SAT scores

[dibly]

Hi, hope everyone is ok?
We’ve just had AD’s SAT scores for year 6 and they’re better than we expected, but still under average for maths, and we worked so hard with her in the months leading up to them.

Mathe has always been her weak spot and we’ve felt that school has downplayed it, and because she’s compliant she doesn’t let on in class when she’s struggling (we’re having DDP as a family to help with her speaking out more- amongst other things).

Wondering if anyone has had any success with using the additional funding for school to pay for some private tuition? I’m really proud of her and don’t give a monkeys about Sats, but just want her to have the best life chances in future, and after 7 years of being fobbed off about the pupil premium, wanting to make sure that it funds targeted help for my girl. (There’s also problems with friendships but that’s a whole different thread!)

Sorry, no direct experience with adoption or getting school to use PP for anything specific - I think your best bet is to sort something yourself such as Explore learning or Kumon. My DC improved in confidence/grade a lot by doing that.

It seems that schools either don't care about PPP, which means you can get them to pay for what you want, or they do care and sometimes use it in sneaky ways to "support" children who don't need any support. Our primary for instance paid for a "maths club for high achievers" with PP/PPP money.

Have you considered taking part in the current DofE adoption study? You could tell them to ringfence PPP money for the child. If lots of adopters say that, things might actually change.

I would recommend Power of 2 as a workbook by D Sharp. Looking back, it was the only workbook that really made a difference for my daughter. Khan Academy is a very good free alternative. It is American, but of course there is a big overlap.

Thanks @onlytherain, will take a look at that study and also the power of 2. Not trying to be grabby, but schools either agree with the principle of PP being used to improve the life chances of previously LAC, or they don’t. Seems like they’ve had free licence to do whatever they want with it for too long.

I think you are unlikely to get them to fund private tuition.
However check on the website of the secondary school where their PP money goes. DD's school did use PP money for small group tuition for Maths & English to help kids catch up.

My DD's preferred maths in secondary compared with primary, due to the setting, which meant the classes moved more at their pace and it increased their confidence. In primary the bright kids were calling out answers before DD had even processed the question.

Maths is cumulative and slow burn. You have 5 years to 'catch up'. If you are in a position to, you could do some revision the second half of August to get her back up to speed a bit before September which will help with confidence.

I have mentioned confidence twice. A lot of success with maths is confidence to have a go. Using a white board at home could help as you get to wipe away any errors. I also had success with 'if you did know what to do, what do you think it would be...?

(Adoptive parent with a maths degree. 'Receptive' DD1 went from nearly 2 years behind in y4 to just missing an A for her GCSE moving up sets each year in secondary. 'Less receptive' DD2 still struggling to pass, but Covid and MH messed her up big time.)

Thanks so much, some great tips there and we’ll definitely be doing some work over the holidays.

Do you have Numicon at home? My kids enjoyed playing and learning with it. The visualisation helped them understand.

Patty Paper Geometry by Michael Serry might be helpful too.

And this could be very helpful. It is based on the Growth mindset:
How to Learn Math: For Students
https://www.edx.org/learn/math/stanford-university-how-to-learn-math-for-students?index=product&queryID=33865879520ce667845d9cb76cab17cd&position=3&linked_from=autocomplete&c=autocomplete