New year 7s!

[crazycrofter]

I just wondered how all the other new year 7s are getting on?! My daughter started at KEHS last Thursday and after a few wobbles last week she seems to be really enjoying herself. I haven't heard much about the lessons - it's all been about the social side of things, especially the train journeys! So far I'm very very impressed by the slick and efficient communication with parents. However our primary school was particularly awful at communicating with parents - the usual approach was to stick a note on a whiteboard in the playground and hope parents saw it! Anyway, so far so good. How is everyone else getting on?

[onebigdilemma]

I have twins and the one who didn't get into a grammar started year 7 yesterday, had a day of games, orienteering competition to find their way around the school and a spelling test.
Twin 2 had first day at grammar today and had history, religious studies, French (in which there were only 3 including him that hadn't done it at primary school and chemistry in which homework involves learning some of the periodic table!!!
Surprisingly he has come home very upbeat and looking forward to tomorrow!!

[Dottymum]

Hi Crazy, my dd also started KEHS last week! She is absolutely loving it so far (especially the food!!). Her organisational skills have already vastly improved as she desperately doesn't want to forget anything (no bad thing!). It's going to take some time to get used to the increased amount of homework compared with almost nothing from her primary but she's managing at the moment. Glad to hear your daughter is enjoying it.

[crazycrofter]

Hi Dottymum, I remember you from Feb/March! What class is your daughter in? Mine is in S. So glad it's all going well for you too

[Twinsmummy2003]

Hi all,

Dd started at inde yesterday, went off smiling and came home smiling despite having got lost between lessons and being late for class.

Ds started Adams' yesterday, not so smiley in the morning, miserable at the bus stop, where he was completely ignored by the older boys, so an anxious day for me - but he came home smiling and both went to school happily this morning. Phew.

Hope all new starters had a great day too.

Why am I shattered already!!!

[wildwest]

dd started on Friday. Going well so far. After the initial overload of whatsapp, everything seems to have paused now. It has been a big change for us. organisation has got more challenging than ever!

Hope things will continue to be smooth and happy.

[LFC96]

DS has nearly completed a week at BV and is really enjoying it there and seems to have settled in well and made friends. Journey is time consuming as at the moment I am dropping off and picking by car from Solihull so that is taking a lot of time from my day, so need to suss out the train times I think! Communication from the school is excellent, with almost daily emails. Much earlier start to the day now, but DS seems to be coping well!

[mum1115]

my son started CHB on monday, he's loving it. Telling me about his day which never happened at primary school! Managing the bus and the early start!
Good to hear other yr 7 starters are settling in and happy

[kenyancowgirl]

Can I just make the point that, although it is lovely to hear that your dc have settled in and appear super-happy, there will be parents out there who are desperately worried about their children as they may not be happy and making friends and loving school.

Change is difficult to cope with, for some children, and they may be more tired than at primary, at a time when their bodies/hormones etc are changing as well - it is not completely unexpected for a child to be unhappy or unsettled when they first move school - give it a couple of weeks (for them to go through a complete Week 1/Week 2 timetable) and if they still seem unhappy, then have a quiet word with their personal tutor. Some children take longer to settle but, usually, they will!

[Happy dad]

Hi all,

Dd started at inde yesterday, went off smiling and came home smiling despite having got lost between lessons and being late for class.

Ds started Adams' yesterday, not so smiley in the morning, miserable at the bus stop, where he was completely ignored by the older boys, so an anxious day for me - but he came home smiling and both went to school happily this morning. Phew.

Hope all new starters had a great day too.

Why am I shattered already!!!

Hope that wasn't the Wolves1 - I will have words with DS2 as he was told to "Treat the new boys as you would have liked to be treated yourself last year".

Having said that it takes the first couple of days for "newbies" to understand the protocols - Yr 7 sit at the front etc - and the not being cool to talk to the younger boys to wear off. Some of the new boys already have nicknames which is a good sign they settled in. DS2 was nervous last year, moreso on day 2, but now it's the favourite part of his day. So much so that three of his friends now catch the bus who didn't last year