At my place, you stay with the same form tutor from Y7 through to Y11.
I'm currently tutor to a Y9 form, which I started with in Y7 (also when I arrived at the school). My form has undergone much upheaval since I took them on. Lots have come and gone to the point that it no longer bears any resemblance to the form I started with.
My form also has dreadful attendance and it feels like a drop-in centre during registration. I get along reasonably well with most of them as individuals but I don't really feel that I have any relationship with them as a whole. Tutor time is just...boring. Also, one or two members with whom I'd previously enjoyed positive relationships have recently become not very likeable at all. Having said that, I don't dread tutor time and being a Y9 tutor is fairly easy (helped massively by an amazing HoY).
Unfortunately, I'm going to be losing my longstanding HoY next year (replacement still TBC). The incoming Head of Y7 is someone I get along with really well and would be happy to work under. Plus, I have a colleague who teaches a vocational subject and is currently a Y11 tutor. They desperately don't want a Y7 form next year as they're not used to working with kids that young. Is it daft of me to even consider offering to take a new crop of Y7s in their place?
I remember being a Y7 form tutor as being very "full on", with lots of parents wanting me to make contact (especially in that first half term). I was still an ECT then and had more time. Yet, I do now have my feet firmly under the table at the school and am much more experienced at building positive relationships with pupils. I also remember that initial first term with my Y7 form as being a nice honeymoon period when they were mostly still super keen. Unfortunately, this didn't last long due to my form having a couple of hard-hitters (which I appreciate could happen again).
Should I offer to start again with Y7? Or should I take the "easy" option and just keep my Y9s into Y10?