To feel that we may as well have thrown the money away?

[Hedgehog80]

Dd1 was struggling with maths. She has health issues so that's possibly why. A year ago we got a maths tutor for her.
We could only afford once a fortnight and this kept being mentioned but as we couldnt stretch to more we kept it the same.

Tutor seemed good, dd however kept saying he was going over the same things all the time.
He said she would def pass gcse and that she was improving each time.dd maintained she wasn't but I took the tutors word for it.
Very suddenly a few weeks ago the owner of the tutoring group sent a message saying they couldn't tutor dd anymore. Too busy.
They are still advertising though as having spaces?

Anyway, just got dds latest test back and she got a very very low mark, the lowest she's ever got ?? He was so positive and I knowbher health has been bad but I didn't expect this?

We wasted all the money we spent on tutoring didn't we? It was so expensive :(

I'm assuming she is Y11 and has just done her first proper mock? In which case yes I expect the grade would be low as it will be the first time she will have done an entire set of papers, not just tests on what she has been doing recently. Bear in mind this will also be testing parts of the syllabus she may not have covered yet in class.
This years Y11 is also the first year to do an entire new syllabus with a different grading structure, 9-1 instead of A-G. A grade 4/5 is the equivalent of a C. The problem is that as there has not yet been a paper in this syllabus, teachers have to guess the grade boundaries, is is possible they also guessed high. But most students get a low grade at this point anyway. What matters is that she starts doing her own independent revision, best to work through questions then she can mark the answers, if she gets them wrong she needs to fully revise that topic. Buy a revison book. Start her revising early and she should improve greatly.

If a child is struggling with maths, 1 hr a fortnight really isn't going to make much impact

Did whoever assessed her suggest rest breaks? It needs to be recommended by a professional with a qualification recognised by jcq. Ideally school would try different methods to establish which works best for her.

Sorry just saw she is in Y10. She will still be doing 9-1 syllabus. When she does these tests, she needs to write down the individual topics she is getting low marks in, eg. Adding fractions, pythagoras' theorem, and use a revision book to go through at home independently to make sure she can do it.

Does the school have access to MathsWatch? That is an excellent tool that breaks down the syllabus into topic areas so the student can focus on topics he/she struggles with. You need the teacher to diagnose which topic areas are a problem based on the mock and which your DD is a little more confident with. She then needs to focus her attention first on the topics where she is not totally at sea and can pick up the 'easy' marks to come up a grade or so. This will also help her confidence. After that she can look at the topics where she is struggling.

Ask the school for recommendations, also ask around people you know. What about retired maths teachers who live nearby, ask at church or other community centres.

Maths requires repetition every day, until you 'get' it.

Our neighbour says most children who think theycan't do it have just missed something fairly basic and once they've got that, they go along fine thereafter (she's a retired maths teacher, retired head of the best school in our area, which was something like 3rd best in England at the time she was there, so I believe her. She got dd through anyway, and that was only once a fortnight, tutoring too).

Have you tried Kahn Academy, online?

It was the hospital OT but the schools never seem to want to implement the recommendations- same with ds in primary

I can understand your frustration but you can not just throw money at this type of problem and then been annoyed when it doesn't work. Having a tutor is only one factor in getting an improvement. Consistent practice and motivation are more important. However, your right to be pissed off about the constant positive feedback and then dropping dd without a reason.

I think you need either the senco, if suitably qualified, or an ed psych to assess her and recommend adjustments taking into account the OT s findings and paed etc. Once that is in place the school are obliged to put arrangements in place.

Surely there is a limit to what she can do if she is unwell.

As a tutor of 12 years' experience, all my students have gone up at least 1 grade and usually 2. My record was from E at AS to a B at A2. I am particularly hot on spotting undiagnosed dyslexia and teaching my students management strategies for organising their thoughts and arguments well as developing anxiety management methods. I even have students whom I taught at GCSE call me up from university! I have also had all 3 siblings in 4 different families.

I had a tutor myself as a student in maths and went from B to A.

Sounds like the tutor is the issue!

