Starting Year 7 Guide

TRANSITIONING TO YEAR SEVEN

Starting secondary school is one of the biggest transitions in most young people’s lives. It is a very exciting yet very daunting milestone, with a whole range of big changes, which for some can be overwhelming.

Secondary / High schools are much larger settings than primary and prep schools, sometimes with over a thousand students enrolled. Seeing new faces and going from being one of the oldest in school to being amongst the youngest, can be very intimidating for pupils.

“Stay positive, take one day at a time and enjoy the ‘high school’ ride!”

In secondary school, you will have more subjects and more teachers.

In Year 7 you will have a wider range of subjects, sometimes as many as 10 or even more.

You will transition from one or two primary teachers (who often have a very close relationship with their pupils) to as many as ten or so high school teachers who focus more on their subject specialisms.

You will have a huge volume of new things to learn including:

-understanding your timetable (which might vary to your friends’ and peers’) and

-developing your own homework planner or personalised study timetable to enable you to keep up with the increased workload.

You will now need to have more equipment in your school bag and pencil case including Mathematical instruments, more books, a wider range of PE and practical kits for some subjects. Secondary school requires you to have more responsibility for your school belongings.

More hours in school, less breaks and no more playtime.

Year 7 usually means longer lessons and a more complex timetable.

Longer queues at lunch and may have to pay for your lunch and

More homework

More responsibilities

Less adult supervision

More independent working and

A greater need for selforganisation skills.

Moving to secondary may also mean a change in the distance and time required to get to school.

Sometimes it also comes with independent travel to school.

If you will be taking public transport to get to your new school, practice travelling the route together with a grown-up a few times to boost your confidence and gauge the amount of time you need to allow in order to arrive on time.

Secondary schools are bigger schools, with more pupils and more opportunities for new friendships, relationships and experiences.

The sheer volume of new faces can be intimidating at first, especially given that you are the youngest group.

It will help if you can start developing the confidence to speak to unfamiliar faces more regularly.

The ability to speak to new people will help you to gain new friends and will give you the confidence to interact with the increased number of teachers.

To enable a smooth academic start, keep learning over the summer break. Whether it’s a hardcopy book, magazine, online literature or an audio book, create a reading culture to enhance your communication skills.

Wider reading improves your fluency, vocabulary and the crucial spelling and punctuation skills. It will also boost your general knowledge, critical thinking, creativity and cultural awareness required in most subjects in year 7.

Stretch and challenge yourself by previewing and practicing early secondary school topics in Maths and Science. Numerical and scientific fluency will give you crucial analytical thinking and problem solving skills required in Year 7.

More classrooms –classrooms are in different locations and specially designed and equipped to suit each subject’s learning requirements, such as laboratories, studios and workshops.

Ability to selfevaluate yourself will help you to maximise on your academic strengths whilst enabling you to identify your weaknesses and areas for development.

This might require you to spend more times on your weaker or more challenging subjects.

More extracurricular activitiestransition from Year 6 to Year 7 can be an exciting opportunity to make new resolutions and get cracking with some new skills, hobbies, sports or clubs.

More rules on all sorts of things including hairstyle, jewellery and dress code –which may include wearing blazers and sometimes even rules on tying the ideal tie.

friends in Year 7 Tips for making

Make people welcome by smiling and being approachable - it’s a lot easier to start a conversation with someone who appear like they want to talk to you.

Psychologists suggest that a nice warm face is associated with a friendly personality. Avoid barriers such as focusing on your mobile or wearing earphones as this might put people off from approaching you.

Keep in touch with your old friends from primary/prep school by phoning, texting or chatting with them outside of school time. Introduce your new friends to your old friends to increase your network of friends. You could also try build relationships with your friend’s friends.

Reach out to new mates by saying “hello”. Get out of your comfort zone and make an effort to speak to people. Start discussing about what happened in class or a recent event. You could consider starting with common interests, for instance: hobbies, gaming, sports, pets, music or movies.

