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.

At my son's school it is during standard class time with intervention groups. My son is behind in pretty much everything due to missing most of Year 3 and almost all of Year 4 because of medical reasons, he only started Year 4 for the first time after the Easter holidays and is now in Year 5.

He does a maths intervention group and a handwriting intervention group. He also has maths work adapted when necessary because it's just too much for him otherwise but he does cope fine with other work at Year 5 level.

It's a real challenge and we're working closely with the school to help catch him up. Taking away his break times has never been suggested.

That's great if a school has funding for TAs to run intervention groups.

Many don't.

Yes in the sense that it is learning by rote and not a deeper understanding, that is sort of old fashioned. I can see how recalling these facts from memory will help with doing timed tests that children have to do in this country. Its really for the sake of speed.

Fgs. Knowing times tables enables children to do so many maths questions so much more quickly. That’s why they get tested. It’s not about teaching something because there’s a test coming up. It’s a very important skill.

Right now the class has TA's and a student teacher. My son has 2:1 TA's due to a physical disability (a reason for his long absence).

No. It's because you struggle with pretty much every other number topic in Maths if you can't quickly recall your times tables. You need times tables for column multiplication, division, fractions, statistics and data, area, and many others.

Yes that's what I said, its about speed. Or perhaps you didn't mean to quote me

That's great. Many schools don't though. Interventions where groups go out for catch up/pre-teaching is a thing of the past in many schools.

Free extra tuition? What’s not to like!

And why are you not reinforcing his learning at home if your son is falling behind at school?

TT Jockstraps

You said you could see how knowing times tables could help with the tests in this country. I want to rephrase what I said. Knowing times tables is imperative for doing so many calculations in maths. Knowing times tables has always been important and the parents of my generation didn’t push back. They did what they could. Parents these days are spoiled. They just need to make sure their dcs make use of the many apps available.

They're not going to be doing tables for the whole of the lunch break. I'd put money on it being for 15 mins max, and probably less. No one wants children to miss break, they get all ansty and are difficult to teach if they haven't had the opportunity to run around and let off steam.

I totally disagree with this. Children need more time to play,outdoors especially and teachers need their break. TTR is something that can easily be done at home, in the car, wherever.

It’s for MTCs I imagine. Chill out. I’d personally have no issue for the extra attention my child got at school. Some parents have zero aspirations for their kids.

@Oblahdeeoblahdoe it could be but there are parents like OP who don’t do them at home, so those kids are the ones missing their lunch break. There is an easy solution for OP so their DC doesn’t have to miss some of their break time

Not by teachers it can't though, so if parents aren't doing it then what are the options.

Yes that's what I said, its about speed. Or perhaps you didn't mean to quote me

You can go back and read the thread if interested. He isn't falling behind its the whole class that is being kept in

You can go back and read the thread if interested. He isn't falling behind its the whole class that is being kept in

It's not just speed. Times tables are a fundamental building block for all future Maths learning.

If you don't want your child to have to do catch up in his lunch break, you should have practiced with him at home.

Honestly, the obsession with knowing your timetables in the curriculum is insane. I don't know my times tables off by heart, it just wouldn't stick and do you know what? It's not impacted my life in the slightest, I have a great job and a calculator in my pocket if I get stuck.

MN is bizarre sometimes, why are we all thinking children losing playtime where they experience joy and creativity to learning something that doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things - it's just learning something off by heart, it's not actually telling you how intelligent they are.

If you don’t want your child to get free extra tuition just tell the school. I find it bizarre because in my area maths tuition is expensive and difficult to find.

I never learned my times tables and I have an A in a level in maths (before Astar existed) and an engineering degree from a Russel group uni. But I never needed to learn them because I could do multiplication the long way pretty quickly and found the vast majority of maths easy. Most kids aren’t that lucky.

I managed to pass my GCSE maths, obtain A levels, a degree, a master's degree and a great job all without knowing my times tables off by heart.

@Givemeachaitealatte but you must understand the fundamentals behind them and I assume you are not saying you don’t know things like 2 x 2

This would be my response as well.