AIBU to expect school to contact me after year 5 maths test fail?

[3tumsnot1]

Year 5 maths test - complete flunk
school haven’t bothered to contact me - for clarity like 30/100 - so really bad mark. I have had to contact the school and ask direct. Pretty annoyed they haven’t suggested anything. I know it’s super bad. I am arranging extra lessons but have noticed DD also struggles to concentrate. It’s like Shes much younger and cant focus for any periods of time. Any advice if this could be something else?

Before this she has always averaged over 100.

Thanks all

Just like a classroom ad hoc test when otherwise she scores well?

Why would they contact you? I would just put it down to a bad day if every other score was good and this one was a flop!

Not particularly, especially if she was doing well before, could just be a one off.

No why would I?

Year 5? No, it is not a big deal and extra support is a huge over reaction. Sometimes things go wrong. It's ok.

They don’t contact parents for a single poor test grade.

Write down your observations of her lack of focus and other struggles. Then meet with the SENCO to see if they see any of that in school. She may need to be screened.

How was she getting more than full marks before? Is more than 100 put of a 100?

Do you know how everyone else did?
Maybe it was a hard test, and noone got more than 31?

What made you think to contact them?
Did your child tell you they failed?

@3tumsnot1 are you panicking because you plan for her to sit the 11+ in year 6?

If not, there is absolutely no need to panic. The maths gets a little harder in year 5 vs year 4 and it takes longer for some children to get their heads around it. But they get a great deal of practice she’ll be back to her usual results by the summer. Just make sure she is fluent with her times tables and she’ll be fine.

Before this she has always averaged over 100.

I don't think maths are your strong point either!

I think OP means the standardised scores 70-130 when she says over 100.

I am arranging extra lessons

Because she had one bad test? Stop it.

I would expect it to be flagged at a parents evening but I would not expect a special phone call about 1 poor test result for a 10 year old. I wouldn’t contact a parent in these circumstances. The test isn’t there as a stick to beat the children with it’s there to show me what I need to teach them next.
If it was part of a pattern across all subjects and a real change in behaviour and attitude then I might ask for a meeting with a parent.

Our school expects us to proactively check scores in the parent portal. Does your school
have that available?

It's NOT that school haven't bothered to contact you, it's that there's 30 children in a class and a five minute call about test results for each of 30 kids would be 150 minutes which is 2 and a half hours. No-one's not bothering, there's just no time to ring home about 1 little test score.

What was the test? Was it for the whole year group? Was it for just that year group? Until you know that you have no idea if it's worrying or not. If it's 30/100 on something aimed at year 2 that's dreadful, if it's 30/100 used with year 5,6,7 that's pretty good.

I teach adults and we often have students come in who say "I need help with maths, I failed my GCSE at school years ago" This doesn't tell us whether they are working at entry 1 (think year 1) or just pre-GCSE like year 9 or 10. We have very wide base computer tests that will test starting with very basics and getting harder when they anwser quickly and correctly and easier when they awnser wrongly, eventually stopping when it's worked out their level. On something like this an average year 3 might get a lowish score even when they did really well.

Calmly email the teacher just enquiring what the results mean.

I understand the frustration. Going from averaging over 100 to 30 is a big drop and I'd want answers too. But the concentration thing you mentioned might actually be the most important clue here. Our DS went through a phase where his maths scores tanked and we assumed he'd stopped understanding the work, but actually it was more that he'd stopped being able to engage with it. The tests felt overwhelming and he'd just switch off. The thing that helped was finding ways to practise that didn't feel like tests, anything with a gamification element, short challenges, earning points, that kind of thing. It kept him focused because his brain was engaged rather than shutting down. Might be worth looking into whether there's something going on with focus or processing, especially if this is a sudden change. Sometimes kids just need the maths presented in a completely different format to stay switched on. The extra lessons are a good shout but I'd also look at what's happening emotionally, because at this age that's usually the bigger factor.