KS3 Language help please!

[Dingle]

My DS is due to start secondary school in September. He is the "baby" of the year being 30th Aug and his Junior school have done very little with the children to differentiate their needs.

Last year we worked hard with him at home and he passed the 11+ along with only one other boy.

We were lucky enough to get him a place at our first choice Grammar School and went to the induction day/evening yesterday.

We were given a lovely list of suggested reading - he LOVES books and was in his element last night, making up a spread sheet of what he had already read and what was next on his "agenda." he also got a list of some spellings - rather more challenging than what his Junior school were expecting him to do, and today we have found out he is going to be taking French and Spanish. Eeek!

I never took any language o'levels back in the year dot and from what I have heard, what little French they have covered at Juniors is really minimal! I would like to give him a little head start over the holidays and was considering something like the Nintendo DS French/Spanish Coach games. Are these any good, is there anything else out there, perhaps PC based/ CD rom, something fun and quite visual- that would be appropriate but not cost an absooute fortune?
Any help would be appreciated! TIA

[SuzieHomemaker]

Hi Dingle

The BBC is a great resource (for practically anything IMO). Try this:

www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/index.shtml

[frakkit]

They are probably expecting him to have done nothing tbh. With languages bad habits/misconceptions are quite hard to unlearn so I wouldn't worry too much about giving him a head start!

If you are worried ask to speak to the heads of dept and ask whether they stream for languages or if they start at the beginning with everyone, if they expect them to have any prior knowledge from primary and, if so, how much and whether in their opinion it's better to give him some exposure or if they'd refer to have a blank slate.

[roisin]

Don't panic. The teachers will be happy to teach from scratch and bad teaching is worse than none at all in languages IMO.

I'd say encourage him to continue reading books, but generally it's the holidays for him to relax and have fun. It's been a tough year with 11+, school applications and SATs. He deserves a holiday now. Next year will be hard work too, settling into a new school and probably having a lot of homework as well.

Will he have a long journey to school? Does he have friends going with him as well?

[Dingle]

Thanks everyone- I am just being paranoid I suppose. He is still so young socially and emotionally IMO!

I am wondering how he will cope with going from the top of his year to possibly being at the bottom. It's not his ability that I am concerned about- just how little his school has actually taught him. Just over a year ago he didn't even know how to do a simple algebra sum and because he was already at the top of his claas- the school weren't that bothered to teach him. Differentiation is certainly not in our schools vocabulary!

Only 2 children passed the 11+ from his school but the other boy is going to the same school so at least he will recognise a face!

We are just under 3 miles away - near enough not to qualify for free transport but not near enough walk! Various oline maps say it's a 55 minute walk - there are some pretty steep hills too! SO, for now I have got his name down for the school bus.

AS for homework he has never really had any from his Junior school so it's certainly going to come as a shock to him. He will be on an accelerated curriculum as well, completing KS3 in 2 years! Is this common?

[roisin]

KS3 in 2 years is becoming increasingly common. It gives more time to focus on the GCSE courses.

Personally, I'm not a fan, but that's another story!

In my opinion what matters most at secondary is how much effort children are willing to put in. One of the students ds1 most admires in his year is a lad who clearly puts in a huge amount of effort, and produces some great stuff for homeworks. He's not the brightest in the year, but because of his hard work he wins lots of awards and is doing fantastically.

[Dingle]

I have no knowledge of secondary (apart from my own back in the year dot!) so I have nothing to "compare" with. I was quite surprised by the amount of monitoring, assessing and grading that goes on. The first grading is only 3 weeks into him starting in September. I suppose this will hi-light strengths and weaknesses and allow them to set work accordingly?

[roisin]

Yes, primaries to vary widely. So a lot of secondaries do fairly extensive rafts of testing in the first 6 weeks or so of yr7, then set their targets accordingly.

There is a new yr7 thread around somewhere, but I can't just find it right now. Make sure you join it! It's great for angsting together with other new yr7 parents.

I'll be on there even though ds2 is not my pfb and I work in a secondary so should know the ropes pretty well. I still fret from time to time!

[Dingle]

Thank you Roisin, I'll try to find the thread! x

[Dingle]

BTW- Roisin, I have passed on some of the 11+ books to some of my friends whose children are due to sit in September - I hope they will be of as much use to them as they were for us! Thank you! X

[roisin]

You're very welcome!

[roisin]

I can't find the thread! I'm sure it will turn up, or if not someone will start a new one.

[roisin]

Ha! Found it at last
It took me ages and I was getting really irritated. The title is quite odd!