Whilst talking to new colleagues, stick to open questions and avoid closed questions. Open-ended questions encourage discussion and increase the chance of a lengthy conversation. Open-ended questions are questions with a wider range of responses. Closed questions tend to have fewer response options, such as ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.

Show interest in other people rather than trying to get people interested in you. Ask them questions, listen to them and make them feel important. Showing off how cool you are is no longer cool, infact, you are guaranteed most people will switch off.

Show interest in other people rather than trying to get people interested in you. Ask them questions, listen to them and make them feel important. Showing off how cool you are is no longer cool, infact, you are guaranteed most people will switch off.

MATHEMATICS

YEAR SUBJECTS

HISTORY

MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES (SUCH AS FRENCH, SPANISH, GERMAN)

MUSIC

YEAR 7 SUBJECTS

ART & DESIGN

DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY

SCIENCE

PHYSICAL EDUCATION (PE)

GEOGRAPHY

CITIZENSHIP

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

SEX & RELATIONSHIPS

EDUCATION

VIDEOS WITH HINTS AND TIPS ON STARTING YEAR

Winston Churchill

“Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

“Winners never quit and quitters never win.”

“Every time you state what you want or believe, you’re the first to hear it. It’s a message to both you and others about what you think is possible. Don’t put a ceiling on yourself.”

DONEC NULLA ANTE, ET TELLUS AT, PORTTITOR TRISTIQUE PURUS. MAURIS AT IACULIS TORTOR. CRAS NEC PORTTITOR ORCI. DONEC UT LACUS NISL. ETIAM VITAE MAGNA EGET NISI TINCIDUNT MOLESTIE. MORBI

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.”

Henry Ford

“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”

STYLE GENER-

do it.”

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”

“I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying.”

Inspiring

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“It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.”

semper accumsan sapien, sed dictum sapien dignissim eu. In bibendum risus gravida sapien auctor, sit amet feugiat arcu euismod. Mauris non elit ac lorem blandit porta. Mauris imperdiet auctor congue.Donec a lectus malesuada, feugiat augue ac, congue tellus. Vivamus consectetur tincidunt enim id ultrices. Suspendisse porta nunc ipsum.

Mark Zuckerberg

“The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that's changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”

Brian Tracey

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“ You have to put in many, many, many tiny efforts that nobody sees or appreciates before you achieve anything worthwhile.”

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

John Maxwell

“Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.”

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Text: John Doe

Photo: David Adams

Editor: Anna Smith

Bill Gates

Jeff Bezos

Richard Branson

Vince Lombardi

Mark Twain

Albert Einstein

“If you can dream it, you can

Winston Churchill

“Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”

Walt Disney

“If you can dream it, you can do it.”

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Steve Jobs

“My biggest motivation? Just to keep challenging myself. I see life almost like one long University education that I never had - everyday I’m learning something new.”

Sergey

Brin

“The only way you are going to have success is to have lots of failures first.”

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Biz Stone

“Timing, perseverance, and 10 years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success.”

Inspiring Quotes

Quotes

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Donald Trump

“As long as you’re going to be thinking anyway, think big.”

Thomas

Edison

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

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“Winners never quit and quitters never win.”

Albert Schweitzer

FASHION OBSES-

Michael Jordan

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”

Ingvar Kamprad

“Only those who are asleep make no mistakes..”

Steve Jobs

“My biggest motivation? Just to keep challenging myself. I see life almost like one long University education that I never had -- everyday I’m learning something new.”

DONEC NULLA ANTE, ET TELLUS

AT, PORTTITOR TRISTIQUE PURUS. MAURIS AT IACULIS TORTOR. CRAS

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game’s winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that’s why I succeed.”

NEC PORTTITOR ORCI. DONEC UT

LACUS NISL. ETIAM VITAE MAGNA

EGET NISI TINCIDUNT MOLESTIE.

