Add Category
Posted
When you start high school you're suddenly one of the youngest, smallest, newest kids in school all over again.
That journey is captured in the series My Year 7 Life on ABC ME that follows 16 students around Australia, documenting their lives as they transition into high school and begin puberty.
Karla Burt, a producer on the series, said watching the children adjust brings a lot of insight into what young teens are going through.
"It is a fundamental stage of life," she said.
"The transition between Year 6 and Year 7 is one of the biggest jumps in a child's life."
In the spirit of lending a hand to the latest generation of students, we asked ABC Radio Hobart's listeners for their advice on how to handle the change.
Stay in school and keep up maths
Ms Burt said a common theme from the children in the series was a feeling of being swamped by the jump in school work, especially the level of homework.
"The kids were overwhelmed with the amount of homework they got straight up," she said.
Jim: "Take your approach to mathematics more seriously. Something that I have now fixed but it held me back for some years."
Sharon: "Keep going ... I have never stopped thinking 'what if?'"
Johnny: "Don't try to make people laugh at the expense of your education."
Don't wear yellow socks and get the right uniform
Year 7 and the start of puberty can be an awkward time with plenty of embarrassment.
"They are at the age where they're trying to find out who they are," Ms Burt said.
"They are asking: 'Am I normal? Where do I fit in?'"
Those social faux pas, mostly imagined, sometimes cruelly ridiculed, are hard things to negotiate.
Marcus: "I turned up to the first day of school…wearing a pair of long green and yellow tartan shorts followed by high-knee yellow walk socks, black shoes, a yellow short-sleeved shirt and a short tie. I looked like a complete prat."
Peter: "Don't take your Power Rangers lunchbox to school."
Rod: "Don't wear a Deloraine Primary School tie on first day of Grade 7, especially if you are the smallest kid in school already."
Mary: "Don't let your mum anywhere near your fringe and your hair."
Be yourself and don't panic
Perhaps the most important bit of advice for Year 7s, and everyone, is just to be themselves and remember that high school is not the be-all and end-all of their lives.
Anna: "Just be yourself. You can't be anyone else but yourself. I am different, I've always been different and I never fitted in ... People will find you, likeminded people."
Claire: "Don't be intimidated by the egotistical cool crowd; be proud, damn proud of your individuality."
Midge: "Stay calm and remember that there is life after high school."
Matthew: "The only thing in this world you have control over is your actions, so do the best you can and learn to accept the rest."
Bonnie: "Don't believe it when they tell you at 14 that you have to decide what you want to be when you grow up."
You can watch My Year 7 Life on ABC iView.
Topics: secondary-schools, children, family-and-children, human-interest, people, television, hobart-7000