It’s happening again. This week, thousands of 11-year-olds started at secondary school, all gawky in their oversized blazers - “with room to grow”, mum says - and shiny new shoes. How could you not be heartened by their eagerness?
Yet on Twitter recently I saw a poll in which several teachers said they’d rather be shot of teaching Year 7 altogether.
Shame. We all have favourites - and Year 7 always have been mine. So this is a personal plea to teachers to see these young people in a different light. With the right approach, they’re capable of the most extraordinary things, not yet corrupted by the endless slog towards GCSEs.
‘Intellectually ambitious’ teaching
Are we sometimes guilty of seeing Year 7 pupils as the sum of their Sats results? These first years of secondary school are the most magical and memorable years of a child’s education, in which they can be awakened to the joy of knowledge. Even the dreaded Ofsted has picked up on the need to raise expectations at key stage 3.
Some of the most intellectually ambitious teaching I have observed has been with Year 7 classes. While visiting West London Free School, I watched a young Latin teacher guide a mixed-ability group through translation of stories about Pompeii. Observing in awe, I witnessed one of my own colleagues analysing an extract of Virginia Woolf and unpicking the features of modernism in literature. I supervised a Year 7 revision session where the children were drilling each other on how to introduce themselves in Mandarin Chinese, after just 10 weeks of lessons.
These are just a few vignettes that highlight Year 7 teaching at its best: the excitement of sharing an academic subject in all its richness before it is atomised into AOs and past papers.
Be explicit about study skills
While our intellectual expectations of Year 7 are often too low, many teachers’ assumptions of Year 7’s study skills are unrealistic. We cannot expect children to know academic fundamentals by osmosis: how to research online without plagiarism, how to revise for tests or how to plan essays. So many school leaders focus on intervention in Year 11 - this is “closing the door after the horse has bolted” but is the logical consequence of a data-obsessed, quick-fix culture. And yet Year 7 are our future GCSE and A-level candidates. From a less idealistic and more pragmatic point of view, this first year of secondary school is when we set the tone for these children’s entire secondary education.
Year 7 pupils are ‘adults in progress’
These transitional years between childhood and being fully fledged teenagers are an exciting time of flux. Add in a new social circle and adapting to learning in a completely different mode and the experience can be daunting. But Year 7 is also when so many children define who they are. They need trustworthy adults in their lives who can support them on this journey and provide emotional validation. I’ve been lucky to work in an all-through school, which gives me a different pastoral perspective on this age group. I urge you to look afresh at Year 7 as young adults who are works in progress, rather than annoying little people.
In short, get Year 7 right and you have the whole school right.
Adam D’Souza teaches history and philosophy, most recently at an all-through school in London. @adamdsouza
