11 Plus Exams Forum

My Dd has just started at CLGS. She has settled in well and joined lots of clubs etc. The journey has been ok and she seems to be getting use to the commute. Big challenge is developing her organisational skills.

How have other parents found the transition?

southgate dad wrote:My Dd has just started at CLGS. She has settled in well and joined lots of clubs etc. The journey has been ok and she seems to be getting use to the commute. Big challenge is developing her organisational skills.

How have other parents found the transition?

Give it time. Good schools seem to know how to help children grow into their responsibilities, recognising they're not yet adults. Even punishments / corrections / sanctions like detentions and low marks can be positive: serving to trigger better.
That said, there should probably be fairly firm order and discipline comng from home in order encourage and model best practice - which means the pressure is on us adults too.

I find my son has grown leaps and bounds this past year at secondary. We chart and diarize almost everything, but he makes sure his equipment and homework are ready, and he's enjoying school; it's a pretty well organised and safe environment, but he's improving in real-world situations as well.

Mine is at Habs and seems to have settled down very well. The challenge for us has been the early wake ups and the longer journey to school as her last school was 7 mins away. But seems to be coping and really enjoying school and the variety of clubs on offer.

DS is at Hampton and settled in pretty well. Gets on with his homework every night and is very organised with bag packed and ready so no complaints there! Sports are great - fantastic level of coaching in football and cricket especially, and the lunchtime clubs are going well.

Compared with Primary school he now feels surrounded by equally(+) bright boys so feels that if he doesn't understand something in class then he will quickly fall behind - so I've had to help him a couple of times get up to speed with something that he hasn't quite grasped which has stopped his slight panic about that. He will ask questions in class when he doesn't get something which is good to hear.

Plonker has managed to miss the school bus twice now after football in games as he is too slow at getting changed, and I've had to go and get him; so needs to sort that out.

Lost and recovered a few items, including leaving books behind in class, sports kit on the bus, guitar on the bus. All were recovered quite efficiently which was a relief!

Thanks to everyone who responded. I am glad to hear that our experiences are not unique.

For us, DD has adjusted reasonably well from a small primary to a much larger secondary school, although the pace (35-minute periods) has been an eye opener. At the same time, she enjoys the stimulating academic setting, including motivated classmates who make clever contributions.

DD is friendly with her classmates but has not yet formed any deep friendship. She is making gradual progress to be more organised (not her strength).

The commute (50 min door to door) has been smoother than expected (DD feels comfortable travelling alone to school, with us worrying less as a few older girls on the same train have befriended her) but it does consume a fair amount of time. Add in homework (again, a big change from DD's primary school) and music practice and DD is left with very little free time each day to just relax and stare into space.

If there is any ambivalence on my part, it is the level of busyness that an 11 year old is subjected to (I wish DD could enjoy a carefree childhood for a few more years).

Agree

DS started at CLS with a fairly long commute of 60 min door to door when it goes well, but on a couple of occasions due to signalling problems on the tube the journey was longer and he was late to school. He now leaves at 7am (6:20 on Wednesdays for football training) and comes back home between 5:15-5:30pm (6:30-7pm on matches days). Add 30-60 min of homework and he is now a ghost of himself, watching mind bugling stupid mine craft or football you tubes videos until he crashes into bed, having said 2-3 words at most all evening. I hope he will perk up. These are long days for 11 yo...

Bazelle wrote:DS started at CLS with a fairly long commute of 60 min door to door when it goes well, but on a couple of occasions due to signalling problems on the tube the journey was longer and he was late to school. He now leaves at 7am (6:20 on Wednesdays for football training) and comes back home between 5:15-5:30pm (6:30-7pm on matches days). Add 30-60 min of homework and he is now a ghost of himself, watching mind bugling stupid mine craft or football you tubes videos until he crashes into bed, having said 2-3 words at most all evening. I hope he will perk up. These are long days for 11 yo...

Yeah that's a long day. Too long. DS leaves at 7.45am for the bus to Hampton at 7.55 and it takes 20-35 minutes depending on traffic. Coming home it leaves at 4.15pm and he's home by 4.50-5. They have a long lunch so he has football training Weds lunch for a As/Bs and also on Friday in games. Friday matches don't finish too late as they are partly during games but not had an away one yet! I'd put homework at 1-2 hours so far also.

Have to tell you mine are still completely pooped at the start of year 8! They are august born anyway. One has an hour on the bus, gets up at 6.15 and leaves at 7.30, back at 5.10 or so.

The other gets up at 6.25 and leaves at 8am. Back at 4.30 and is taken and fetched from a different school (in totally opposite direction!)

Both (twins) go to bed at about 8.30 with lights out at 9. This is not enough sleep in my opinion but I can't persuade them to go to bed any earlier.

Then I have an hour and I'm completely pooped! I get up at 5.45, ferry everyone around, work, big long dog walk (tick for exercise!) and then general home stuff. I never realised how exhausted I was going to be. Not complaining as we chose it and love the schools, but we are a very tired family.