Sounds like a very positive step.
Don't get too worried about your progress against other students. Different schools and different instructors teach at very different paces. The fact you may not have flown a take off or landing doesn't seem surprising. The surface wind may have been unsuitable for a first take off or landing, and some instructors just don't let their students do it until they get to 12-13, or at least past climbing/descending. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just a different teaching method.
My school has introduced an SOP that each of the early exercises must be covered in at least an hour. This makes it impossible to go solo in the 8 hours or less that some students will quote, but in my opinion it builds a good foundation that makes the rest of the course go much better.
It's a marathon not a sprint.