Keeping kids in from play at lunchtime.

[0gfhty]

I wonder what people think of this. My sons school has something called "times table club" during lunch time play for one day a week. Alll children in year 4 have to go to who don't know all their times tables yet. This hasn't been communicated to the parents but it seems to be true after speaking to some other parents and children. Apparently most of the children in year 4 are in this club. I dont think the children should lose their main playtime for this and if it is most children attending then it indicates to me that their lunch time is being used to teach the curriculum. I wonder what people's views are on this? How would you complain since its more about a general practice and not just my individual child? I have found the teachers to become a little hostile and defensive in the past about anything other than praise even when being polite and approachable.

Can't be called jockstraps surely....

I would be grateful that the teacher is giving up their lunch break to give my child extra tutoring to get them up to speed. I would say thank you rather than complain.

Sounds like a good process. I would not be complaining.

Do you mean TT Rockstars? That’s what he should have been practising for the last year or so at home.

Didn’t you think to ask if you received the details but weren’t sure what to do next? I’d recommended logging on and starting to go through the times tables. His test will be timed and he will expected to get them all right.

If parents actually bothered to do it at home, most would have learnt their times tables. No need for catch up during lunch (which the teacher will hate just as much, if not more, than the kids).

You'd be left with just the children with a genuine difficulty in memorising them/rapid recall which can be managed differently.

Parents need to stop expecting schools to do their job for them, and then moaning that the teacher is giving up her own free time to do it!

that might be why you got a "frosty" reply

I had no idea year 4 children needed to know these in year 4
It might be your school's fault, I have no way of knowing. Many schools inform parents, have a meeting or presentation for example at the beginning of the year, a "meet the teacher" kind of thing, or newsletter with details.

It's useful to know at the beginning of the year your child will go for 2 to 5 nights on a residential later on.

If you are kept completely in the dark, ask and suggest to the school they do some information.

I also found that volunteering and getting involved was a great way to meet the teachers and be more informed.

As I tell the children at school, you won’t wake up one day and suddenly know your times tables. You have to practice them!
Log onto TT rockstars and do the soundcheck section with your child - this is an assessment part and will show you what he knows.

Mine is in Year 5 and doesn't know most of his timetables, I don't even know how he did for his Year 4 timetable test but I imagine not very well. It doesn't help that he HATES TT rockstars.

My son has had a lot of time off school due to medical reasons and I wouldn't mind as much if it was basically his whole class but I would mind if he was just one of a few.

It's concerning that the need for play and physical activity is often totally overlooked. They're probably taking nothing in after lunch because they've not had any opportunity to rest and play. Most children in year 4 are 8, they should not be sat down learning for almost 6/7 hours straight - we really have education wrong here.

If he's had lots of time off, why would you resent teachers giving up their breaks to give him 1:1 (or small group) focused additional support? It's far more effective than in a group setting if it's solely focused on his learning needs. I think you have got this back to front. And there are plenty of other ways to learn timetables that don't involve the app.

No I actually didn't sorry. We were given a qr code inside his planner that logs you into a variety of apps. But nothing was communicated from the school about when we should use them and what for. I assumed they were for later on in the year or for older years. I check all the school emails and newsletters carefully but this has not been included.

Good chance to feedback to the school about this omission.

Are there any other national tests that we need to be studying toward at home? Are all the apps compulsory? Because it sounds like this tt rockstars is nationwide. I thought there was a sats test in year 6 and that was it!

Exactly this...it's no wonder teachers are leaving the profession in droves with moaning Minnie's wanting to complain about their children losing 1 lunch break a week to bring them up to the level they should be at. How about a pat on the back hor the teacher giving up their lunchbreak.FFS the kids are not being starved of food they will still get to eat which is not always the case for the teacher🙄

At secondary the number of lunch, after school, holiday and weekend interventions have become ridiculous! Gone are the days lessons were seen to provide a full curriculum of education, which is ironic because there was no technology to help for those wanting to do more outside of school.

I say this as a totally committed teacher who put on extra voluntary sessions after school before it became prescribed. Now mandatory for X one day, Y another day.

Partly to do with results league tables, Ofsted but also for those students who don't make the effort to complete work in school so interventions are made to 'make' them progress.

Maybe all of this is the school's fault for not communicating - although it would mean that everyone else is in the same boat and you would have thought some other parents would have raised the issue before now. You need to ask the school because based on where you are located it's different, all of the nations run their own education systems, there is nothing UK-wide.

When all of his friends get to play outside because they were fortunate enough to not need so much time off? It would feel like a punishment to him and I'd question exactly how effective it would actually be. Not to mention the fact that he needs a break just as much as the children who do know their times tables.

We work on it at home and they do work on it with him at school too with adapting his maths work if necessary and maths interventions largely focusing on times tables. Thankfully, never at break.

I'm so confused why do you not practice times tables with him? My son is year 3 and has ASD but since he was in reception I've been teaching him times tables. He can recite many of them off by heart now. Parents are the first teachers, even just 5/10 minutes per day makes a huge impact. Work with the school so he can get break time back.

Why wouldn’t you practise timetables with your child whether there is a statutory test or not. Why didn’t you ask the school about the apps?

I’m dyscalculic. I’m 61 and don’t know my tables and believe me I’ve tried. I’ve also got O level B in maths and A level Chemistry, and I’ve managed to live a full and useful life. Not everyone can learn tables. I’d hope a teacher (I’m one) would recognise that.

No we did not get offered to come to anything like that. That sounds really useful! I would love to get a look in his classroom and I feel so in the dark about it and I worry about knowing so little about where he goes every day. Even on parent evening we could not go in the classroom because the teachers were not allowed to be alone in a room for their own safety (I assume something has happened in the past). I never feel like I can approach his teacher although he says she is nice

Fair enough if you work on it at home, but I don't think teachers using their own time to help kids to get up to speed who have already lost out on so much is something that is automatically bad.

No we did not get offered to come to anything like that. That sounds really useful! I would love to get a look in his classroom and I feel so in the dark about it and I worry about knowing so little about where he goes every day. Even on parent evening we could not go in the classroom because the teachers were not allowed to be alone in a room for their own safety (I assume something has happened in the past). I never feel like I can approach his teacher although he says she is nice

I’d have failed. Dyscalculics simply can’t do it. We can live useful lives though, so don’t worry about us failing a daft Y4 test.

I wouldn't think badly of the teacher at all as like it's been pointed out, they'd be giving up their break too but I just know that my son would be gutted and feel punished and that is what I'd want to avoid.