Confused by call from school

[scorpiogirly]

So my daughter who is 7 just went back today in year 3.

I get a call half an hour before I'm due to collect her to ask me if it is okay if the teacher who helps out takes my dd in the mornings in a group of about 10 to do maths. Apparently not that she's going to be taught anything different, just taught slower. What the hell does this mean? It's her first day back and they have never said anything like this before and she has always seemed fine with maths.

They also always tend to have mixed classes. When I questioned it, apparently it is nothing to do with ability. But strangely, they have split two year 3 classes and 2 year 4 classes and mixed them together. Whats the point of that?

If they think she would benefit from an intervention class to help her catch up/plug some gaps or whatever, then I would only consider that a good thing.

is she in a primary, or did she go from infants to juniors?

It tends to mean shes not keeping up with the rest of the class, and so they take the kids out who are struggling & go at a slower pace/teach easier things than the rest. Its nothing to worry about!

It’s very clear

Your daughter and 9 others who are a touch slower at maths than the other kids are being taken aside to ensure that the maths is properly being embedded in before moving on to the next topic.

Basically it’s a good thing and they’re being pro active

How did you respond?

This would only irritate me because they told you it wasn’t anything to do with ability. It obviously is. I mean, what other reason would they have to take a small group out to go through things more slowly? They’ve identified she needs support and are providing it, that’s a good thing. But don’t lie to parents that it’s not about ability, it’s very infantilising.

I teach in Ireland and in my school we have resource classes and withdrawl classes where students who need that extra help in the core subjects, English and Maths will get a chance with a smaller more intimate setting. Parents kill for those spaces here so I wouldn't be raging over this or fighting it if there's a chance your daughter could benefit from it. It actually breaks my heart that we cant accommodate everyone to be honest.

Make sure she’s with a proper teacher.

Ability doesn't always factor in here. Often external factors can be at play or the child's pace has changed. I teach some students who absolutely have the ability but really have to work harder to achieve it than others and smaller settings allow that.

I agree though the op should have been told. That's the strange part.

Not necessary and unlikely

She has been taught by the teacher

This is to make sure that the children that seemed to be struggling to keep up at the pace, have definitely understood the task

I find their reasoning really confusing. I know they have these type of setups for students that are struggling, but she said it had nothing to do with ability? Ask for more information.

It might not be ability. My son is clever but has slow processing speed. I asked that he be put in a lower set at secondary as he understood the concepts better when taught at a lower pace but they wouldn't.

Re mixing the classes, I would assume there is an imbalance in numbers. Eg if they have 60 year 4s and 40 year 3s, it might make more sense to make 4 classes each with 25 ish pupils in from mixed year groups, than have 2 classes of 30 and 2 of 20.

The maths group does sound like it is to do with ability to be honest. There’s 2 possibly scenarios - is she attending the main maths lesson, and additionally an extra session to help her keep up? If so, great. They’ve identified her as needing a bit extra support and she’s getting it.

Or, is she being removed from the main maths lesson to be taught at a slower pace by someone who is not the main teacher. In this case, the key is who is teaching this small group. If it’s a qualified teacher, again, this is a good thing. However, you describe them as ‘the teacher who helps out’ which makes me suspicious it’s a TA. In which case, I would not want my child’s only maths input by a TA instead of a qualified teacher. This is very bad practice. The children who need extra help need the qualified experienced adult teaching them.

I thought the ability comment related to the class split rather than the support groups. So the classes aren’t split by ability but the group is for those who need a slower pace but are capable of accessing the same content at the rest.

What do you think it means? If she was coping easily, then she will not be taken out to work at a slower pace! It is no reflection on her abilities - more that she may work better when she totally understands what is required of her.

Processing speed is not about ability. A friend of my DD is a high achiever academically - off to study a difficult subject at a prestigious University shortly, has also been identified as needing longer for exams and works more slowly than her peers. She's clever and able but processes information more slowly.

People are always hugely in favour of sets so long as their child is in the top one!

I think you just need to go in to school and discuss it all so that you know what the position is. Be clear that you are very happy for her to be in a group that is appropriate to her speed of learning in this subject.

I used to work as a TA in numeracy - the work was set by the teacher then I would work with students who needed a bit of extra help to grasp a concept. The teachers would always check the children had understood before progressing. A good way to ensure no-one was left behind.

She’s just gone into KS2 and has demonstrated that she needs additional help with maths, which is an important subject for her to achieve in. She needs to be taught slower because she’s not up to speed with those who are better at the subject.

Hopefully you were grateful this has been picked up and all goes well for her.

You seem weirdly offended. They’re trying to help your daughter.

That's a good point.

The person who will be taking this group is the attendance officer. Usually on reception. On the phone stated they also teach too.

I'm raging about it, if she needs the help then I'm glad it's there for her. What I don't understand though is that this is the first I have heard of any problems with her maths, yet seemingly on the first day back, it's glaringly obvious. If I had known we could have worked on it over the holidays.

Is isn't that at all. Its because it is the first I have heard of it.

As opposed to a TA?
There’s many rubbish teachers out there and outstanding TAs.
Sometimes TAs are the difference between a child getting an education or being kicked out of school.

It might not be down to ability, but due to processing speed. She may be perfectly able to do the work, it just takes her a little longer.

Well I guess there always has to be a first time that you hear of it!