Would i be a total cow to go over the teachers head on this matter?

[WhokilledO2]

My dd has always been solid in history throughout school even at primary school and was easily on target at her old secondary school to pass, exceeding expectations.
As she has Sen it was one of the few areas she felt confident at.
She moved schools at the very start of year nine due to bullying. During year nine she was predicted a 5 at GCSE level and I was told she would likely get a six. In fact when my daughter missed lessons and revision time in year nine as she did two weeks work experience when many were still in school and only scored a certain level in an exam in year nine the teacher felt it was a blip as a result of her missed revision and not representative of her work. More than two years later following a staff change my daughter is now predicted a two and is scoring very low in history. Lower in fact than year nine.
I have raised this with the teacher to see if dd wasn't trying or such but was told that wasn't the case. The teachers answer was that it was a different subject area.

DD is reporting that the teacher does a lot of worksheet work and doesn't spend much time unlike the other teacher actually talking to the class. Because of my dds Sen and processing difficulties this method just doesn't work for her. Part of her learning plan is that teachers must break down instructions and explanations.

I don't know what to do. I feel I've approached the teacher and been fobbed off and i am cross an area which was a confident boost for her when she struggles so much has become just another stress.

Are you worried about the impact of the predicted grade on ds motivation?
Or that it’s a low grade?
The gcse grade dd was predicted in yr9 May not have been accurate. With the new specifications it is difficult for teachers to give accurate predicted grades.

I would request a meeting with the teacher to discuss your concerns, particularly the lack of differentiation in lesson to meet your dd needs.

year nine as she did two weeks work experience when many were still in school and only scored a certain level in an exam in year nine the teacher felt it was a blip as a result of her missed revision and not representative of her work.
This sounds odd. Firstly 2 weeks shouldn't make that much difference, even if it was the two weeks immediately before the exams, but also why was she out on work experience and the others weren't? All schools I know that do it, do it all together.

Thing is unless you discuss it properly, you don't know if the first teacher was over estimating, or the second one underestimating.

It's worth discussing her SEN with the teacher and how they can help, but I would have thought talking to the class would be harder for someone who needed instructions broken down.

As you get older revision and GCSE work in class centres around exams and exam questions rather than classwork, hence the worksheets / booklet working etc. The teaching method isn’t wrong, this is the best way to get most non-SEN kids up to exam standard. Suggest you request 1-2-1 support to allow your dd to make sense of the sheets. If not available then is there a way to get her a tutor who could go through the worksheets in person with her?

You could get in touch with the Senco as you feel that her SEN isn't being taken into consideration?

Have you actually met the teacher wrt her specific learning plan? If not meet her and discuss and write down the plan/targets and a set date to get back in touch to monitor- I would usually get back to a parent two weeks on but I'm primary so with them all the time, so maybe 3 weeks and continue contact. If you have done this and it's been ignored then I would get into touch with SE head if there is one in school.

I would start by meeting with the Senco and ask for you both to meet with the teacher and the head of history.

She's worried about the low grade and I am worried about her self esteem.

I would expect the talking to the class being harder too but apparently the teacher was very good at a bit of talking then the work then being able to talk and break down things further for the kids like DD.

In regards to the work experience it was a mess. It's a small school. They were all meant to be going as Ofsted had moaned about it. There wasn't enough time to find placements and some got non, some got a few days, mine was one of a handful that did two weeks.
As the school is small they carried on lessons while she was away so she missed some of the work covered on the test was what I was told and they had intense revision sessions to go over the old stuff in more detail which she missed too.
That was the teacher explanation anyway.

I would think they had over estimated but that means the two different teachers at her old school also did.

Cherries that is interesting thank you! That makes sense. Teacher is giving a lot of worksheets with no or very little talk and info pinned on the walls from what I can gather.
It is a humanities subject so I'm wondering if I could get hold of the worksheets somehow to help her myself?
I can't afford a tutor. I've just signed up for a maths tutor and my Mum is paying for that to help me.

Sorry yes I have met with the teacher. The teacher reassured me DD was not messing around in that class, that the subject area was different to the one he agreed he could see she had done well in, that he was meeting her needs and that was that really .

Ok well move to senco now.

OP what area history are they covering? Is it possible to get your DD library books which cover this area so she has a basic grounding in the subject? Even very basic books would make the subject more enjoyable and the terms used familiar to her.

Has she started her GCSEs. The change in style might be down to that rather than the teacher. I know that History was one of the subjects at our school that struggled to cover the content.

