I really want to take the temperature of this group and get some advice please. Thank you in advance for any help given.
DS is 10 in year 6 at a selective private school in West London. Has no identified SEN but has been in bottom 10% of the year for the last few years and has not been successful anywhere in ISEB pretests (we were warned he was not competitive). School have been inconsistently helpful and needed a LOT of prompting but since all the other kids in the year have had their very successful offers in - there has been almost no homework and whole emphasis at school has changed. The kids with offers can afford to rest on their laurels but our son cannot. He has no school to go to in year 8 and he needs consistent approach to learning between now and then; not only to get a place in another school but also to develop and improve his attitude to learning.
We feel very frustrated with the school and the system and realise the school isn’t entirely to blame.
He really isn’t interested in any aspect of school other than social (very popular, has a great sense of humour and has lots of fun). Not passionate about anything, won’t read for pleasure, not interested in any subjects, not in any sporting teams, not very musical. I have tried to encourage every single extra curricular activity over the years but he just is totally resistant to anything. Bottom sets for everything too. Ed Psych assessments x2 put him in “superior to high superior range” but found no definitive problems. We have tried tutorial groups and one to one tutors and nothing has worked. Same poor attitude towards learning anything even riding a bike (refuses) or us teaching him something about life or arts or culture (puts his fingers in his ears as soon as he thinks it’s a lesson).
I feel he has lost confidence in a very academic environment that hasn’t been right for him. Every effort we have made to correct this hasn’t worked (speaking to the school, encouraging team sports and success in other areas like music and drama).
We feel the school isn’t going to support him moving forward, it hasn’t championed him thus far and it is making us really stressed and unhappy (BUT DS is happy there so he says). We really think we need to move him but we have missed 11+ exams as well as state school applications.
I am happy to travel daily if necessary. I am just worried sick about his attitude to work but maybe this is normal for some boys? Any suggestions?
Thanks for reading so far!
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Moving DS (Yr 6) struggling in W London Private School
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MayBabyBoy · 01/03/2020 14:05
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