Any teachers about please.

That sounds like she needs lots of reinforcement of the things she can do, gradually increasing the variety in each set, so that the building blocks become more automatic and comfortable. Imagine building a house of cards - if all the lower tiers were just about balanced kind of, keeping going up without it falling will be difficult. If you were to glue the lower tiers in place before building higher, you'll get a taller construction!

If you yourself have a history of maths problems then I would think even more that getting some sort of assessment would be helpful - but talk to the school about how to arrange this. If it is done with a clear set of questions then a report is more likely to come back with useful answers as to what to do now.

It probably won't help her that, as music and maths so often "go together" there may be a lot of very good instinctive mathematicians in her class. But you might be able to think of a way to phrase that to turn it to her advantage, eg that in a different school there would be more students finding maths harder.

You probably know this already, but

www.satspapers.org.uk/Page.aspx?TId=5 is a good source of the KS2 Maths papers - can she still do these? Where does she struggle?

I suppose I am working from the starting point that your DD is unlikely to have gone from 'good understanding at KS2, even if gained rather slowly' to '7-14% after a term of KS3', especially as the Maths test they gave her is very, very unlikely to contain ONLY what she has studied this term (that's almost impossible in Maths, because so much relies on what has been learned before).

So what you can help your DD and her new school find out is what is missing from her understanding of KS2 Maths, to identify the gaps that need to be filled in / continuously reinforced to enable her to access the KS3 work appropriately with support.

If she hasn't already done all the old KS2 maths papers, you [or your DH, or a tutor, or an older teenage friend, or whoever] could perhaps work through some with her, again as a diagnostic test?

Oh, and how good is she at 'following procedures'? I have taught a dyscalculic who could follow procedures - so could actually carry out complex written calculations because they were a set of simple steps, which they could follow in order - despite having very poor grasp of underlying principles. Another dyscalculic child I taught could not follow procedures, and that necessitated a different approach.

Just a further thought - can she still do what you know she could do at the end of KS2, even if she is presented with e.g. a single question on a topic amongst questions on other topics? Or does she work best when given a set of very similar questions of the same type?

Also, can she work with e.g. word problems as well as she can work with a numerical calculation?

e.g. If she was asked to find 3/5 of 35 - a KS2 level question, can she do it:

• When presented as 'What is 3/5 of 35?'
• When presented as an 'empty box' problem such as 3/5 of __ = 21
• When presented as a 1-step word problem: Tw2k has 35 pencils. She gives out 3/5 of them - how many pencils is this?
• When presented as a 2-step word problem: Tw2k has 35 pencils. She gives Bob and Georgia 1/5 of the pencils each. How many pencils does she have left?

I teach a low Maths set, and many of them have one of the two difficulties above when taking Maths tests. One is that they find it hard to retrieve the specific technique they need to answer a question when presented with a set of mixed questions. Another is that they are used to having a question posed in a particular form, and don't know what to do if there is even a very slight 'twist' to that form.

Another very common difficulty my pupils have is in retaining key facts - does your DD know all her number bonds (addition and subtraction facts to 100) and all her times tables and inverse division facts to 12 x 12 with instant recall? f she doesn't - even if she did once, she may not still - then that is an easy but very important thing to do over the holiday.

I would join with others to say that the KS3 study book is not what she needs. Start with the KS1 book, which she can probably whizz through, using practical as well as pencil and paper resources. Note down anything she can't do instantly - e.g. whether she doesn't know all number bonds within 20 instantly - because those will impact on her ability to do the 'next step', for example formal written methods of addition and subtraction.

Then move on to KS2, which I suspect is where you will start finding thegaps. Again, note them down.

I'm suggesting that you do this diagnosis, because you will know, from your time HEd her, whether

• It is something she never learned / encountered
• Something she has learned over and over again but doesn't retain
• Something she learned but did a particular way which may not be 'standard' and thus bridging to the standard method may be needed

Then feed all that information back to the school, for them to use as a starting point for their interventions.

Started a reply to this thread several times, then not been able to post. A you may remember, I've done the schooled / HEd / back to schooled transition, though after a shorter time, and I do well remember that there were reintegration 'moments'.

If I read the posts correctly, your DD has

• General problems across all subjects, represented in the school report as 3s and 4s in effort. Is the interpretation that this is an 'organisational' issue yours, or theirs? As in, does she work hard when in the lessons, but doesn't always turn up and doesn't always do the homework? Or is there poor effort in lessons PLUS the problems with homework, turning up etc?

