Y5 was exceeding expectations in maths now expecting, trying to help.

[CottonCastle]

Teacher has told me ds isn't stretching himself in lessons, he does the minimum to achieve what he needs to do but he is capable of so much more.

I need to sort this out and unfortunately I think I'm going to have to put far more work in at home with him. It's a very big class and I think along the way ds has been able to coast along. This issue seems to have come up all of a sudden before PE, I'm trying not to be cynical but well, if I knew he'd been a bit lazy beforehand I could have maybe stepped in sooner. It's very hard however to motivate ds at home, it's like pulling teeth getting him to do anything.

So, ds is at the expected level currently but this is lower than he was in Y4 and beforehand, where he's always been ahead in maths.

I'm wondering if some kind of maths programme like the Carol Vorderman one might help? What would you do?

[CottonCastle]

Sorry, meant expected in the thread title!

[user789653241]

I think it really depend on what you want your ds to achieve in the end, to decide what you do with your ds.

If you want your ds to be just ahead in curriculum, just doing work ahead of his year group may achieve that. But if you want your ds to love maths and understand it deeply, you may need different approach. You can do both, if you like.

Doing some work on these website may help deeper understanding of maths, rather than just going forward.

nrich.maths.org/9085

wild.maths.org/

[CottonCastle]

Thanks Irvine.

I do want him to have a deeper understanding and a love of maths. Somewhere along the way he's lost it a bit. Thanks for the links and for making me think of a different approach.

[CottonCastle]

I think with regards to stretching his knowledge, he will complete the first tasks but will take his time so he doesn't have to go onto the more challenging tasks.

Think it's the word problems he tries to avoid.

[admission]

Think you need to be a little careful about the words being used. At the end of year 4 he was exceeding expectations, which would be where he was in comparison with the national curriculum expectations for year 4. However when he goes into year 5, he is being viewed against the national curriculum outcomes expected at the end of year 5. So at the beginning of the year he would be working towards expectations and so expected level at this time of the year is not necessarily wrong and he may well be "exceeding expectations" at the end of the year.
Alternatively he could be coasting and so a gentle kick in the bum may well be impetus he needs to achieve more.

[CottonCastle]

I see what you mean, admission. This was explained by the teacher though, it's not my interpretation. I was told that at the beginning of the year ds was exceeding, so he's followed on from where he was in Y4. I do think he's coasting and does need a kick up the bum, work has become more challenging suddenly and I think he's just become lazy. Possibly being in a big class, he's hidden it well.

[bojorojo]

I don't think our school assesses progress based on the curriculum for the whole year. (I am a Governor). I know teachers assess about twice a term. We receive progress data. Some children are already on green - exceeding. However they have only been assessed on the topics taught - they cannot be assessed on what they have not been taught. Therefore a teacher will say a child is as expected or above expected but not for the whole curriculum for the year - how could they know? Our goal is to ensure that the assessment represents excellent progress. I think that is the question - OP. Has he made progress?

Generally we find the brightest children make the best progress. They don't sail ahead and do the work for the summer term but they do broader work in the topic they are studying which produces accelerated progress.