What would you make of this?

[wonderingwhat1]

Have NC as don't want to out myself.

Kids in private school, selective, but not uber selective. In September will be in Years 7, 5 and 3. We are NOT pushy parents, no tutoring or extra coaching etc.

Have bought CGP workbooks to do in the holidays. They do a couple of pages a day to keep ticking over. Workbooks are for the year they have just finished - so years 6, 4 and 2.

Kids constantly asking for help, or not knowing what to do, or making plenty of mistakes.

Not asking for perfection, kids are not genius by any means, more average - but should an average child be able to do the majority of the work they have covered in the previous school year?

Any thoughts gratefully accepted!

which workbook u r talking about ? can you pls. attach the link ? or is it for all subjects ?

This may be a stupid question, but do you know that they have definitely covered the topics in the books using the same methods? Did the school suggest those particular books? It could be possible that they're following a different curriculum and doing things in a different sequence with different methods.

I would think this is not a good sign. As from what I read from MN( as my DC goes to state primary), private school children nomally learn further than state school.

What is the report from their school, did the school tell you that your DC's progress is in line with normal level?

I sometimes do workbook with DS2 as well. He is on top of the class, He generally would do most of the questions correctly, only have a couple of questions that he doesn't know what he suppose to do. I am happy for that, as this is the chance that he learn something new.

Are you sure they have covered the topics? e.g. A year 3 workbook might have a section on reflection when the kids haven't done it in school.

Are they just not bothering because they want to do something else?

Is it that they don't understand the style / format of the questions and tasks?

Are they just wanting attention, or genuinely struggling with the work?
What did their reports at the end of term say?
I suppose with an all through school, there's no quality assurance, as it were, at 11+ or 13+.
I wouldn't be happy.

Have you received details of the curriculum they have covered and does it match what is in the books? Also, with the introduction of the new curriculum, average children in independent schools would not be ahead of average children in state schools. In fact, if they are not doing the new curriculum, they could be behind. It is only the brightest children who are working in more depth in any school!

Have you ever seen their school books? What homework have they done? Do the workbooks match up? Perhaps they just want to switch off! Can you ask them what they have covered that is in the workbooks and take it from there?

In the future, I would be inclined to find out what they are learning so you can gauge how well they are doing and ask the teachers for information on their progress in the various topics. It seems a bit odd that you do not seem to know what they have been taught or how well they have achieved.

In my DC's private selective the school report would tell you the average level of their cohort and where they were in comparison using a score out of 145. The report would also make it clear what goals they needed to work on. For example when DD was in reception it was about learning to tell the time, more recently in Y5 it was accuracy in reading chart data. However it wasn't great in giving you ideas as to progress and in reality most of the girls were coasting but those coasting the most were the ones whose parents thought 'i've paid, I don't need to involve myself in my child's education'. All children regardless of what sector need input even if not formal education so you are doing the right thing OP in supporting your DCs. Reading, quizzes, maths on the move etc even if not formal text books really help. Talking with friends with DCs in the state sector they seemed to have a better handle on how their children were doing than I did and I was impressed with how well the schools reported progress etc. DD starts in state for secondary this Sept and we think it will be a far better fit for her than the oversubscribed independent that was rating on the laurels of its selective intake. We were so underwhelmed with the level of teaching at her fee paying school we even home educated for the last term of y6 which she loved. Is there a reason OP you've stuck with the school for your eldest rather than move them on? If I were in your postion I would be seriously questioning if the school were the right fit but you know your other choices and options too.

Is the issue perhaps their recall of the topics? We've had issues with Ds2 who "gets it" easily in class but when tested a few weeks later struggles with recall.

Children can quickly forget the things they have done in school so I think it's a good idea that you are doing summer work for retention of that.
Do they quickly catch on and then seem to remember having done the work in school?

I don't think you should worry too much. DS1 is about to go into year 7 and has just picked up DS2's maths (year 4) to have a go at it and struggled for the first 10 minutes because he couldn't remember the technique.