Cara, a common misunderstanding is that a tutor needs to have a qualification in the particular subject. I have a degree, but not in teaching. I was a Higher Level Teaching Assistant specialising in literacy interventions at primary level. I am trained in teaching whole classes, small groups and, most importantly, 1:1. I have been self-employed as a private tutor for 3.5 years. This is my job. If I wasn't any good, I wouldn't be able to make a living. I am trained in dyslexia and dyscalculia, have a wide SEN experience (including gifted and talented) and an excellent record in getting students through the 11+. While I started out teaching at primary level, nearly half of my tutees are in secondary school. I am quite capable of getting hold of the KS4 and KS4 curriculum; my skill is to make it accessible to the child or young person who is struggling. Please do not think an A-level student, or even a student with a maths degree, charging 15 quid an hour, is going to be a better bet than someone who is a proper, professional tutor, charging a proper, professional fee. I have many friends who are qualified teachers and, while some could tutor, most freely admit that they wouldn't / cannot do what I do. It is a completely different skill set, teaching a whole class the same curriculum with differentiation, or knowing your own subject inside out, from one-to -one, personalised tuition. Do the cheap ones have the SEND experience? Do they have the training in interventions? Do they have the resources? Your tutor was not great because they didn't know how to teach someone who doesn't 'get' maths. Oh, and you weren't overpaying, but it's not much use paying for the wrong tutor only once every 2 weeks. Or a cheap one once a week.

Dd does Khan academy, she was falling behind and doing about 30 minutes each day (some days we miss) she has caught up and is doing fine. It has videos of how to with each subject and you can watch and rewatch, then do the test and still stop and watch more if you are still having trouble. www.khanacademy.org/

I tutored my own child - went from low E to c in six months. We did maths nearly every day. dont forget, mock results / teacher prediction are very inaccurate.

I don't know how far along it goes towards the GCSE curriculum, but I found 'So you really want to learn maths' books 2 and 3 by Galore park just brilliant. You have to get the answer books separately.

However, each topic is laid out very clearly. I was wasting time trying to google stuff or search through a variety of other learning aid' books and still sometimes none the wiser. They do Pythagoras' Theorem too. The foundation is certainly there.

You could work through each topic with her and let her try the questions. You can then double check the answers and working using the answer book. I can't praise them highly enough for clarity.

You can get them on ebay or amazon.

Yes she is very limited as hetsso exhausted physically and mentally. I just want if possible for her to pass her GCSEs to avoid retaking them and more work for her.
The latest diagnosis (chronic fatigue syndrome) on top of her existing conditions has upset her I think as although she can now access help I think she feels like things are not getting any better (has EDS, Pots, and other related conditions)

Is she doing higher or foundation? Percentages mean very little if we don't know that. 14% on higher might mean that a move to foundation is in order and she'll do better on that, but 14% on higher at this stage in year 10 isn't massively worrying yet. 14% on foundation means there is a much bigger problem.

Am I right in thinking that she's at a private school? Do you think they're doing enough? Some private schools aren't the best at offering support for children with special needs - it's expensive to offer additional support. That said, you'd think they be doing what they could to boost her results as a low result will reflect badly on them.

And what grade is she aiming for (this is 9-1, grade 5 is the new "good pass" but I'd harder to get than a C used to be)

What I meant to say, but didn't, was do you think her school is the best school for her? Because from what you've said they're not exactly pulling out all the stops.

It's a difficult one. The school have been amazing with her health needs and offered rest breaks and generally have been great. Suddenly though now it's apparent she's not doing well at maths and attendance low it's slightly changed.
I wouldn't want to move her as I think the school is best for her in terms of size and care and they have an amazing nurse who really looks after her and knows her so well.
I wonder if maybe I expect too much from dd? She's always been very clever, passed 11+ with no need for tutoring and was always way ahead but now her health is really holding her back and maybe I need to back off a bit and not push the maths so much?
It's just hard as I don't want her to have to retake but maybe it's not the bad thing I think it is ?
In all other subjects she's doing really well, it's just maths is important

If she had extra time could she not use some of it for a break? Spent 30 mins working, head down for 15 then another 30? Your school doesn't sound v supportive.

What tier is she doing? Higher or foundation? It's important

I will find out, I think it's foundation

I'll double check when she says awake (I should know this I know but my mind is full of so much stuff already, I know she's in the lowest set possiblefor maths but I'll check with her later)