Yes she is in year 11 so well into them.
From what I remember she's doing about Nazi Germany , super powers , history of medicine, not sure of the others.

We have lots of books at home but she is dyslexic so she finds it hard just to go through books to find info and know what is relevant.

I have managed to find out the exam board is EDEXCEL which might help me find appropriate things now !

Edexcel do offer worksheets aimed at teachers of dyslexic students — I’m not sure what subjects. Maybe contact them so you can buy them and and then you can contact your dd’s teacher and request she uses them too.

Amazing thank you Cherries!
I will buy a set of the ruddy things for school to use and keep if it helps.

You have tried to speak to the teacher and not had much of an answer. I think you need to go above him/her for the sake of not only your child but yourself though even if you go about the teacher , you may still get the same answer.
The importance of education on both the child's future and their current self esteem can not be underestimated. That said I would add that it is not only the teachers job to educate your child. As parents we need to work with our kids in their school work to give them the one to one help they need. You don't need to know about the subject, let them explain it to you , and ask questions which they can answer or you both can look into and find out.

With history there are a few things. My DD1 was diagnosed with dyspraxia in y11 and dropped history 2 months later having bombed out in the mock.

• learning the content. There is a lot of content
• making the links, cause and effect, what was most important
• answering the question asked, not the one you want them to have asked. So picking out the relevant information and structuring it in an appropriate way for the question. Using PEEL
• source based questions, including what they show and what they don't show. Also how accurate or biased they are likely to be.

You need to understand which of these your DD is struggling with so help can be targeted accordingly. My DD couldn't really do any of these apart from the learning the content.

How is your dd doing in her other subjects? Especially ones with with similar skills to history such as geography or English?
Is she predicted similar grades in these other subjects?

Also try and find videos, mind maps etc

There really is a lot of material available free online.

It will be very difficult to get to the bottom of whether provision in lesson has been good enough. I suggest that, rather than going above anyone;'s head to complain, you help your daughter at home. It is a far more positive use of. your time and it can be Mum-daughter bonding time too.

All the syllabi are available online. Download them and the mark scheme. Look at past exam papers. Do some work together, visit some relevant museums. Make it fun and help her get her knowledge onto paper.

I wasn't going above their head to complain. It was to see if I could figure out what was going wrong.

Yes Dyspraxia here too.
I would drop it tbh but she isn't doing enough other subjects to get into college if we did. She's only doing Science, Maths, English , Geography , History and a Btech.
She is six points off a 4 in English, a distinction in her BTech, not sure on the others as mocks aren't back but mostly predicted 4s.
I have been asking for the exam board for ages. Now I know that at least I can search.
We have loads of books at home, I've bought films I think would be relevant, books , YouTube etc.
The problem I was having is DD couldn't remember enough specifics by the time she got home for me to help her properly and I wasn't really getting the info I needed from elsewhere to help fully and find the things myself if that makes sense.

No, you're not being a cow, you're being the proactive parent of a kid with SEN.

she is dyslexic so she finds it hard just to go through books to find info and know what is relevant

All of this should be in her diagnosis report along with the things school should be doing to help her, how they should present information to her etc.

If you don't have that info, then sort out a new assessment with an Ed Psych as soon as possible to identify ALL of the areas where she needs support and intervention.

Does she have an EHCP? If so look at that.

Does she want to got to FE or Uni after school? If so she'll need support there too, so best get it all sorted now.

I would drop it tbh but she isn't doing enough other subjects to get into college if we did.

Are you sure? What's the plan for college? 4s would tend to lead to a BTEC not A levels. How many subjects does she need for that? DD1's level 3 BTEC only needed 5 GCSE passes iirc.
In my opinion you would be far better off dropping History if permitted and securing the pass in English Language, if you have 'enough' subjects for college. That's what we did anyway.
(Don't let school fob you off with saying she needs 8 GCSEs if college don't require it. School may want 8 for their 'progress 8 score, but it might not be in your DD's best interest.)

Ask to see the marked assessments.

She's got a guaranteed place at college but it depends on her grades as to what level she goes onto.
I've already been invited to meet the senco at college and she is amazing. She's taken all the details and is already putting a plan into place.

In her subject area she needs 5 grade 4 and above for Btech level 3
5 grade 3 for Btech level 2
5 grade 2 for level 1

She's only doing Maths, English, Double Science, History, Geography and a BTECH.

We thought the Btech would count but apparently the Btech schools do is not a full proper Btech so doesn't count

Thanks Teen I would love this home but wasn't sure if they would let me.