11 Plus Exams Forum

Hello Everyone

My DS is starting Yr 7 at Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar school in Sept 2013. Any tip/advice from Parents of current students would be highly appreciated .
Thanks

I'm afraid I just wanted to say hi. I'm in the same boat as you, having a DS starting in September. I went to the New Parents' Evening yesterday. It was good to meet his form tutor and find out about the induction day next week. At least when he goes, he will know the name of his teacher and what he looks like! DS rather excited now and looking forward to next week, as most of his class mates have already had their's.

Btw pleased to see that there was no difficulty parking, unlike last year's open evening.

Hi Bromleymum1 ,good to know that we are in the same boat. I agree with you that parking was not a hassle this time as i was quite pleased to find a parking space in the school. The school transition plan looks great . Ds is also quite excited to attend the induction day on Monday.

I'm sure your DC's will love it. Highly recommend the team building day early September. DD is now year 8 and is still loving it. It is a great school. We can not fault it. Desperate for DD2 to get in now. Enjoy this very exciting transition time!

All the best.

I would certainly echo what has been said , it is a very good school and any child will do well there if they apply themselves to study and the teachers will support them. Log into the parent portal if you have a user name and password and click on extra curricular activities to download the list of after school activities - loads of them . Do not rely on your dd to tell you about what's on offer as they will not !

If you can afford it , worth booking them on one or two trips abroad as they have some exciting trips for each year group . If you feel brave enough , the trip to Barbados is ONLY £1700 . Other trips are reasonably priced and ds2 really enjoyed his and I am now thinking of moving ds1 to Chis and Sid if they will have him!!!

Many thanks for your supportive messages. My DS loves the idea of going to Barbados - looks like I need to start saving! My DD is going to Germany in a weeks time, plus school trips already in the planning for Belgium and Rome next year.

Could anyone confirm that they are allowed mobile phones. I think I read somewhere that they aren't allowed them, but a friend said that they can take in a phone, as long as it's turned off on the school premises.

Also, sad person that I am, can anyone tell me what type of bags are generally used by boys and really sad person that I am, are fountain pens used a lot by dc or do they prefer rollerball types? At the moment, I expect this is more important to me than DS, but I like to be prepared!

Finally, do they really get one and half hours of homework a night in Year 7?

Thanks

Hi cgs19

DS really liked transition booklet, he feels much happier now he knows what will happen on Monday and which class he is in. I like the fact that they will get a buddy that they can go to if they need to, for advice etc...

Hope your DC enjoys himself on Monday.

Thankyou Merlinfromcamelot and Lefol for your valuable suggestions.
@bromleymum1 Fingers crossed for Monday.Hope your Dc enjoys as well. The transition booklet gave a good idea about the whole induction process. About the homework timetable i confirmed it with my DS form tutor that the students input per homework should be not more than 25 mins.

Cgs19,

They are not allowed to use mobile phones on the premises which is a good thing , however they can bring the phones into school and switch it off before they get to the gate and switch on when they 'leave ' school . If caught with mobile phones , parents are called to go into the school to collect them .

As for bags , boys tend to go with the trend , so the super dry ruck sacks are in fashion or the duffer ones (cheaper) . They are told to wear shoes with laces and I tend to go for Clarks or Kickers as they are more durable . Planners have to be signed each week and this is how you get to find out about homework as boys will often tell you they have none and leave it to Sunday night before they remind you . The school sends out weekly emails to parents so you get to know what's going on . A blazer and two jumpers and two ties will last for more than a year .

In terms of mobile phones, dd usually has hers on silent. As long as they don't ring, vibrate etc in class the school does not seem to consider them to be a problem. I/e they do not confiscate phones for the sake of it.

In terms of homework, dd got a fair bit on a daily basis for the first few weeks of year 7 but after the first half term it was a lot less and so far it has not picked up again. ( and she is now at the end of year 8 ) Don't worry, homework is not that bad, especially after all the 11+ prep. it is likely to be ok.

Hope this helps.