MORBI TRISTIQUE, TURPIS LUCTUS

IACULIS FERMENTUM, ERAT MAG-

Reid Hoffman

“The fastest way to change yourself is to hang out with people who are already the way you want to be.”

John Doe

David Adams

Anna Smith

parents section

“Let them know you are in this journey together!”

ENCOURAGE INDEPENDENCE

Show your faith in them. Give them independence. Let them take initiative and give them a chance to have a go at planning and doing tasks.

This could be anything from preparing uniforms, doing up their tie, packing their lunch or school bag, tidying their room, taking care of their personal finances or even a solo trip to the shops.

Tips for

VISIT THE SCHOOL

Visit the school or attend the transition day with them if you can. Have a chat with a member of the Pastoral Team to understand if there is any extra guidance and support provided to help them settle in.

REHEARSE TRAVEL TO SCHOOL

If they are going to use public transport or walking, you may want to rehearse travelling the journey together, to boost their confidence. If required, ensure you get them a bus pass, oyster card or train season tickets. Where necessary, give them the necessary safety hints and tips on any tricky parts of the journey. It is also worth advising them what to do and how to seek for help if there are to face any problems along the journey.

SUPPORT THEM EMOTIONALLY

Listen to them and encourage them to open up if they show signs of anxiety, feeling overwhelmed or bullying during the first days.

Encourage them to also use the school’s confidential services to help them deal with any pressures or challenges.

ENCOURAGE A GOOD SLEEP

Insist that they go to bed early and ensure they switch off or mute any unnecessary electronic devices.

FILL IN NECESSARY FORMS

Fill in any forms required by the school for things like data protection / GDPR and applying for the cashless payment system for purchasing dinner.

Parents

BUY NECESSARY EQUIPMENT

Buy any recommended textbooks and stationery including items such as pens, pencils, rubbers, mathematical sets (compasses, rulers and protractors), a scientific calculator and notebooks.

Buying them a mobile phone might also help to communicate with you if they are lost or need help and in cases of emergency. However, recommend them to switch them off or put them on silent during school hours.

MONITOR PROGRESS

Regularly sign in and monitor the school’s parents’ portal to keep up with their learning, development and extra-curricular activities.

Monitor if they are keeping up with their homework, upcoming tests and exams as well keeping an eye on the school’s comments about your child’s behaviour.

BUY UNIFORMS/STARTER KITS

Ensure you buy everything you need on the school checklist; uniforms, PE Kit, book bag, water bottle, snack/lunchbox –and don’t forget to label them or put name tags.

HELP MANAGE ANXIETY

Reduce any anxiety as much as you possibly can by encouraging them that they are ‘capable of handling any challenges that the daunting transition to high school come with’.

ENCOURAGE FRIENDSHIPS

Support them in building friendships in-school and outside school.

Open your doors to their friends and make them feel at home when they visit.

UNDERSTAND TIMETABLE

Help them understand their school timetable and to develop a personal planner.

Encourage your child to colour code the timetable to help recognise the different subjects for each day.

How ‘not’ to motivate a Year 7 pupil

1.Overly repeating negative statements or phrases. For instance, “How much revision have you done?”, “Why are you not studying?”

Try to find nicer, less ‘nagging’ ways of asking questions. Using a wider variety of words can help reduce pressure and frustrations for the student. Aim to build a stronger relationship by treating them with a balanced tone of respect and positive affirmations and a partnering language. We are in this together. Your success is my success.

2. P ersistent criticism and pointing out the student ’s mistakes

Without being delicately balanced with praise for good behaviour, consistently blaming condemning and criticising them can have demotivational impact on their performance. The typical ones include:

“You are so lazy; you just care about your phone or your PlayStation/XBox ”

“You are so irresponsible. All you just do is watch TV all day”

“You are hopeless ; all what's on your mind is your PlayStation/XBox games ”

“You can’t be bothered”

Repetition makes a fact seem far more true, regardless of whether it is or not. They say if you repeat a lie often enough, it ends up becoming the truth. Psychologists call it the “illusion of truth” effect or the “reiteration effect”. Repeated criticism and negativity have a tendency of making the teenager to start to believe that they are actually ‘useless’, ‘lazy’, ‘slothful’, ‘a slug’, ‘pathetic’ or whatever word you call them.

