Does your Secondary school aged child wear a coat to school?

Spendless

thatgirlsam wrote: »

My dd has been doing tests this week so I bet they sort out the class abilities quite quickly and get them in sets

After all, the lessons can't start properly until they have got that sorted

That's what I find strange. I could understand it more if they were doing every class with their form until they'd sorted tests out, but DS is already in different sets but is doing more tests to stream them again, perhaps in a few weeks? It's just so alien from my own schooldays (which admittedly were several years ago). I have decided I need to sneak in to a 'yr 6 preparing for Secondary school' meeting and ask the relevant questions that I didn't know to ask last year. :rotfl:

thatgirlsam

Spendless wrote: »

That's what I find strange. I could understand it more if they were doing every class with their form until they'd sorted tests out, but DS is already in different sets but is doing more tests to stream them again, perhaps in a few weeks? It's just so alien from my own schooldays (which admittedly were several years ago). I have decided I need to sneak in to a 'yr 6 preparing for Secondary school' meeting and ask the relevant questions that I didn't know to ask last year. :rotfl:

dd told me that they have streamed them from their yr6 sats results, as a guide

They will test again to move those not in the correct sets I presume?

pigpen

Spendless wrote: »

So when do they stream them from the cats pigpen? I know that they have done some tests in English this week. Mainly because I was informed by the mother of a girl in his year as she walked past my house yesterday and we started chatting and then DS dropped it into conversation this morning.

Within the first month definitely.. depends how many children there are and how long it takes to sort them into classes.. DS2 was done before he started.. but they only have 2 classes per year group

they appear to band them based on their SATs results initially which is why so few children seem to be shifted about after the CATs.. it is to minimise disruption to the classes but some children do significantly better or worse and need moving. It is about as foolproof as they can get it I think and the moves are made so early they dont really seem to be too affected by it.

DS3 started last year in the bigger school with 8 tutor groups and they were sorted in the third week.

that will be the CATs he has done, so he may find he is moved classes according to his ability.. or rather his understanding of the subject not so much his potential

DD2 is in yr 10 and doing OMAM.. DD1 did The Great Gatsby as well.. which is the most incredibly dull piece of text ever.. Id rather read the phone book! She did Jane Eyre as well IIRC... and she hated all of them lol

gratefulforhelp_2

I LOVE the Bunsen licence idea, and I'm stealing it. About the coats, though, how do these mad policies show respect for the students? I would ask that question of the school if my child was subjected to "no coats no bags" inside - if it's true, it's bonkers.

Savvy_Sue

gratefulforhelp wrote: »

I LOVE the Bunsen licence idea, and I'm stealing it. About the coats, though, how do these mad policies show respect for the students? I would ask that question of the school if my child was subjected to "no coats no bags" inside - if it's true, it's bonkers.

I think the argument would go that it's a serious H&S issue if every child has a coat which then gets left on the floor / under the desk or chair / in a heap in the corner / trailing over the floor from the back of their chair.

Therefore I think that most schools say "there are lockers available, and coats must be left in them, rather than carried around the school creating trip hazards".

To which most pupils respond "blow that for a game of soldiers, I'm not spending half my life to-ing and fro-ing to a locker, I'll leave my coat at home!"

You may find this incredible, but not long after I'd done H&S training and discovered that trips slips and falls were a if not the major cause of accidents in the workplace, I then tripped over our recycling box at home. I broke my shoulder so badly that I've had to have half of it replaced. Call me neurotic, but I've now got a healthy respect for trip hazards and tend to 'create' when I see one at work, especially if it's one which has no business being there! Just last week there was a cardigan, a coat and a bag all left to ambush me near the kettle!

thegirlintheattic

pigpen wrote: »

I was very proud of myself today.. DD2 came home and said she needed the book Of Mice and Men for school.. and I knew exacly where our copy was and went straight to it.. then she said she needed a folder .. I said do you mean a ring binder?.. she said no.. one of those folders with metal rings for your work.. Dopey child.. erm yeah.. a ring binder!!! So I went upstairs and got her one out of my stash! She was not happy.. she thought she was getting money for shopping! lol

Maybe this is why I get a blank look when I mention ring binders - wonder what the yoof term for them is!

Our Year 7s are taught in form groups, there is a lower ability form which contains all the kids with statements and extremely low KS2 levels from their primary teachers. In my previous school, KS2 levels were used for loose setting in Year 7.

GobbledyGook

gratefulforhelp wrote: »

About the coats, though, how do these mad policies show respect for the students? I would ask that question of the school if my child was subjected to "no coats no bags" inside - if it's true, it's bonkers.

I agree. My elder daughter is 9 and I can already forsee fights with the secondary school she is likely to end up at.

They have no lockers (they were removed and the rooms that housed them are now teaching space), but have a "no bags in classrooms, no coats inside the building" policy. Given that they insist you buy a £40 school bag and that you pay for any books that go missing there's no way my daughter is leaving hers lying about a corridor.

If you are going to insist on no coats worn inside then you give them somewhere to put them. Given that kids round here have a 2 bus or bus/train journey then on a cold, wet winters day then they should be able to take a coat. Especially given that staff have space in the staffroom to hang their coats.

jellyhead

No bags inside? That sounds harsh! What's wrong with them putting their bag under their own desk?

My son's school has a no coats rule but you are allowed to carry the coat around, you just can't wear it indoors.