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Original poster

Year 7 maths - what is 'normal'? Speak to tutor/HoY?

39 replies

Takver · 02/10/2013 08:32

Sorry, a bit long, but don't want to drip. DD is finding maths very boring. She's shown me her target - which is the same she says for the whole group - and for this term it is (don't have her book here, but the sense of it) 'revise level 4 & get more than 70% in a test on this at the end of term'

She was assessed at level 5 in primary (teacher assessments not SATs here as in Wales), and says the work they're doing is stuff they did in year 4 - 5 at primary, and they aren't zipping through it, but going at a similar speed or slower. (They're working on area - quadrilaterals / triangles etc - pages and pages of working out the area of a rectangle.)

They're setted, she's in the top set (of 4 I believe), and she says as far as she can see she is one of the slower to do the work if anything - she has issues with writing/handwriting which slow her down a lot. So it seems unlikely that they have an intake that is particularly poor at maths.

As far as I can see, they're not even going to start doing work she did last year in primary until next term, so its going to be yr 8 until they do anything new. Its sad as maths has always been one of her favourite subjects, and I think she's just going to get massively put off.

Is this normal - do they usually do masses of revision and nothing new in yr 7? Sorry for the essay!!

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Original poster
Takver · 08/10/2013 12:39

lljkk - I much prefer email, as I can think through what I want to say carefully, and not risk overstating or understating the situation, if that makes sense.

Anyway, maths teacher was off yesterday, head of year today, but hopefully they will all recover from flu soon and we'll hear something :)

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teacherwith2kids · 07/10/2013 21:37

Just to add a 'positive experience' to say that Y7 is not always revision.

DS left primary as a L6. A secondary teacher from his current school had run fortnightly 'maths clubs' on Friday afternoons for the more able mathematicians, so they 'believed' the primary levels [I do think this is sometimes an issue, especially when coaching / revision for SATs forms such a big part of many schools' timetables for Year 6...not my DC's school, but I think we have been lucky].

After a couple of weeks unset, they were then set and the top group at least went off at a very rapid pace. Achived his target of something 7ish in Y7, aiming for an 8A by the end of Y9. They don't do early entry Maths, preferring to broaden rather than accelerate in Years 10 and 11.

lljkk · 07/10/2013 18:45

email is fine if you have a general query, but if you want to speak to someone specific... AAARrrrrggghhhh....!

trace2 · 07/10/2013 16:25

Ds in same boat just started year 7 and we been thinking ok they need to know he can do them , he left his old school with level 6s and told he can do more he as got asperges and can not tell the teacher we are making an appointment to go in as today came home saying the teacher wants us to be level 5 by end of year he is soo bored .

mumslife · 06/10/2013 18:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

teacherandguideleader · 05/10/2013 21:48

Targets are sometimes low in year 7. Primary levels, especially where teacher assessed are often over inflated (even actual test scores are not always accurate as so much cramming has gone on). They may be setting a blanket target until they have got to know the children.

FirstVix · 05/10/2013 20:49

I didn't mean your case specifically Takver. I think your DC's target is silly and personally avoid setting targets this early in the year PRECISELY because I don't know what my students can already do.
There will be repitition for some as other primaries won't have covered certain things at all/in the same depth, but I should have other extension tasks/work for those who can do this already. Area is a really easy place to set an extension task.

It feels to me like every teacher has been told to set targets from day one for all pupils and so generic stuff was given out before the teacher realised their ability. Saying that, by now the pace should have picked up.

Original poster
Takver · 05/10/2013 20:32

Take your point, FirstVix, but in this case I think dd is being fair enough - she's got 100% right in all the class work & homework in her book, so I don't think she is overly optimistic. She's not the fastest, but that's down to her writing skills rather than her maths.

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23balloons · 05/10/2013 17:06

I too would be concerned about this. Ds left primary L 5a ( didn't do 6) His first maths homework was n numbers in sequences, not sure if that is algebra or not? He learnt new things all of the time and was flying through L 6 by Christmas. His end of year exam result was 7b and his year 8 target is 8c. He is in the accelerated maths class now.

lljkk · 05/10/2013 09:21

ooh... this is funny, having a parallel conversation on another thread where others insist that yr7 is doomed to be purely revision, at least for top achievers (DD not finding it so, though).

