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Secondary education

maths 3A/4C starters in year 7

9 replies

vkyyu · 12/11/2013 14:39

Just wondering if any experienced secondary school teachers or parents will share their experience. My year 6 dd a summer child never like maths unfortunately and no matter how I try to help her. I think she s developed very low self expectation from early years as she was put into the bottom group maths since year 1 and all the way to year 5. Despite she knows all her multiplication and division tables inside out her current levels is 3A. So I believe she would perhaps reach 4c or only 3a. I am a little worried if she will ever manage to catch up as this will affect her academic path in later years especially if she is interested in science. Are secondary maths very different to primary school maths? Please help??

OP posts:
noblegiraffe · 12/11/2013 15:01

If she is a 3A now, then she should make some progress and get a level 4 in her SATs. Sublevels aren't recorded in SATs results, just whole levels.

She may be reassessed when she gets to secondary as often schools like to do their own assessments for setting purposes. Depending on the school, with a level 4 she may be put into the bottom set or not. My school is quite big so it is unusual for level 4s to be bottom set.

She should have plenty of opportunities to move up (or down) sets over the years depending on how she does in tests and end of year exams.

How she will do in the future is unpredictable as GCSEs are changing radically and no one knows how they will turn out, although at first glance it looks like they will be very challenging for lower attaining pupils.

Statistically, 77% of children who got a level 4 in their KS2 maths SATs went on to get a C or above in their maths GCSE this year.

richmal · 12/11/2013 15:22

I home educate and it seems the same subjects are repeated at each key stage, but in more depth and with a few new ones added.

Have you looked at the Letts, Mythical maths series? Dd, also year 6, loves them. Perhaps start with the year below to build confidence.

Iamnotminterested · 12/11/2013 17:28

Hi Op, I'm posting to give you a bit of how that a 3a/4c doesn't mean game over before she's even started. My dd was a 3b - so even lower - at this stage of year 6, ie about a year and a half behind. She worked hard in year 6 and managed to get a 4 in both the test and the teacher assessment, thank the Lord. Her baseline assessment a few weeks in to year 7 was a 4c and she was put in the third out of 4 sets; she ended year 7 on a 5 c and now has a year 8 target of 5a, so no, not super whammy but very much going in the right direction and what's more she likes her teacher, feels relaxed in class and according to her latest interim report her attitude is excellent. So keep on supporting your daughter, the fact that she is secure on X tables and division is great and despite being in set 3 for maths my DD is in set 1 science as they are set independently. Good luck .

Iamnotminterested · 12/11/2013 17:29

Hope, not how, bloody predictive text...

vkyyu · 13/11/2013 09:37

Thanks for all your replies.

OP posts:
olivevoir58 · 13/11/2013 19:34

I'm a Y6 maths teacher in a primary school and a 3A is what our middle attainers are presently working at. I anticipate that all of them will achieve at least a 4B by the summer. A 4B should lead to a (present) gcse grade C. My dd was a 4C at the end of Y6 and achieved a C in her gcse this summer.

trinity0097 · 13/11/2013 19:58

Children who do not achieve Level 4 in Maths at the end of KS2 will find it much harder to attain a 'pass' grade at 16. The higher the level they achieve the easier they will generally find it, so a child on a 4c will find it much harder than a child on a 4a in yr 6 etc...

3a now is not a concern, I would be more concerned that you think that doing well in Maths is just linked to knowledge of tables. There is much more work that child have to be able to do to improve their levels. Knowing tables helps with the work, but success is Maths is not dependent on being good at tables. I should know, I have a Maths degree, am a Maths teacher and really didn't know all my tables until I was 24 and had been teaching nearly 2 years!

ReallyTired · 13/11/2013 20:39

BBC bite size is your child's friend. Children often make excellent progress in year 6 and there is no reason why your daughter might not be 4B at the end of year 6.

I think that the key to doing well in SATs is developing problem solving skills.

vkyyu · 14/11/2013 05:29

Thanks for your sportive responses. I know knowing the tables is not the only thing about good at maths but it is a good tool to have. Since she s able to recall her table instantly she did start to find maths alot easier. She began to understand the problem solving questions easer and became more confident. I was good at maths when I was at school and it used to be my favourite subject as it didn't require too much revisions. Also i have a qualification in finance. It is more a concern that my dd has developed a fear of maths. She just doesn't want to have anything to do with maths. I believe she has the capability to manage as in the end it only took her a couple of hours to learn all her tables. The problem is that she doesn't want to have anything to do with anything that involved maths. I just don't know how i can make this horse drink!

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