. Turns out they're too small. Had a run around sports direct and typical, can't find the sizes 🤦🏽‍♀️
Had to order from Amazon, so hopefully they should be ok, have until Tuesday to sort it all out ready for Wednesday.

The timetable was sent Friday. The forms remain the same, but the teaching groups are new. DS knows which boys from his form will be with him, and the rest will be from other forms.

@RosieRiveting that was the only thing I loved about going back to school 😂 the stationary shopping!

@ElvenDreamer sounds exciting, Latin seems to be a hit in this house, think DS has already decided that will be one of the subjects he will continue with.

No timetable yet... but not due back to Tuesday.

Managed to get a smaller Pe bag while buying younger DDs shoes.

DD is ready to go back!

@PuttingDownRoots ah that's good.
I managed to get stationary from Tesco, but your post reminded me to pop into wilkos (most shelves were empty, but they do have a good stationary selection).

Back to school on Wednesday here.

Wednesday here too, just for a half day. They do timetables on the day and settle them into forms, then start properly the following day. Currently mine is hoping she doesn’t end up with double maths last period again. She likes maths but always having it as the last lesson when tiredness is kicking in was killing her enjoyment!