Yr 7 son is struggling with English language lessons, although his creative writing is very good. His spelling and grammar are good, he just feels overwhelmed by the questions and texts, which results in him not writing much at all in tests and class work.
At parents' evening last week this was all discussed and I mentioned that even I found some of the work he is set quite challenging (tests with poor results are sent home to re-do in the holidays). Teacher then explains that they are all being given GCSE level texts and questions as they need to get used to this level of work. He suggested my son was removed from standard class to receive specialist tuition (which I would pay for).
I hear of other local schools doing similar things, i.e. options chosen early and GCSE curriculum followed from year 8. My feeling is that this is a bit sad and desperate, entirely driven by the desire to improve results at the expense of a well rounded education. Is this an approach that schools have only recently decided to follow? If so where is the evidence that it improves results? Or is it just one big experiment?
My son's school is private and non-selective, and struggles to get results that are better than the state alternatives, so probably under more pressure than most to improve. But I am really worried that my son is losing out in a subject like English and I suspect they will ignore my concerns as it appears to be an approach adopted throughout the school for many subjects.
Is anyone else's school doing this? If so is your child getting on ok with it?
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Secondary education
GCSE level teaching in year 7!
7 replies
ArcherQueen · 25/03/2017 06:59
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tiggytape ·
25/03/2017 10:29
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tiggytape ·
25/03/2017 14:14
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