So very keen to hear the reply... if you get one. We're not finding it easy to contact people in DC high schools at all.

FirstVix · 05/10/2013 09:16

Your son should tell the teacher mumslife (in a polite way!) if they feel the work is too easy. In year 7 especially we're still getting to know them and part of that is their feedback. I want that dialogue to be part of the classroom, just as I want a student who is struggling to feel able to pipe up.

However, sometimes students think they can do something but actually get it wrong when you assess them on it, so they're not always the best judge of their own abilities!

Original poster
Takver · 04/10/2013 19:57

I've sent an email - we'll see what happens . . . :)

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mumslife · 03/10/2013 13:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ItsDecisionTime · 02/10/2013 18:32

Same thing happened to my DD in Year 7 but now she's moved into Year 8 they have definitely upped their game. She too is in the top set and was used to getting above 90% in her tests but now only 2 students in the set got over 90% in the term test and the remainder were at the 40-50% mark. When I questioned it they said not to worry, as long as they make gradual progress as the year goes on they can expect to sit GCSE at the end of year 9 and also be expected to achieve a good grade.

Original poster
Takver · 02/10/2013 13:22

I'll send them an email. Hopefully that will be ok - they actually seem to prefer phone calls but I find it so much easier to think of what I want to say on paper first.

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dingit · 02/10/2013 12:28

I had this with my dd in yr 7. I emailed in ( can't remember what they said) but then the pace shot up and she sat her GCSE at the end of year 9. She got an A ( only 3 got A) and is studying further maths, and will resit for an A in November. What I'm saying is, it's early days, and I'm sure the work will get harder!

Original poster
Takver · 02/10/2013 12:09

It is, outtolunch, thank you. MN is great for this sort of thing, isn't it. Its so hard to know otherwise what is normal when your last experience of secondary school was in the 1980s Grin

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noblegiraffe · 02/10/2013 12:08

Oh god, thanks cake, yes, base times perpendicular height. Blush I must have been distracted by the talk of triangles. I do know really!

outtolunchagain · 02/10/2013 11:49

My ds3 has just gone into year 7 and is top set of four in a similar size year group .

He has always loved maths and had a very dynamic maths teacher for the last 2 years ,so part of the problem I think is that it's just a drier teaching approach however he has done Venn diagrams and sequencing ( a bit of Fibonaci etc) and is now revising decimals .If that's any help.

cakeandcustard · 02/10/2013 11:47

noblegiraffe area of a parallelogram is base X perpenicular height Grin

I think more generally there is,a huge issue with a dip in level of maths education in yr 7 which puts a lot of kids off. They come out of primary top rate & secondary schools don't do enough to capitalise on that.

noblegiraffe · 02/10/2013 11:38

You need the song to the tune of Pop Goes the Weasel

Half the sum of the parallel sides
Times the distance between them
That's the way that you can find
The area of a trapezium.

Then you'll never forget it again!
Or you could try to remember 1/2(a+b)h which is less fun. :)

Original poster
Takver · 02/10/2013 11:35

Thanks, Noblegiraffe - Long time since I've had the need to work out the area of a parallelogram or indeed a trapezium :)

(Which brings back funny memories of a group of older ladies of my acquaintance sitting round a table trying to remember how to work out the area of the surface of a cone in order to buy a piece of pond liner the correct size to make a waterproof layer in a turf roof hut - you never know when in your life these things will prove useful Grin )

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noblegiraffe · 02/10/2013 11:30

Parallelogram is half base x perpendicular height
Trapezium is half the sum of the parallel sides x the distance between them

Or you could split them into triangles and rectangles but that takes longer and you don't always have the required lengths.

Original poster
Takver · 02/10/2013 10:53

Isn't a trapezium / parallellogram just the triangles + the rectangle?

I don't know dd's targets for any other subject, not sure if it is the same focus under ESTYN as for OFSTED. (As far as I can see their 'school banding' into 1 - 5 for success simply parallels average FSM numbers, so I suspect there isn't much value added calculation going on.)

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mamicar · 02/10/2013 10:52

ds1 is in year 7 in Wales too. they have been put into sets based on assessments they did back in year 6. ds is struggling though due to issues with his handwriting.

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