Starting secondary school

P

pgb

Guest
Hi

Our eldest has just started in secondary school and in settling in well in that he has no problems socially but academically it is all very different for him.

When he left national school he was a high achiever but is struggling getting decent grades in his tests in secondary. He has just failed his science test.

I know he is disappointed and I don't want to become one of those ranting parents who put their children under pressure but I don't know what to do to help him or reassure him.

Anyone out there with a similar experience?
 
It is very early days yet and there is a big difference between primary school and secondary school. I have four children almost through (last one now in 5th year) and all with different abilities. They all received a college place and two now in GOOD!!!! jobs. Even the guy who I would say found acadimic work hard got there in the end with lots of encouragement & love from home the days he comes home down, it is often just enough for him to be there and dont give too much advise because that is not really what they are looking for. When they move nearer to exam times in Junior & Leaving cert then you can arrange grinds for them in their weak subjects or dare I say it in Subjects where the teacher is lacking in teaching skills. The worse thing I think is to see a stressed child especially at such a young age so please make very light of it at this stage in my experience the worse they did in their junior cert the harder they worked for their leaving cert. I am sure with such a caring parent they will be fine and you will look back on this in a few months and wonder what you were worried about.
 
In primary school, intelligent kids can get by purely on natural ability - dont need to study, fly through their homework etc. Can get good grades with no effort whatsoever.

In secondary school, pure ability is not enough. Even the most intelligent kids must put in some effort with homework, study etc. to get good grades.

Some intelligent kids find it difficult to adjust to this. It can be a shock for them to discover that simply attending classes and taking in what the teacher says is not enough. Often they havent developed basic study skills as they've never had to use them. It can also be a big shock for them when kids they got better grades than in primary school overtake them in secondary.

These kids need reassurance on their abilities. They also need assistance with changing their habits - some understanding that they will need review work covered in class outside the classroom and use some of their own initiative to read up on some things in more detail.
 
You may find something useful on [broken link removed]

There is also a book available for children starting secondary school and a separate one for primary school. Just found my copy and the ISBN is 0-9545837-1-X. It was €15.99 a few years ago in Easons. I found it quite good.

would appear to be an updated version.
 
Seconday School is different. A new school, up to 11 new subjects, a different teacher every 50 minutes, new classmates, hormones getting going etc.

Probably need to start better time management and revision.
If there is difficulty with a subject he/she should target some time at the weekend to revise what was done during the week.
Just ding the basic homework is not enough as there is a lot of material to be covered. At the end of First Year a number of subjects can be dropped but Science should be kept on because of College requirements later on
 
csirl said:
In secondary school, pure ability is not enough. Even the most intelligent kids must put in some effort with homework, study etc. to get good grades.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure about that - it got me through to post grad level.
 

It looks like these books are available in most public libraries.
 
Thanks to all of you for replying.

I've had a word with him and explained the need for him to plan his homework and some study which may just revolve around going back over what he did that day just to make sure he understood it. I'm going to help him come up with a plan which will include a bit of study over the weekend also.

I've also had a look at the skoool.ie website which has a few hints and will look for that book in my local library.

I plan to keep any eye on him and his test results until Christmas and see how things are then.
 
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