Keeping kids in from play at lunchtime.

Exactly this...it's no wonder teachers are leaving the profession in droves with moaning Minnie's wanting to complain about their children losing 1 lunch break a week to bring them up to the level they should be at. How about a pat on the back hor the teacher giving up their lunchbreak.FFS the kids are not being starved of food they will still get to eat which is not always the case for the teacher🙄

Good chance to feedback to the school about this omission.

If he's had lots of time off, why would you resent teachers giving up their breaks to give him 1:1 (or small group) focused additional support? It's far more effective than in a group setting if it's solely focused on his learning needs. I think you have got this back to front. And there are plenty of other ways to learn timetables that don't involve the app.

It's concerning that the need for play and physical activity is often totally overlooked. They're probably taking nothing in after lunch because they've not had any opportunity to rest and play. Most children in year 4 are 8, they should not be sat down learning for almost 6/7 hours straight - we really have education wrong here.

Mine is in Year 5 and doesn't know most of his timetables, I don't even know how he did for his Year 4 timetable test but I imagine not very well. It doesn't help that he HATES TT rockstars.

My son has had a lot of time off school due to medical reasons and I wouldn't mind as much if it was basically his whole class but I would mind if he was just one of a few.

As I tell the children at school, you won’t wake up one day and suddenly know your times tables. You have to practice them!
Log onto TT rockstars and do the soundcheck section with your child - this is an assessment part and will show you what he knows.

that might be why you got a "frosty" reply

I had no idea year 4 children needed to know these in year 4
It might be your school's fault, I have no way of knowing. Many schools inform parents, have a meeting or presentation for example at the beginning of the year, a "meet the teacher" kind of thing, or newsletter with details.

It's useful to know at the beginning of the year your child will go for 2 to 5 nights on a residential later on.

If you are kept completely in the dark, ask and suggest to the school they do some information.

I also found that volunteering and getting involved was a great way to meet the teachers and be more informed.

If parents actually bothered to do it at home, most would have learnt their times tables. No need for catch up during lunch (which the teacher will hate just as much, if not more, than the kids).

You'd be left with just the children with a genuine difficulty in memorising them/rapid recall which can be managed differently.

Parents need to stop expecting schools to do their job for them, and then moaning that the teacher is giving up her own free time to do it!

Do you mean TT Rockstars? That’s what he should have been practising for the last year or so at home.

Didn’t you think to ask if you received the details but weren’t sure what to do next? I’d recommended logging on and starting to go through the times tables. His test will be timed and he will expected to get them all right.

Sounds like a good process. I would not be complaining.

I would be grateful that the teacher is giving up their lunch break to give my child extra tutoring to get them up to speed. I would say thank you rather than complain.

Can't be called jockstraps surely....

I do think it’s concerning that so many in Y4 are needing this support because most schools work towards children knowing their times tables from young.

Whilst it suggests either the teaching isn’t very good or the parent support with maths at home is lacking, the school clearly are trying to help the children.

One day a week? No big deal.

Exactly.

If you aren't happy with it you have a few options

• Work extra hard at home on them so your child gets out to break
• have a calm discussion around this with the school, thanking them for their extra effort but stating concerns regarding any measurable negative impact on your child - I presume there is something specific and you aren't just against this as a concept?
• offer to come in and support with small groups, in the same way parents come in to do reading

But complaining is not a great option. Staff are very likely doing this in their lunch break out of goodwill, to help a class which is for whatever reason behind where they should be.

Many schools are quite receptive to productive feedback, so if you have an alternative idea on how to get the class up to scratch please share it with them.

I would be thanking the teacher for giving up their lunchtimes to give extra tuition to the children.
OP you need to encourage your child to practise their times tables at home everyday. Time tables are essential for maths - so many aspects of maths are dependent on a secure knowledge of times tables.

What's so unacceptable? timetables are a life skill, surely you should be grateful the teachers are giving extra tuition if you can't teach them yourself at home?

Hopefully it encourages parents to support learning at home so their child benefits from all of their playtime.

There is a national timed times table test in Y4 so it’s understandable school don’t want children to feel they fail it as that’s not good for their self esteem (and unless things have changed, the expected mark is 100%).

It’s one day a week.

They have a test at the end of the year. Learning times tables involves a lot of repetition. How much do you do at home. We used to do them on the school run, mixing up the tables