Young Writers Society

Hiya!
Well in my story my MC moves and starts at a new school... and I have no idea what happens when someone starts at a new school.
What i need to know is, on the first day:
Do forms need to be filled out? (if so what forms?)
oh and could someone explain an American timetable please(I might be using one in the story)
Thank you!
xxxx

By timetable do you mean schedule?

Yeah, sorry we call it a timetable here.
I've just started the scool part now and i'm lost. Help?

If you really wanna avoid all the paperwork crap, think about this; your character is probably not gonna be filling these out by himself. The character's parent will be there, and you can have the character slowly kind of drift out of the conversation the parent and the registration office are having. That way, you can easily avoid having to get real technical with the paperwork. Because yes, from a man who's had to move to a new school, there's lots of uncalled for paperwork.

If this is high school, then a schedule is simply the classes the student is taking, what time each class is during the day, and what classroom the class will take place in. My school had every Monday, Wednesday, Friday do one batch of classes, while the Tuesdays and Thursdays took care of the rest of the schedule. You can do something similar.

Ok, thanks.
I'll try and find away around all the paper work. Thanks for the schedule idea!
xxxx

In America, we have primary school and secondary school.

Primary school goes like this:
Kindergarten: 5/6
1st grade: 6/7
2nd grade:7/8
3rd grade: 8/9
4th grade: 9/10
5th grade: 10/11

In some schools, it goes up to 6th grade.

Primary school is usually referred to as "elementary school" and have their own campus, or school building, all to themselves.

Secondary School is broken up into 2 parts: Middle School and High School

Middle School:
6th grade: 11/12
7th grade: 12/13
8th grade: 13/14

In some schools it goes up to 9th grade.

High School:
9th grade: 14/15 (called freshmen)
10th grade: 15/16 ( called sophomores)
11th grade: 16/17 (called juniors)
12th grade: 17/18 (called seniors)

Note: the ages in each grade of high school varies because there's a lot of people who "flunk" or fail a grade and get stuck behind until they pass.

After 12th grade is college, and they use the same "titles" as in high school because college is also usually 4 years. College isn't free like primary and secondary school, though. There are, however, private schools that cost money.

The school usually mails you a chart with homerooms numbers. Homeroom usually is based on your last name and is just a chart that tell you to go by looking at what category your last name fits into.

Like for example:
Your last name is "Smith"
The chart would look like so:

P-Q Room 505
R-S 900
T-V 760

That would mean you go to room 900.

In homeroom you see a bunch of other kids, but they're most likely not going to be your classmates. They're just there because their lastname is close to yours alphabetically. If you're an honor kid or AP kid, chances are, only 1 or 2 of those kids will be in your core classes.

You also get your schedules. Homeroom usually lasts 30-45 minutes, just to get your classes. After that you get to see all of your classes on the first day. You don't do much but establish the required supplies you need for each class.

Core classes are some sort of mathematics, english, science, and social studies. The class you take depends on your previous grades and your level in that subject.

Electives are the extra classes you take like p.e., band, spanish, orchestra, dance, autotech, journalism, and etc. If you have a 6 periods day, you get 2 electives. If you have an 8 period day, you have four.

Class levels go like so, in order from least to greatest:
-applied
-regular
-honors
-advanced placement (AP)

Applied is if you really suck at the class and have failed it before. It's for those kids who don't do anything and are absent most of the time.

Regular is for the regular kids. They show up to class most of the time, they do their work, but don't overexceed.

Honors is for the smart kids who have natural smart abilities and usually don't have to work hard to get high grades. Some of them do study, but only a little. They rely on their natural smarts. A high percentage of these kids go to college and have a good future. They can also get the honor's diploma if they have high enough GPA.

Advanced Placement is for the smart kids who want to work really hard, or for the average kids who want to work their socks off. You get college credit in this class and it's extrememly challenging and rigorous. At the end you take an AP exam to see if you get college credit.

GPA: grade point average.

There are two different types of GPA. Weighted, and unweighted.

