Confused by call from school

I managed 9A*s 4 As at GCSE and got As in the two A levels I took in year 11. I also have a ridiculously slow processing speed. I was flagged for dyslexia (which I don't have) - I'm just a plodder and need more time to understand what I am reading and to take it all in. I struggled with maths up until secondary school because of this. Slow processing does not equal low ability or low potential. If my child was being offered support tailored to her learning style I'd be over the moon. If probably ask the teacher for more info about why it was needed and whether they have any concerns.

What level was she working to on her last school report?

I wasn’t even responding to you!! It was to @CaptainMyCaptain

About you >35 years ago not doing any work at all with your 7 year old over the summer holiday and you being a school teacher.

your dd same age as me and not a chance my parents would have done any work with me either

now however, that we know the research indicates children really do take a step backwards during the long break, many parents do do a little bit of work over the summer hols.
Not much but A bit of maths and spellings

It doesn't take a genius to work out your daughter is slow at maths. Instead of raging you should be grateful she is going to get extra support. Perhaps think about you can give her extra support at home as well. It may be useful to obtain a copy of the curriculum for her level.

Yes, you’re right that what the OP is talking about is probably preteach/gap filling and actually for some children that is enough to keep them up with the rest of the class.

My issue with the approach is more for very capable students. I was a maths teacher in a private school for many years and having prepared for the 11+, many pupils were working at greater depth y6 level by year 5. They just don’t need to sit through explanations when they can complete the class work in 10 minutes without any explanation. Thankfully as it was a private school I was free to teach in a way that worked for them and not make them sit through stuff they already knew.

I’m now a supply teacher and in almost every maths lesson, there’s a set of children who can finish the work with no explanation, and they are rarely given anything more difficult to do. Perhaps that’s just because their teacher didn’t leave them an extension on the day I was in, but from speaking to them it generally seems that they read a book or help the others when finished, rather than learning anything new. Meanwhile, there’s a set of children who have such significant gaps in their learning that the objective is not achievable and they’d be better off consolidating place value, or basic addition and subtraction, than attempting to add and subtract fractions, for example.

About them not doing extra work with their kids over the summer?

I don’t think you need to be so dramatic about it.

Lots of kids will have extra support and the parents never even known.
Even the seating plan is designed to support the pupils.

They feel that your DD would benefit from these extra sessions, either because the majority of the class are a bit higher than her or because she works better in a smaller group.

Lots of kids get lost because the confident and quicker processing ones answer the questions and finish fast, which can make others feel like a failure.

Its a bit like dyslexia.
Often dyslexic people are just as strong readers (or can be if given the tools) but they need longer to process it. But there’s nothing worse than them sitting in the class surrounded by non dyslexic people who can rattle words off really quickly.

It’s likely this was picked up in year 2 and they just want to start off on the right foot.

Not surprised at what? That I wasn't aware things had changed? Fair enough. It made planning take forever.

Ah then I’m not surprised

. I teach some students who absolutely have the ability but really have to work harder to achieve it than others

If your "ability" requires harder work to achieve results than someone else's its fairly obviously lower ability

I agree with a pp when schools refuse to acknowledge variation in ability its very infantilising and also leads to misguided expectations and disappointment.

Schools take pupils out like this because trying to get 30 kids to go at the same pace results in slower children learning nothing (because they simply can't keep up at all), when at a slower pace, they would learn much more. It is a good thing, it maximises the outcome for the child but don't kid yourself it will "close a gap" or enable catch up with children going at a faster pace, it typically won't.

How long ago was I a teacher? I retired 10 years ago. My daughter is 45 she didn't even have home work at primary school (or wear a uniform or have to do SATs.). Happy days. She has a degree and two post grad qualifications btw.

Did you ask why? They sometimes do the KS1 SATs very discreetly in May of Year 2. I’m surprised they asked really, rather than just saying it’s happening because she needs a little more support.

It really doesnt at all as the teaching is adaptive to their needs and they arent all expected to complete the same things! If you understood how it worked then you wouldn't argue this point.

The prior gaps are the reason for the adaptive teaching and pre teach! 🤦‍♂️

I agree. It’s a good thing I guess, but if you’d known before the hols, or they’d flagged at a parents evening, at least you’d have a heads up and be able to do a bit of extra stuff at home.

Couple of options on the not lack of ability.

The first is that she is fine and as expected but that they others are really fast, maybe because it’s a mixed age class or maybe she just isn’t as confident.

Second is that the group is actually all girls who aren’t performing as well as they could in a mixed group because the boys are more confident. I used to help with a group of year 3 girls for maths - they were all working as expected but didn’t like to fail so didn’t put their hands up in class and if asked always said I don’t know - was better than getting the answer wrong in their minds. They were also obsessed about neatly laying out their work to such a degree that they worked really really slowly.

My role was to encourage them to try stuff and remind them that they did know the answers but that getting an answer wrong wasn’t the end of the world and to make them see that beautiful laid out work, if it was only 1/3 of the work set wasn’t as important as finishing (or making a good attempt) even if it wasn’t all aligned beautifully.

The elephant in the room of course, is that all children are different and giving them all the same work fails a large chunk of them. Some of them will be able to do the work without any input whatsoever and sit through unnecessary explanations. Some of them would be better off doing something easier, but no, the wisdom of the current curriculum is we ignore prior gaps in knowledge and keep them with the rest of the class.

I wouldn't worry about it. My daughter had extra support for maths in year 4 because she didn't grasp some concepts.

Now in year 8 she's doing fine and in the 2nd set out of 6 - it's not her best subject but she's not struggling.

If you look at her school report, for maths and English there will be a bit where it says met, exceeded or working towards. Some schools also have "working well below" or "working well above" which is slightly more helpful- otherwise "working towards" can mean anything from a Y6 who can't count past 20 to a Y4 who is a bit slow on their times tables.

Have you not asked the school why they make up the classes this way rather than continually being confused by it?

She has the ability, she just needs it to be taught differently (as do 9 other kids). The school are trying to help and providing extra support.

Yes it has. It used to be differentiated but now that is not the way to teach. It is all the same so all kids have the opportunity in every lesson.

The curriculum says they work through at the same pace. It was meant to be like that from 1982 but hey, we are the UK who never listen to advice! ha!

Some children fall behind on their reading and maths skills if they don’t do some work over the summer holidays. Would you rather your daughter continue to fall behind the rest of her peers? The TA will probably be following the lesson plan made by the teacher.

Unlikely! It'll be a mix. There will be kids who need a pre teach in both year groups.

Y4s do not grasp a new concept quicker than Y3s as neither will have seen that concept before (unless self taught) so both groups can and do have kids who need longer to grasp concepts.

she needs more help so you could not moan. Be thankful