Yr 5 at 2A English & 3C maths...any advice?

[hertsmum10]

Knowing my child was a little behind in maths I have recently started them with a maths tutor. The maths tutor ask me to check what level the school though he was. She seemed very surprised how behind he was and assured me that he did seem able.

The school has told me he's at 2A for English and 3C for maths.

I don't understand why the school didn't seem concerned about the English telling me he was doing 'well' in literacy and 'average' in his maths.

Am I over reacting?

No you are not over-reacting.

And this is why I think schools should give NC levels on reports at least yearly.
They might say he is doing 'well' depending on his start point at the start of the academic year, that's not the same as meeting national expectations. You need to know both.

Thank you, I must admit they might well put them on the reports but I have never google the meaning and have gone by remarks & what the teacher has told me. I naively trusted that they knew what they are talking about

I think it will be a tough yr 6, Lots of extra tutuion, expense hard work

Could they have made a mistake and meant 3A for the English?

We've been told at the the end of year 5 the aim is for all of the children to attain at least 3a across all subjects. That's an inner city primary, so just a standard school with a wide range of abilities. Kids are expected to make 2 sub levels of progress per year, so 3a at the end of yr 5 puts them on target for the national expectation of 4b at end of year 6.

How could your child get so far behind without anyone noticing or doing anything about it? These are scores for children in years 2 or 3. Our reports tell us every year what their levels are and all the expected levels for all the years.

I would get onto the teacher and headteacher and keep going with the tutoring. I would also talk to the SENCO.

Thanks for advice. This is a school in a quite affluent area. Considered a very good school, most parents are educated , Reporters, GPs etc are some of parents in my child's class. I have asked numerous times for him to be tested for dyslexia and have been refused. He is being tested privately in the next couple of weeks.

I am not one of those educated parents and financially can not really afford tutoring. Can barely afford rent & gas etc. They are still telling me he's average & doing fine. The dyslexic tutor testing him has offered to do it for free other wise he wouldn't even be getting a test.

A 2a/3c at the beginning of Y5 would be weak, but not generally something that would concern me too much. If he's still there now, then that's a real worry, unless he's officially one of the SEN children in the class. My "average" children hover at around 3a/4c at the moment...and we aren't in an "affluent area".
I've got a few still at these lower levels, but they have received intervention throughout the year and started last September on 1a/2c. What levels did he start Year 5 on?
For the test, you need to speak to the SENCO. The class teacher can't do these.

For maths, there are lots of free maths games online (addition, times table, shapes, etc), or you can get a book that includes how-to explanation such as Letts. For literacy, you could read or have him read books daily, while talking about the contents and checking new vocabulary.

I know a good 1-2-1- tutor could be very helpful, but they are very expensive. I just had an one-off session for my DD's writing skill (30 pounds for 45 mins!) where I also sat, so that I could work with DD from there. The tutor was fine with that and gave us lots of ideas. I believe 10 minutes every day with mum is just as helpful as one hour weekly with a tutor, especially at those levels.

Anyone any experience of using kumon or magikats in this situation? I hear they are cheaper.