Weighted is only the core classes, and unweighted is the core classes and the electives.

All A's in normal classes equals a 4.0
All B's in a normal class is 3.0
All C's in a normal class is 2.0
All D's are a 1.0
anything below a D is fail

If you're in an honors class, your class is harder so you have more "weight" So you can get your GPA up to 4.25 if you have straight A's in honors.

If you have AP classes, you get 4.5 for each AP class you take. It can go up to a 5.0 if you take enough and ace all of them.

Example of Class Schedule:

Period 1 - American Literature Honors
Period 2 - Chemistry
Period 3- World History AP
Period 4- Algebra 2 H
Period 5- Spanish 2
Period 6- Journalism
Period 7- P.E.
Period 8- Band

Hope that helped!
-shina

OK, so if you're starting a new school it really depends on where your MC is going. In the east people mostly ignore you and leave you to your self. Or pick on you a little until you form to the school.
If your living somewhere on the plains, the schools are smaller and people are more likely to notice you and try to find out about you. a few people will try to make friends, but mostly they just avoid you like the plague and don't really pick on you.
If you are all the way west, like California and stuff, then the kids are pretty much your stereotypical populars runs the school and they'll give you grief for a bit or a long time, depending how nerdy they are. If your moving into states like Arizona, Montana, Idaho, Or Colorado then then they are pretty nice and try to make friends until you do something stupid and you are stuck with a label. Utah is weird because everyone is all nice and friendly for a few weeks, (they will always ask your religion and depending on your answer you can get picked on pretty hard) they don't run with the whole "popular" theme, you mostly just have kids who are well known, but nobody tries to be like them except the wannabes.
paper work is usually sent to your parents for them to fill out, and depending when you transfer in is the experience. the beginning of the year wont attract too much attention to you, but if school has been going on for a while, it's a bit more complicated. Someone will show you around the school and you'll talk with a few teachers and only have to take home a few forms for your parents.
I've had too start new schools a lot (My family moves a lot) and so if you need any advice or have any questions, just PM me. I've lived in almost all the states and so i know what I'm talking about.

(oh, and it depends on the state for the schedules. they are all different)

Your story sounds really cool too, Send me a few bits and pieces sometime! I'd love to read them!

Hey!

From a quick glance, everyone seems to be giving you information on starting an American school.
Well, as I'm from Northern Ireland, i thought id give you a few pointers on how things work over here as you might want to take a few ideas from it. The diversity is always nice.

Basically, there are a few introduction days. These days are when the new year comes in and they are shown around the school and introduced to their prefects etc. Their form teacher will also be introduced to them. The form teacher or class tutor (same thing, just different phrasing) will start up some class activities so that everyone can get to know each other a bit better.

On the first real day of school, you are given your timetable. At my school, this is an average day for Monday-

Period 1-Registration
Period 2 and 3-Double English
Period 4 and 5-Double ICT
Period 6-Break
Period 7-Single English Literature
Period 8-9-Double Maths
Period 10-Lunch
Period 11-Single Chemistry
Period 12 and 13- Double History

Then more class activities are carried out, books given out and train/bus passes are given out.

After break, you resume a normal school day.

I hoped this helped,

xX-Oo

I started at a new school in fifth grade (age 10), so my mom did all the paperwork at the district office over the summer. You have to enroll at the school, and if you're enrolling at the high school, you'll have to figure out which classes you're taking--i.e. what level of science or math or foreign language you're at, and maybe throw some electives in there. Sometimes this can get jumbled up--we had a kid come back after a year in Ireland, and he was in my physics class for a few days before dropping into a different one. You'll also have to get medical papers to the nurse's office--stuff like physicals and immunization records.

I have a few friends who had been new at my high school. Everyone at my high school is really friendly, so new kids get a TON of attention and everyone wants to take them in. No one was really interested in me when I was in fifth grade, but that's because kids are really cliquey at that age.

wow, I really wasn't expecting all this!
Thank you all so much, this really, really helps!
*hugs* thank you!