what should I do? y6 child being taught easier work than last year!

[tigi]

My child has just gone into Y6. Last year he was in year 5/6. He is now doing easier work than last year! Last year their teacher (now left) really pushed them and he was doing y6&7 work quite easily, and gained his L5 sats. This year the teacher seems to be working on the lower abilities! He says he is bored. This week they were doing decimal places to .10 and .100! The last teacher said they could not push his group on any more this year, and so would treat it as a revision year for sats. Does anyone think this is correct? I have decided to go and see head teacher on mon, as I am concerned he will have a wasted year. Should I think about a private tutor to push his on out of school, or will this cause problems when he gets to big school (11+ next week) . Does anyone have any advice please. thanks.

y 6 is the last year of primary isn't it?

if so I think it is common for this to happen - I remember repeating stuff in that year. If your son is bored then it may be a good idea to see the head, but term hasn't been going long: have you spoken to the teacher about what they'll be doing for the rest of the year?

I would be worried about him being bored. Don't think I would want him so disenchanted with school just before heading off to secondary.

DS has just gone to class 6 too

LAst year some of the class went to class 6 for maths and the weaker class 6 went down to class 5

Now that group is doing class 7 maths

IMHO I would deffo go to see the Head

we were told during parents evening at the end of last term that year6 is a catch up year, going over stuff to make sure it has stuck.

My DD has already complained about being bored and repeating what she has already learnt, A time to chat to the teacher is approaching I think.

A classic example of why the SATs should be abolished....

discuss

Good idea to check it out. They may be starting them off easy, if it is a new teacher he may be just assessing where they are at for the first couple of weeks.
But don't accept anything less than you got from the same school last year. Schools have a policy to advance children by 2 SATs places each academic year (eg Level5C - Level5A in one year) so if DS was getting L5 at the end of yr5 you are right to expect him to be in an extension group doing L6 work otherwise he will not be making the progress he has been predicted at the end of Yr5
A private tutor will only help if the school is willing to put DS in for the SATs extension papers at the end of Yr6, otherwise you will have no real evidence to show DS' new school of his abilities and you will be back to square one. Although it would keep his maths activities ticking over at his level.
I would have thought your son's school would want to push the brighter kids. Good luck with the head!

Maybe they are refreshingt heir minds after the long summer before moving on?

Not sure about what level he should be working at and agree you need to ensure that all is well but personally I would leave going into discuss it for a at least a few more weeks. IME the first couple of weeks of any new class there is lots of time spent on classroom routines, ground rules, new teachers checking what level kids are at etc. It may be that things are fine after the intial transition period is over.

I'd check that this isn't a quick refresher/ check that everything was covered last year. If it persists at a much lower level I'd have a quick word with the classroom teacher in the first instance. I would talk to the teacher first, before seeing the head. If you don't get any joy with the teacher, then see the head.

You can ecpect there to be differentiation to different children's needs, but this is quite early in the term and the teacher might just be checking that everything is 'in place'

Thanks for all your replies - sorry to have been absent since posting earlier- poorly other child! He says that the work sheets are yr5 work! The yr5 children are apparently happy with their workload! The bottom ability group were doing sums of 'one more than and one less than...!'- Bit of a worry really! This teacher has been moved from y2, so it's a big jump, and she has also been pulled up on the recent ofsted for the y2 poor results. Why move a teacher like this to the top age group? It seems barmy .