I can’t quite believe that we’re already in the final term of Year 8 for my daughter. She’s nearly completed two years at her secondary school now and it honestly feels like we were only just nervously waiting for her school place to be offered.
Year 8 really seems to fly by. It seems to be both steadier and speedier than Year 7, as I suppose she’s used to the school, the people, the routines, the journey, the expectations and so on.
She’s fine with getting the bus now, she takes her homework in her stride and she is used to the rhythm of the school week.
I think the social side it a huge part of secondary school, teenagers need friends that they enjoy and can rely on.
Fortunately, she has made some good friends and there’s a fair bit of Facetiming that takes place here!
As my daughter’s moving up through the school, she’s getting to know more people and has made more friends.
She didn’t know anyone in her Year 7 form when she started, they mixed up the groups in Year 8 and I believe they will do it again in Year 9 so she’ll have plenty more opportunities to build new friendships, and before she knows it, she’ll be in GCSE groups. They don’t stream at her school as it’s a grammar, only in Maths in Years 10 and 11, so she is used to having the same group around her for each lesson.
Along with her lessons, school do offer plenty of extra curricular activities she can get involved with. She’s joined the Gospel choir and more recently the school newspaper and a lunchtime society.
She was also a part of the school musical this year, which took up a fair bit of her time over the first two terms. It was Legally Blonde, my favourite romcom of all time which is saying something because I do love a lot of romcoms! She enjoyed rehearsals and is already looking forward to trying out for next year’s show.
I have noticed that sports have taken a back seat as the teen years have hit. She tells me sport isn’t her thing, that she’s no good at it, which is rather contradicted by her PE reports, but she’s not having that! She was always full of energy, fast, strong and a good team player at primary school, so I suspect her age rather than her ability are to blame here.
She’s happy at school. Sure, she’d rather stay home and lounge around watching YouTube, reading and listening to music, but when that option is off the table, she goes off to school with no complaints!
I can see that she feels much more comfortable there as time goes on and it’s familiar to her. She comes home chatty, content and usually singing!
We had a report just before the Easter break and I had her annual parent’s evening a couple of weeks ago. She’s doing well, I am hearing good things. She’s fine with the pace and level of the work and is performing well across all subjects. More importantly, she’s demonstrating to her teachers that she’s listening, engaged, contributing and being kind and thoughtful to her classmates. I can ask no more, she’s doing herself proud.
It’s strange to think that when I next share an update it’ll probably be around her GCSE options or similar. I still remember sharing all about her first days in Reception, and yet here we are already.
My girl is living that secondary school life and it seems that she is living it well.
Secondary school does really fly over. It doesn’t seem that long since my girl was starting in year 7 and now she’s just a week away from her GCSE’s exams.
It sounds like your girl is doing really well at school and is embracing everything it has to offer. The school musical sounds like fantastic fun. x
It does seem as though your daughter has just started, that time really has flown! She loved the musical, I’m sure she’ll love the next one too! Thanks x