Any teachers/people in the know around?

[Tryinga]

Really fed up with my child’s school, the teaching has been awful for 2 years in a row and my child’s gone from being high achieving to I don’t even know what.

I was trying to gage from the teacher where he is currently at educationally and the teacher wouldn’t give me a direct answer. So I asked her straight ‘is he behind’ teacher said ‘no, he is low but not behind’ asked what that means and she said ‘as it sounds’ what does this mean?? Is he below expected or low at expected or what?

Hes on the waiting list for another school as this school is terrible but due to the awful
school, spaces rarely become available at good school so not sure whether we should take a loan and get him a tutor. He’s a very bright kid but has been totally failed. He’s yr4 and lost all confidence last year. Any help/advise appreciated!

Can you email the head and ask for his levels in each subject? Or ask for an appointment with the head.

If you don’t feel the teacher has responded to your concerns, I’d ask for a meeting with the head. It sounds as though you’ve not got any faith in the teacher and the school, but unless you can move him, you need to know where he’s at.

Before you get a tutor, find out, if you can, where he needs more support and what the school is doing to support him.

How do you know the teaching was awful?
Were you in the classroom?
So sick of this as a teacher.

I would infer that the teacher means the lower end of average? So, not significantly behind his peers but a bit of a gap. Ask for an appointment with the teacher or Head.

Lower end of average makes sense: will ask for an appointment with the head. Thank you. Teacher explicitly said they’re not telling parents the levels as this is for the teachers to know and not us, but I feel I need to know what he’s struggling with so I can support him. Teacher made some comments but I’m pretty sure she was talking about a different child which is why I asked for a copy of his tests, again told definitely not.

As for the comment on ‘how do I know it was awful teaching’, there was no specific teacher for his class and 50% of the time they were taught by TA’s. Parents evenings were with the head who didn’t know who they were.

I'd take that as meaning that he is just about keeping up but struggling a bit.

My son was struggling and had no confidence in year 5, we got a tutor and it was the best thing we’ve ever done, having an hour a week 1:1 with a good teacher and in a year he made massive progress and became much more confident.

So there is no budget then.
Hardly a teacher's fault.
TAs are not teachers.

I didn’t say it was ‘a teachers fault’. To be honest I don’t care who’s ‘fault it is’ - probably a mixture government cuts, a badly managed school, out of their depth staff and my inability to earn enough to pay for private education.
What I want to know is how to fix it so he has a good shot. All of the primary tutors I’ve spoken to locally today are fully booked with long waiting lists, unsurprising really. Does anyone know - Are online tutors worthwhile?

Be super careful.with online tutors. I'm a tutor and do.some online work. Many are unqualified and it's an unregulated profession. Ask for recommendations