Advice please about dd and Maths

Sounds like your DD is finding this difficult. Huge sympathies to you both; it is horrible to watch your child struggle.
I have nothing to add to what other posters have said, other than that if DD is leaving some answers to her homework completely blank, would it be possible for her to write something relevant down, even if she can't get beyond the initial step. Just thinking that it would show the teacher she has tried, and you certainly used to get some marks for showing relevant working out.
Would it be possible for our DD to swap classes, so that she has a different teacher? Might be worth asking.

I don’t think any predictions based on KS2 results would be 9s.

FFT certainly generate 9 targets for kids, loads of my students have them all the way down to Y7.

And i agree with the pp who said it sounds like he's under a bit of pressure himself

It does sound like the teacher is putting too much pressure on and making your dd feel a bit singled out op, although he may perceive it differently and not realise it's making her stressed. He might just feel he is showing concern for her. I would speak to him about how stressed she is getting about it.

I have dc in 2 grammar schools. 2 are in top set for maths. They have never been told they have to get a 9 for anything even in the subjects they're getting 8/9s/A* and they got 6s in Sats. All their teachers are very human, supportive and aware they're just kids. No hideous pressure at all.

Sorry to be a pedant- but it’s setting they’ve stopped, not streaming.

not helpful but that is kind of the problem with grammars - the expectation is so high, based on one day age 11. The teacher is clearly under a lot of pressure.

in this situation i'd mention to the teacher that your dd spends an enormous amount of time on her maths homework and is getting increasingly anxious. That you're disappointed streaming has ended as this would have benefitted your dd.

and yes, if you can, get her a tutor. annoying and expensive but it will be money well spent to boost her confidence, reduce her anxiety and help her through.

I don’t think any predictions based on KS2 results would be 9s. Only 3% of the cohort are supposed to get 9s- it would be absurd to expect an entire class to get them- even in a selective school.

This teacher also talks a lot about GCSE grades, she wants them all to get 9s. Dd would be very happy with a 7 or 8 but the teacher tells her to aim for a 9 even if dd thinks that is unrealistic
Is it possible her target is a 9 based on ks2 SATs and that's why he's required to get her to a 9? A 7 may look like not enough progress in terms of the school's teaching. I suppose a lot of kids in grammars will have had a lot of input to get them through the 11+ so will achieve highly in ks2 sats and end up with very high targets

Dancer, if she’s in Y10 she should have had predicted grades for all her subjects.

And the key thing for schools and teachers in terms of performance indicators is that kids make expected or better progress from baseline assessments. Nothing about numbers of 9s.

It is completely unrealistic to expect the entire class to get 9s! What is your ds's predicted grade?

It seems like there is a lot of pressure and she is not coping with it. I feel sorry for her. Do you think this is the right School for her.? Can you speak to the teacher about it?

God, how annoying that they stopped streaming. What nonsense. My daughter also struggles with maths, and went from Group 1, in year 7, to group 2, and now group 3 in year 10. She was devastated initially, but hurrah, is actually now thriving as the teacher spends more time and effort ensuring everyone is up to speed. At the end of the day it is as much about confidence as ability. The point of this post..... my daughter suffered PTSD from a accident at the end of year 7, and really suffered from confidence issues. I had to speak to the school several times to appraise them of her issues, it took a good couple of years to get them fully on board, but now, in year 10, it all seems to have worked out really well. Dialogue is invaluable, and with individual teachers, don't assume they share information, they don't. Especially between year groups. If you don't talk to them, they don't know, or assume laziness or intractability. Your daughter just needs a little bit of TLC, and she will get there.

The thing is your dd would be under the same pressure in a comp as she'd be in a top set for maths particularly if she did well in her Sats.

I'm sure the school would understand if she wanted them to back off.

My dd has Sen and is in a high achieving grammar. Just had parents evening and they've been superb,all bending over backwards to support her and offer strategies in the subjects she needs them.Ime this MN idea that grammar school staff are heartless slave drivers just isn't true.

I'd speak to school and work with them,we can advise you all you like but they are with your dd everyday.

As an aside has your dd got any online learning facilities from school? Our schools use DR Frost and it is very good for enhancing core areas which might help with her self esteem.

I was like your dd with her teacher. In top set, but really wanted to move down, however they would not allow it. I used to dread every lesson, and get told off for not answering a question- even if I didn't know where to start with it.

We done a past paper once, had it marked and the teacher commented that no one had scored full marks on the last question. I raised my hand and 'Sir, you have given me full marks'. He replied 'yes I forgot, somehow Snowy managed this question, what a shame she didn't manage the rest of the paper'.

It knocked me to the ground. I felt that even though I had achieved something, I still could not get any praise. I got a C in the end. But believe if I had been in the set down, set the other maths paper, I would have got a B. Up until Year 10, maths had been my strongest subject, I left year 11 hating it.

The school should tell you - how else are you supposed to know if DD is achieving in line with where she should be? If they haven't provided it, ask for it - then you at least know what the line she's being measured against is.

It's not linked to number of 9s, but most teachers have a target in place about students achieving a certain grade (ours are calculated based on KS2 data), and you can only progress past a certain level on the pay scale if you meet those targets. It's normally not 100% of students, more like 75-85%, but it does put a lot of pressure on the staff to make sure the kids achieve.

Nothing stops you learning maths like the anxiety you will not understand it. Stress to her she does not have to understand it straight away. She just has to read over it, let it flow past her, try the questions and decide whether her understanding is high middle or low. Leave it a couple of days then try it again and ask whether her understanding has improved. I have a dd who is good at maths. She does not expect to understand things straight away. I think if your dd could break this spiral of thinking she is not good at maths so getting anxious about it and so not doing well, she too would start doing better.
I can recommend the Letts or CGP revision guides.
My dd too would hate the constant attention from the teacher in class. The teacher is obviously trying to help, so I would have a word as she obviously does not know your dd as well as you do and does not realise the affect it is having.

There are also past exam questions with solutions on the site, which will hopefully help.

Hi DancerGirl,

I use these revision videos from MathsGenie with my classes - I link them to the homework tasks that I set. Sometimes it helps for a child to see the examples being demonstrated again in such a way that they can rewind and repeat.

Hope she finds them helpful.

Yes it is. And especially in grammar schools.