• A specific issue with Maths, which you believe was there in her earliest 'schooled' years, was present (but improved) during her HEd years, but is now manifesting itself again back in the schooled environment?

A question I would ask is whether she shows the same lack of effort / organisation towards her music? Or whether she is capable of applying effort / organisation in that one area, but isn't in her academic work? I suppose what I'm getting at is whether this is 'how she is' or 'a specific attitude / set of behaviours / gaps' related to her academic work. I can't remember who taught her music - is it something that she has done within the family (as part of HEd) or something she has always done 'externally' so the adaptation back to a 'schooled' environment is easier?

I'm glad that the school is being so supportive and helpful - how does your DD feel about her report?

And practical application will only get you so far in secondary school........

But it's going to be such a struggle to catch up!

I have enjoyed your many posts NewLife and celebrated your dd's success in gaining her place at music school but this post makes me want to weep. Sorry to be blunt but you have just highlighted one of the pitfalls of home educating - by concentrating on subjects your dd likes (and you can do) you have avoided the subjects she needs. Why on earth did you arrange for foreign language tutors at home and not a maths tutor? Thankfully your dd's talent for music has now given her access to some qualified teachers.

I don't think the help would be more necessarily because they are in a boarding school. Teachers will always stay behind after hours to help a student, in 99.9% of schools nationwide. They'll give up breaks and lunch to do one to one sessions and have then for as long as it takes. But what I mean is, there might not be a maths teacher available in the boarding facilities. In my own experience "living in" there were not any maths teachers who lived there. I can and did help kids of an evening in my own subject, as did all the other staff. It just so happened that nobody actually taught maths. (Mostly pe, business, tech and science as it happens.)

NewLife what sort of maths was she doing when you were HE her? If the two of you did not tackle the maths systematically it may be more that she is very behind rather that she really can't do it. However she now needs to put the proper amount of time in. Could you ask some friendly older teenager to give her some help in getting at least her arithmetic and fractions secure during the holidays?

If she's stuck at school morning, noon and night, then I'd def be letting her have the holidays 'off' with no school work at all. Start in January - back to basics.

It seems a lot of people who pay a private ed psych get a diagnosis.

funny that

"school works. Hopefully the staff on duty or one of the resident staff will be a maths teacher and happy to help in the evenings, but that might not be the case."

Really? In my experience of boarding school they would be much more proactive than that with a child struggling this much. It would be pretty crap if they weren't! If the child is only home from Saturday lunch to Sunday tea then there is no way the parents could/ should address this issue!

Melon that's not how boarding school works. Hopefully the staff on duty or one of the resident staff will be a maths teacher and happy to help in the evenings, but that might not be the case.

OP I agree you need to go right back to basics. When did she start to struggle with maths? Whatever you do, don't commiserate with her by admitting your own maths problems - a lot of kids seem to think mathematical ability is inherited so it might affect her approach (I.e. positivity) towards the subject. Unless you spin it in a "I always wanted to improve my maths, let's do it together!" way which could be beneficial for you both. But yes, as pp said, would ask senco to get involved to just check there are no dyscalculia (not sure on spelling!) issues.

I would check the school's SEND Information Report which is supposed to be on the school's website as it should give you some idea about how and when they assess SEN. If that's no good (and even if it is), I would speak to the SENCO and explain your valid concerns. Don't let them brush you off. Ask for an assessment for dyscalculia from the Educational Psychologist. Also ask them what support they can offer, even before the EP assessment, in terms of over learning or tutoring.

Once you get an EP report there will be recommendations and then make sure the school administers these, or at least some of them.

Was the test appropriate for her age? If she is, for example, yr 7, and doing a gcse paper then 7-14% would be kind of understandable.

If she boards I would be expecting school to do the work with her, rather than using your precious time at weekends.

It seems utterly daft the school expecting her to work at ks3 level if she can only get 14% with help! What do they suggest? I would put it back to them.

You don't have to wait for the schoo,to test her if you're concerened.

Dd was a year behind where she should be in all subjects and her state school said they wouldn't test until she was two years behind! Which I thought was crazy, we paid an ed psych and got a dyslexia diagnosis.

I would throw it back at the school and ask them what they're going to do, especially as she boards and is with them most of the time. They can't just ring and say they're worried and then not have an action plan.

Am not a teacher btw.