Finishing yr 6 starting yr 7 - useful to know (a year on).

arbrighton

From the point of view of a former Y7 tutor:
1) name on everything. Key on string sounds like a good idea. Expect things to be lost/ 'borrowed'
2) Encourage child to write down homework or ask for help noting it down and get into habit of not 'forgetting to do it' or leaving big pieces til last minute.
3) Encourage child to become more independent, e.g. packing correct books, checking they have their stationery
4) Level x at primary school in SATS may be inflated. In Science, it is almost totally unrelated. Do not be surprised if there are assessments to develop a baseline level for your child.

Lunar_Eclipse

arbrighton wrote: »

4) Level x at primary school in SATS may be inflated.

It can also go the other way though, for the more able students who are capped at level 5 in the Y6 SATS (yet then achieve level 6/7 when retested at the beginning of Y7.)

arbrighton

sorry, it posted before I finished, and this is possibly key
Your child's form tutor is there to help them settle in, and will try to follow up any concerns you let them know of, via message in planner or phone message, but they probably teach another 270+ children as well, and your child will have 10+ teachers each week. If it is a subject problem, we probably have to talk to that teacher, and maybe SENCO, at a time when neither one of us is teaching or in a meeting. It may not be that day. But we will try our best.
Also, from 11 onwards, please try to get child to talk to us about problems first. If it is too big/ persists, by all means contact.

arbrighton

Lunar_Eclipse wrote: »

It can also go the other way though, for the more able students who are capped at level 5 in the Y6 SATS (yet then achieve level 6/7 when retested at the beginning of Y7.)

true, although from science point of view, which was my subject, usually students found their level would drop slightly and cause all sorts of upsets

Lunar_Eclipse

arbrighton wrote: »

true, although from science point of view, which was my subject, usually students found their level would drop slightly and cause all sorts of upsets

I didn't know that, but I am aware that the levels effectively change so it makes sense. I think you basically need to do better on a test in Y7, than in Y6, to achieve the same SATS level, so with a long Summer holiday between Y6 SATS and starting secondary school, I'm not surprised. Not sure why it would cause lots of upset though - allows more room for student progress!

anniemf2508

As others have said take the uniform list with a pinch of salt....ask parents with older children at the school what uniform is essential.
On my daughters list was hockey boots, hockey stick and shin pads. In the 18 months she was there they never once played hockey.
She has changed schools now and they do play hockey but its on astroturf so still doesn't need the boots...think they'll be going on ebay

Spendless

Just thought I'd bump this as with 2 days left to go of yr 7, within the last couple of hours my DS left the pupil page open on his school website, which gives him his info such as his timetable (very helpful since he lost his planner 2 weeks ago!) and what do I see but a report bullying sign that you just click on and it informs school and a member of staff will speak to child about their problem. Considering we had issues in this area earlier on this year and only found out when I was signing DS's planner and found 2 pages of incidences he'd written down, that would def have been handy to know that he/we could have reported on-line. So check the school's website out including the pupil zone.

thegirlintheattic

CH27 wrote: »

If they get a school bus make sure they know how to get home if the bus breaks down or doesn't turn up.
Ensure the have enough emergancy money to enable them to get home of the above happens.

If it is school provided transport this should never mean your DC has to pay to get home. We stay with out kids until the bus either turns up or a replacement is sent out. On rare occasions staff have taken pupils home in cars.

My two cents as a Year 7 teacher:
- Don't believe the 'we don't need that', 'not got any homework' etc. generally not true. Had one surprised parent at parents evening when she found out her DS had been telling her he had no homework when he had it every three weeks.

- Lots of stationary and a pencil case (again, even if they say they don't need one). I'm forever giving pens out!

- Names on everything

- Copy of timetable at home.

- Place at home to keep books, sheets of paper etc.

- E-mail teachers, don't call. You'll get a quicker reply that way.

- Check school pages and website for important information.

Poppy9

When DD went into Y7 I had a list from school of essential items - in addition to uniform.

Luckily I had family who had attended the school so didn't buy the atlas, language dictionaries, art sketch books, sketching pencils. Passed this info. onto friends throughout the years as they are still on the list.

Language dictionaries not really needed until GCSE as there are some fab language sites online.

One thing that is essential is the recommended calculator as it means all the class are using the same one so teacher can teach them all how to use it.

Uniform ask friends. I didn't buy bathing suit and try to find out what sports they are doing in first term as boys especially who need more PE kit can have outgrown their kit before they have had a lesson.

Don't bother with a school coat as it's not cool to wear one for the first 4 years:rotfl:

Get used to girls wearing their trousers dragging on floor and being worn torn!

Put some food/drink in their bag the first few weeks where they might be too intimidated to go in for lunch if in a big school.

Be prepared for them learning a whole new vocabulary from the dining room! They do grow up quick!

Don't send girls to school with "little girl hairstyles"

If they are nervous about changing for PE in front of other girls give them some tips on how to do it quickly while protecting their [STRIKE]vest[/STRIKE] modesty!

Ask them every evening if they have homework before they go into slouch mood so they are not rushing it 10 minutes before bed. They soon get in habit of getting it out of the way. Decide on HW day at weekend and stick to it. DD chose Sunday as she liked having Friday/Saturday off.

Don't do their homework/projects for them. It's time for them to go it alone:p

Don't stand outside school to meet them at the end of the day. In fact learn the art of being invisible as parents are no longer cool:D

chewynut

One thing that always got me when I was at secondary school is remembering items that live in your blazer on non-uniform days. Every single time I forgot my bus pass, diary and lunch card thing because I never took them out.

Also, ensuring that if they do forget their timetable, they know how to find out where they need to be. There's nothing worse than that frantic rush between all the places you might be to find the one room you should be in (especially when the school is as large as mine was. We're talking a good mile round trip if you didn't know where you were supposed to be).

Deaf and partially deaf children will probably need new programmes on their hearing aids to cope with the level of noise. I gave up on mine after a month of headaches. In hindsight I have no idea how I coped :eek:

A decent calculator isn't needed until you get to GCSE level. Most of the time you end up using it to demonstrate the 8008 joke. And your compass is for stabbing things.