Starting Year 7 is an important milestone in every pupil's educational journey. They will need every bit of encouragement from their loved ones.

We have highlighted a number of ways to avoid unknowingly annoying them and dampening their confidence.

Unnecessary irritations from parents or carers could negatively impact their chances of settling in well.

medicine for healing a broken relationship with your youngster In addition, avoid breaking promises. No matter how small, stick to it. It enhances

If possible, aim to speak with a bit of positivity, and showing genuine interest in trying to help them deal with their challenges.

3. Giving e ndlessly long lectures

Going OTT (over-the-top) about a point and giving long lectures is seldomly the best way to get your point across to any equally frustrated youngster Many a times all that ‘blah blah blah’ is rarely taken on board by the annoyed recipient.

So, try avoiding those long lectures telling them how immature, wrong, lazy or playful they are. Usually they end up:

-w alking away or

-f eeling zoned out or stop listening (whilst pretending to be listening) or

- Tell ing you what you want to hear, but not meaning it deep down.

Instead, find a convenient platform for a two-way conversation in which you collaboratively exchange viewpoints and brainstorm possible ways to resolve the situation. Proactively suggest win-win situations or fair compromises that works best for either party.

4. Helicopter parenting and micromanaging the youngster

Avoid managing and monitoring every aspect of your child ’s schedule and activities, from sunrise to sunset. Avoid invading their privacy unless it’s extremely necessary. At their age, they deserve a bit more freedom and independence. Equally, most secondary schoolers are expected and would love to be treated as being capable of managing their school and social responsibilities with minimal adult supervision.

Deci and Ryan’s 2008 Self-Determination Theory highlights three innate needs for healthy human development:

parented children had more chances of anxiety, depression and stress; as well as a lower level of confidence and life satisfaction.

We could consider swapping our hovering helicopter tendencies with a more coaching approach, which researchers have found to yield better results and outcomes for the youngster . Support them in making objective, well - calculated decisions but not imposing your views on them. The role of the parent is to ‘prepare the youngster for the road, and not preparing the road for the youngster ’

5.Being an ann oying ‘know it all” parent

Annoying tendencies that could easily put youngsters off include:

Imposing things on them – “Just do it, I know it all, I was once a Year 7 as well’ Things have changed, being a Year 7 today is completely different to those good old days. You can’t validly say “when I was your age”. They face a completely different set of challenges those you were faced with growing up. Be open-minded and be willing to listen to their perspective.

•Basic need for autonomy

•Basic need to be confident in one’s abilities and accomplishments

•Basic need to feel loved and cared for

It feels like micromanaging or helicopter parenting is almost a violation of the youngster ’s human rights, harsh as it sounds. We really need to tone down the ‘ninja-dad’ or ‘ninja-mum’ inside us. Schiffrin and Liss’s 2013 research on secondary students concluded that helicopter

Avoid over-reacting or losing your cool and end up being pushy and giving invalid reactions like ‘Because I said so’ or ‘Stop arguing and talking back to me like that’. Sometimes you may have a valid reason, especially if they are being disrespectful and raising their voice. However, you need to have enough self-discipline to take a step back and re-focus. I don’t’ believe we need to have the ‘ you owe me an explanation’ mentality. Let them ‘speak their mind’, then use wisdom to channel the energy in a more fruitful conversation. And in the process avoid jumping into conclusions. They may have a valid reason.

Not admitting its your fault or refusing to apologise when you realise you are wrong is bad – own up to your mistakes. It’s good medicine for healing a broken relationship with your youngster . In addition, avoid breaking promises. No matter how small, stick to it. It enhances their trust in you.

VIDEOS WITH HINTS & TIPS ON STARTING YEAR 7 FOR PARENTS