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Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Primary education

How can I bump my 4a child into a 5 for science?

87 replies

Baudelaires · 10/04/2012 17:27

I have been told that the DC is at the very top of a 4a - but not quite into a L5.

How big is the jump? What can I do at home with a child who won't use a computer and is very resistant to workbooks/worksheets? I dont think the school has been selected for external assessment so only talking teacher assessment here. Can I bung the teacher a tenner and hope that sways it

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SarkyWench · 10/04/2012 17:40

Why would you want to?

Baudelaires · 10/04/2012 17:44

Why wouldnt I want to?

OP posts:

CupOfBrownJoy · 10/04/2012 17:46

another person here saying why would you want to?

Its a load of fuss and hassle for no gain. It doesn't matter whether he is a 4a or a 5, so why bother?

mrz · 10/04/2012 17:47

Since science is a teacher assessment of work over the year I don't think there is much you can do at this point in the year to change the level reported.

SparkleSoiree · 10/04/2012 17:47

Why would you want to?

If that is the level your child is working at for the moment and is happy enough then why put the pressure on your child?

Hebiegebies · 10/04/2012 17:50

Let your child enjoy science, if they are interested take them to the science museums near your home

But please don't make them do homework, as your kid is still in primary, let childhood continue

Baudelaires · 10/04/2012 17:51

But mrz it is only April!!!!! The school year ends in July, 3 months of learning away.

And I am not putting pressure on my DC, I am just curious and want to support learning as much as I can.

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HatchedAtTheHutch · 10/04/2012 17:54

Hi Baudelaires, speaking as a lecturer of 16+ age group my mantra is all about tapping into teaching and learning which is going to to ignite that little flame of passion for the subject within the child/ person. For each individual this can come in different guises but you will know what works best for your DC. Teaching and learning shouldn't just be about the traditional workbooks, computer etc. It should be far more exciting. Your childs school should be able to inform you as to what will make the difference in achieveing a 4a and a level 5, within the curriculum areas. All you need to do then is make it come alive and engage your DC. To put this into a bit of context for you, as an example with some of my students I put pictures/ questions relating to the subjects we are learning e.g. cells and tissues onto Jenga bricks, we then all have a very fun game of Jenga, the students get caught up in the game and it's amazing to then observe just how much subliminal learning is going on as they pull out each brick and identify the picture / answer the question. Just get creative and I promise the learning will happen. Teachers with large classes don't always have the luxury of doing this but one on one with you and DC means things can be a bit different.

mrz · 10/04/2012 17:56

and the tests are in May and reported soon afterwards so that you get a copy and the next school gets a copy and the newspapers get to print league tables

BackforGood · 10/04/2012 17:57

I'm with the 'Why would you want to?' people too. The National Curriculum levels are there to report what level she is working at. If that's "where she's at" then why would you want her to be labelled as being something different ?

CupOfBrownJoy · 10/04/2012 17:59

By all means support his learning, but do that by taking him to museums, or making science fun in other ways. Follow his interests!

And take all meaningless numerical values (ie 4a's and 5's) out of the equation!

mrz · 10/04/2012 18:00

sorry in response to your question it is a big jump from a secure 4a to a secure level 5

BarryNormansSofa · 10/04/2012 18:01

Why ? Why ? Why ?

Let your child enjoy the subject - you are only going to put the child off if he/she is resistant to workbooks / worksheets .

Science is all around us not just in workbooks - get to the Science Museum or local pond and do some pond dipping !

ragged · 10/04/2012 18:11

Wouldn't want to because it would be a lot of work for negligible benefits.

piprabbit · 10/04/2012 18:20

Forget levels.
Take your DD pond dipping, puddle jumping, make cakes and build things together. Watch the clouds go by and talk about the weather. Watch the tide come in on a beach. Do all the million and one things that make you both realise how amazing and magical the world is.

startail · 10/04/2012 18:37

You can't, you can only hope she does the teat well enough she swings the teachers assessment.

The science SATs were very much a tick box exercise, horribly formulaic questions. Assuming they haven't changed and schools are no longer practicing them, I'd say the teachers judgement will prevail.

Pain if secondary set on SATs, but the science papers really were dreadful.

I'm a biologist and I've sat an awful lot of science exams and I think, Y6 SATs are the least fun of the lot.

mrz · 10/04/2012 18:44

Most children won't do a science test

notnowImreading · 10/04/2012 18:50

I'm not a science teacher but the science guru at my school hammers the message that the difference between a level 4 and a level 5 is the word 'because'. He always says that making sure that they back up their answers to questions with explanations based on core concepts eg energy, cells etc. I hope that this is all correct! It seemed simple enough to remember and 98% of the pupils got level 5 or above.

mrz · 10/04/2012 19:07

ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/Science/ks12assessment/kandu.html

If you look at the I can statements for Y6 you will see there is a bit more to it with regards to subject knowledge

exoticfruits · 10/04/2012 19:17

Why does it matter?

bigkidsdidit · 10/04/2012 19:28

You want to bung the teacher to put her up a level? Why? That's not supporting learning

notnowImreading · 10/04/2012 19:45

Hah! I always thought he was bullshitting! I'm sure there's lots more to it. Not trying to annoy anyone.

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mrz · 10/04/2012 19:47

I would agree that knowing why is important just not the full picture

bradbourne · 10/04/2012 19:54

Is there any particular reason you want your child to get a levl 5? That is, beyond just knowing s/he is "doing well"? (And, of course, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that!). As far as I'm aware, nothing hangs on the KS2 levels - if, for example, you were asking how to turn a GCSE 'B" into an 'A', that would be a lot more understandable. Maybe you are worrying unneccesarily?

Baudelaires · 10/04/2012 19:56

Cant really understand why all the negative comments. By the way the bunging the teacher a tenner was meant to be a joke.

Reading other threads on here asking how to improve a dcs reading/writng/maths seems to lead to lots of good advice and have you tried this website kind of comments. Why is my question any different?

notnowImreading - thankyou for your post, it explains succinctly what makes the difference between one level and another.

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