Ds is finding yr7 boring.

[charlize]

Iam being really boring today! On one thread Iam worried about dd being on the not clever table and here iam worried about my ds who is 12 and just started senior school.
He found yr6 last yr really frustratibg as he is way ahead in maths and all the work was revision really last yr for the sats. He was really looking forward to the challenge of senior school.
However he is finding maths as boring as ever. It is all stuff he done ages ago and he is desperate for something to get his teeth into.
The class is not streamed so there are some kids stuggling and ds has to be hald back waiting for these kids.
Now this is a private school so surely he should be able to work at his own pace, isn't that partly what we are paying for.
The problem is he is almost gcse standard and i can't see them letting him do this.
But whats the alternative let him be bored stiff in maths for the next 4 or 5 yrs.

[Philly]

presumably they have not been back at school very long and as it is year 7 a lot of children are new to the school.I should think taht they will be spending a couple of weeks assessing everyone's situation before streaming or differentiating work.This is how I understand that it will work at my own ds's independent school although as he is only in year 6 we will find out for certain next year.
Perhaps you should raise your concerns with his class teacher or maths teacher and see what they are proposing as regards the ones whio are ahead,I know at our school children do sit exams early but they also do extension programmes etc.

[charlize]

Hi philly. Yes they can sit exams early here but only one yr early. Is this the same at your school.
Ds wants to sit his exam this yr but I don't think they will let him.

[Avalon]

Presumably though, you could enter him for his GCSE at a local college? It would give him a goal if his school won't change the work he's doing and once he's passed it they would have to take notice.

[spacemonkey]

I would have a chat with his teacher about it charlize. And yes you can enter him as a private candidate for GCSEs independently of the school if you want to, although I'm not sure what the school's attitude would be about that.

[Philly]

I know that they can sit a year or even two years early I think but I am not sure that they encourage this.More likely I would think is that theytry to entend the maths eg by doing more applied maths etc not sure really but you may find that his maths teacher or head of year already has some ideas,were they aware of his maths talent before he joined year 7

[pixiefish]

This is a national problem- because there's little or no continuity between primary and secondary a lot of the work is repeated, kids aren't challenged in year 7 and at the end of year 9 they haven't progressed as they should. however by the end of year 11 they're back to where they should be. There's a real problem for your son's school in timetabling his work if he is to be taught with other pupils doing gcse as they will be year 10/11 pupils. if he does his gcse this year or next year, then he does his a level at the end of year 10 say what's he going to do then? It's also a problem unless your son's teacher is willing for him to do separate work to the rest of the class. presumably as this is a private school the classes are smaller so really the teacher should be able to manage. Remember that the definition for special educational needs is something along the lines of that a child has needs that are different to the majority. Your son therefore has a need to be given work that stretches him and meets HIS educational needs

[charlize]

Hi pixiefish, are you a teacher? you seem to know a lot about it. Are the logistics no good then would ds have to sit with yr 10 to do his gcse now or do you think the teacher could give him work in his own maths class with the other yr7? The class size is 25 so its not that small really.
Philly, they were aware of ds talent for maths as he came top of the entrance exam in January and his primary teacher has spoken to his yr7 maths teacher about him.

[MummyToSteven]

charlize - is his private school academic enough for him? maybe he is in the wrong school if they can't or won't stretch him appropriately.

[charlize]

I pay 80pounds a month to send ds to a maths centre once a week where he is sailing through yr10work . This is starting to annoy me as I want to stop but can't if the school are going to give him yr7 work.

[charlize]

Hi muummyto steven are posts crossed. It is supposed to be a very academic school ...perhaps iam not giving them a chance after all ds has only had 2 maths lessons, I'll wait and see if things improve by half term as they are aware of him so really hopefully they will stretch him soon.

[Hulababy]

Charlize - I susoect, as already said, that the school will be using the first 2 or 3 weeks to do their inital assessments, to check how pupils are doing and which sets they should be in. certianly our school do. They should already have his KS2 information, and his SATs and Teacher Assessments, along with further information from the primary school. I would also be tempted to go in to school yourself and see if you can talk to either his Head of Year or the Head of Maths. Discuss the work he is doing in the Maths Centre (anyway you can get some written comment about his progress there?) and if there is any way the school can push yyour son along so he doesn't get bored. They may have some scope under the Gifted and Talented programmes many schools run. We have had pupils do GCSE Maths at the end of Year 9. However, I am not sure what they do in Y10 and Y11 - whether they do AS and then A2??? I suspect so.

It really is worth going in and having a chat and seeing what they can do.

[Philly]

I think you are best doing as you suggest and give it a bit of time ,I should thaink if he has only had 2 maths lessons most of those have probably been about making sure that everyone has made it to the lesson and has the right books,after all the first week at senior school can be quite daunting for some children.The staff will need to let everyone settle down and assess what each child hs done previously before they make detailed plans,I know at our school the head of year phones every parent after 2 to 3 weeks to discuss how they have sttled in etc and to let them know about streaming decisions etc .A good academic school is unlikely to want to hold him back.

[Philly]

Sorry Hulababy our posts crossed!

[hmb]

The secondary school I work in streams just before half term in the first term of the year. We use the KS2 SATs and by them we will also have a good idea of how the child is doing from internal tests. The internal tests help to even out the effect of someprimaries being better than others IYSWIM, so kids don't get penalised for having gone to an iffy primary. We stream for maths english, science and MFL, everything else is taught in tutor groups.

I would assume he is in a reasonable sized class, so I would expect work to start to be differentiated quite quickly, before the class is formally setted.

And as Pixiefish says the KS3 'slump' is a well reconised phenomena

[pixiefish]

hi charlize. yes i am a secondary teacher and dealing with classes of 30+ kids. in those sizes its difficult to be too specialised. I suspect that your son needs stretching and its really up to his maths teacher whether he's willing to do the extra work with him- he should do but remember that the teachers responsibility is to the majority of the kids in that class. Perhaps an evening lesson (more money I know) and then ds can carry on with that work in class is an option...
Personally I couldn't teach a Gcse pupil at the same time as a year 7 class. With a smaller class I could probably set some work for year 7 and then set work for individual pupil. Our head is a maths specialist and the sort of thing that he'd do is have your ds in at lunchtime to set the work, explain/give individual attention etc and then let him carry on in class. What you've got to remember is that it'll be a lot of extra work for the teacher so a lot depends on him/her. ask them though- that won't cost anything. I wouldn't advise teaching him along with year 10 though as he's a lot younger than them adn there could be social problems. good luck

[charlize]

Thanks hmb and pixiefish for the advice.
Yes ds would hate being taught with yr10, he defo wants tto stay with his peers and he hates them thinking he is bright to . Its a bit of a problem as he tries to hide it and has been known to dumb down as he was getting playfully teased by his friends. So the thought of him going to yr 10 for maths would be awful for him.

[pixiefish]

Think you're going to have to think of one of the other options then, even that though might be awkward for him if he doesn't want to appear different. What about a local technical college and evening classes- that could be an option

[hmb]

I teach one boy who has been 'accelerated'. He has missed out y9, and has just started in with the current Y10. He doesn't tend to stand out too much and the older kids are fine with him. That said they are a smashing class. A year or so can be OK, but I would be very worried at accelerating a child more than that because they couldn't cope with the classroom banter IYSWIM.

[hmb]

Thinking about it, rather than accellerate him, could they give him some more challenging 'poject type work that he can get on with after he has finished the 'ordinary' work? Go for breadth rather than upwards acelleration, I'd be tempted to try that with him, otherwise he will risk being bored at, say A level.