07/09/2026
The first full week back.
Here is what is actually happening in school right now, most of which nobody will tell you.
Baseline testing.
Many secondaries run cognitive or subject baseline assessments in the first two or three weeks. These feed target grades that will follow your child around for years.
Setting.
Maths, and often English and Science, are being set or re set. Decisions are being made quickly and on thin evidence.
Expectations are being established.
Not the school's expectations of your child. Your child's expectations of themselves. A student who decides in week two that they are "not good at this subject" will behave accordingly until something forces a change.
Teachers are building a picture.
Right now your child is a name and a data point. By October they are a story, and the story is sticky.
๐ช๐ต๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ป๐ฒ๐
๐ ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ธ๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐บ.
In September the syllabus has barely started. A gap found now can be re taught before anything is built on top of it.
The same gap found in January is buried under a term of new content, and by April there is no room to teach anything at all, only to revise around it.
That is the whole argument for acting early, and it is why we run our free assessments in September rather than in the new year, when most families finally reach for help.
๐ง๐ต๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ต ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ธ:
Ask your child which lesson they are most and least looking forward to. The second answer is the useful one.
Check whether the school has told you about baseline tests. If not, ask.
Write down the one subject you would most like to be different by Christmas.
Then come back to that note in December. It makes the whole term measurable.
Comment with the subject you want to be different by Christmas.