Recommendations for ks3 books

[Moonsun]

Hello
Elder DS is starting year 7 this year, I am looking for recommendations for textbooks for KS3 maths , science and English as school doesn't use textbooks. They use worksheets and photocopied pages. Any ideas?



Thanks!!

[ToadMum]

Hello
Elder DS is starting year 7 this year, I am looking for recommendations for textbooks for KS3 maths , science and English as school doesn't use textbooks. They use worksheets and photocopied pages. Any ideas?


Save trees and use sites such as BBC Bitesize as a backup?

Thanks!!

[Guest55]

No need for KS3 texts ...

[Walthams]

I am posting this query on behalf of a friend whose child started year 7 this September in an average comprehensive. The mum says the school also doesn't seem to be using any textbooks. She is worried that it will from the start create gaps in children's knowledge which later (closer to gcse's) will get too large to close. She would prefer if the school set or at least encouraged some reading from the textbooks to get the children into the habit of gaining their knowledge and understanding from books (especially in sciences). Her child is bright and definitely able, missed a grammar school place by a couple of points and mum fears that, with her child being in an average comprehensive, the gap between her dc and kids, say, in grammar schools, will be widening over time and will be impossible to bridge once gcse's approach. Due to budget limitations, she is not considering supplementing school with extra tuition closer to gcses or at any other time, so she would like to be reassured that her child will be on the right track from the outset and is prepared to encourage her dc to do whatever is needed at home. The question she wants to ask of parents of kids attending well-performing grammar schools: were your kids expected to read their science textbooks in year 7? For instance, if they were learning about atoms, were they expected to do reading of that chapter from the textbook at home? I would really appreciate feedback. It would be v interesting to hear from parents of kids from various grammars, to get an idea of how much is expected of children in terms of independent work at home. If not in year 7, from which year were the kids actively expected to read their textbooks thoroughly? It would be v interesting to see if different grammar schools have different approaches as well. Thank you.

[loobylou]

My children are at, fwiw, a high performing selective school. They have had a maths text book at times (in KS3) and language text books but no other text books at all. They get work sheets printed out, they do work on line, they don't seem to need text books. I think it's all just different from how it was when we were at school!
I would advise her not to worry. Now dd is in her GCSE years and still doesn't have text books other than a language one.

[Amber]

I actually don't know what my lot had or have! I don't think there were many text books knocking around in the early years at all. I think there were some at GCSE...I suggest that your friend stops worrying to be honest as the school will not let the children fall behind the curriculum. There won't be a 'gap' which will 'widen' or be 'impossible to bridge' - it doesn't work like that. Able children in all-ability schools do just as well as those in GS.

[Reading Mum]

I looked at one of the text books DD got and it was from the 70s. She was doing fuels cells at the time - it had a comment that one day, in the future, cars might run on batteries!!
There is so much better, and more up to date, material online that text books are pretty obsolete.

[Surferfish]

Hello
Elder DS is starting year 7 this year, I am looking for recommendations for textbooks for KS3 maths , science and English as school doesn't use textbooks. They use worksheets and photocopied pages. Any ideas?

Thanks!!

I'd recommend the CGP books Moonsun.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/KS3-Science-St ... 246&sr=8-6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Perhaps I'm just terribly old fashioned, but personally I think there are times when a single, well written, (up-to-date) text book with an index, is preferable to having to search for information online, or referring to a pile of dog-eared, photocopied hand-outs which invariably get lost. (Perhaps some of you are lucky enough to have DCs who keep their hand-outs in neat, well organised files that they can easily refer to, but that's not my experience!)

[Amber]

Trouble is, the material in CGP or whatever might not be the same syllabus as the school is following. Imho it is better to ask the school if you aren't sure.

And if a Y7 or Y8 child doesn't make adequate notes and crashes in end of year exams at that stage, they will learn the lessons and do better next time. I know this from experience. Works a treat - far better than filling the house with expensive revision guides.

[Surferfish]

I agree that it's worth checking with the school if there's a particular guide they'd recommend.

That said I still think a text book/revision guide provides invaluable additional support for any pupil however good and well organised their own personal notes may be.

Wouldn't necessarily recommend buying guides for every single KS3 subject but the English/Maths/Science guides I linked to can be purchased for £12.55 for all 3. The science one is particularly useful. Well worth every penny and the couple of inches of bookshelf space they take up IMO, compared to all the other things schools seem to expect parents to fork out for!