Teacher referred me to a tutor

[ShepherdMoons]

dd has been finding the Maths hard at her school. There are a few of the students in her year group (there are 8 of them - small school) who also are finding the homework and Maths difficult. The school don't seem to be able to offer any extra help so I mentioned that maybe a tutor might be needed. The teacher has agreed and given me the number of her friend who is a tutor. I'm going to speak to the tutor but AIBU to think that maybe the school could have offered a bit of help first? It's a lot more expense for us at a time when we are needing to save a bit.

I think a "few" out of 8 students struggling is a bit of a concern in terms of whether the teaching is up to snuff and that it might be worth raising that with the school.

I don't think you should wait on a response from them though - they almost certainly won't be able to make changes in a timeframe that will be good enough for your DD. But I also agree that unless you really struggled with maths you will probably be able to provide effective support for an 8 year old yourself without coughing up 40 quid an hour. Tell the teacher the tutoring is too expensive and ask if she can recommend activities and websites that you can do with your DD instead.

As she is year 4, I'd have a go at doing it myself. Get a monthly subscription from something like Twinkl and any subjects that are really tricky, use their resources. I seem to remember it was about a fiver.
My Year 4 child had a real 'block' about graphs. I paid for 1 month subscription, printed out loads of stuff and we worked through it together. BBC bitesize has some good free stuff as well. In fact, I printed loads of year 4 stuff and then cancelled my subscription.
I also bought a pack of gold stars, which went down very well!

£40 an hour? Rip off

Dependant where you are, I think you could find a tutor for less than £40. Shop around.

I cannot believe that schools are sanctioning their staff offering free tuition after school (on the premises???), That sets a massive precedent and an issue for other staff members, who will be "expected" to offer the same.
Our school offers tuition to targeted children, but it's under the Gov't's catch-up scheme and the teachers who run it are paid for their time.

Is there any local teenager tutors available at a discounted price and more relatable.

The school should be tutoring students through in my experience that only happens in primary school.

Unfortunately it takes me until 5pm, then an hour at home, just to do the very basics of my job without extras like tutoring. That's life in a tiny school, planning alone and teaching several year groups at once. It was different when I was in a two form entry.

When you asked about a tutor not surprisingly the teacher thought you wanted one / could afford one and thought she was helping you. Can’t you see that? If you wanted extra help at school for her why not ask that question instead?

My kids are year 4 and 1 and their school have been offering extra tutoring to pupils that need it (on an invitation only basis) for half an hour 1 or 2 days a week. At least half the kids in each year group attend this so I'm really surprised to hear that a class with only 8 pupils can't figure something out to help those that are struggling.

I cannot believe that schools are sanctioning their staff offering free tuition after school (on the premises???), That sets a massive precedent and an issue for other staff members, who will be "expected" to offer the same.
I thought I was the only only thinking this is both unethical an inappropriate. There's also another dark side to this. What if the DD well and other kids go around telling each other she knew what was going to be in the test as her tutor is BFFs with the teacher? What if the tutor goes to the friend's house when she's correcting tests?

Ask the school if they can apply for covid catch-up tutoring money for your DD in maths.

Don't be annoyed that when you asked for the details of a tutor the teacher gave you the details of a tutor. That's mad.

Very surprised the school is not being supportive of its struggling students. They have a responsibility to all the students and especially need to support those finding work challenging. You've talked to the teacher, go to HT now, expressing your surprise at the school not offering small group support. If still no help, write to the Governors about this. It is in the school's interests to get their students to a good level, OFSTED would not be impressed. More than this though, they are letting the children down.

You told the teacher she was finding it hard. They will obviously try and help her as much as possible. You could have asked for websites and workbook recommendations. You asked about a tutor and you got a recommendation. I am not sure what you are upset about.

Teachers should not be referring you to private tutors.
The teacher needs to find a way to make sure that all pupils are up to speed.

I wouldn’t have thought that ethically a teacher could just recommend their mate for tutoring.
a year 4 really shouldn’t need huge amounts of maths tutoring, can you get some workbooks or subscribe to one of the online services/apps. Is it only this year that your child is struggling or an ongoing thing?

Not if it involves working for free outside of work hours though.

Two fold here.

Too many from a small group are struggling so the way it's being taught needs addressing.

There will always be children in a year group struggling but not 50% ish!

And don't go for a tutor. At 8 you be better off buying a book, using maths apps on a tablet etc.

You need to establish whether she's struggling with the subject content or the way it's taught before spending £160 a month.

Well done you.

This is a small school, which means teachers will be leading more than one subject, on top of the usual aspects of the job. Plus what PP said about that time taking away from your own family time.

@Alivekicking just shows how different schools are. There should be no ethical issues with free tutoring on the school premises, and at our school such post school/ lunch time sessions are positively encouraged. We did indeed get paid for some sessions via the govt catch up scheme, but the philosophy of teachers giving up their time to help kids in our school is well established. I am not knocking anyone who can’t do that because of external commitments, but if you don’t need to be elsewhere why would you not offer up an hour a week to kids who want, and will engage with extra support. ( i am quite strict about it, any messing around in after school sessions and you can go home).

YABVU

just because your DD isn't the only one behind doesn't make it a school issue.

Of course they do if behind

Then do it yourself, if you can't do 8yr old maths yourself then maybe joint tutoring as that's pretty bad,

I wouldn’t expect a year 4 teacher to do after school sessions, sorry I didn’t read that part. I do sessions for my secondary students. Not in an official way but in a ‘this child is motivated enough to ask for extra help so I’ll give them twenty minutes of my time a week’ way.

Are there 8 in the class? If that is the case the teacher should be more than capable of dealing with different ability levels in the lesson.

or is it a mixed year group class? So a full class of different ages.

If that number of students are struggling then theres something wrong. I know being a teacher is very difficult at the moment but one if the most fundamental parts of their role is to try and set work for different abilities and try and work to ensure all students progress, not just wash their hands of it and advise a tutor (although if you suggested it then maybe they did nothing wrong). I thought it was normal in schools to take groups of kids who are struggling in one subject aside and give them some extra help

I'd go back and say you've looked into tutoring and are going to struggle with costs and ask what their suggestions are to improve the situation. It might be that they can go through what they are learning with you and what your child is struggling with and then point you in the direction of some free resources to help